The matter between Public Protector advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane and National Assembly Speaker and others is postponed to the 18th and 19th of May. Mkhwebane wants her removal process be halted pending the finalisation of her rescission application in the Concourt
Mkhwebane's relentless fight to interdict President Cyril Ramaphosa and Parliament from forging ahead with impeachment proceedings against her began on Tuesday.
Mkhwebane faces suspension by the president should her court bid fail.
Mkhwebane filed a court application at the Western Cape High Court in March.
The Public Protector has argued that the impeachment process being conducted by Parliament’s Section 194 Committee should not continue while the apex court is still considering her rescission application.
She is also seeking to have the letter sent by National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula to Ramaphosa informing him that the Committee on Section 194 inquiry will be resuming its proceedings, deemed unlawful.
The parliamentary inquiry into the fitness of Mkhwebane to hold office was put on hold pending the judgment of the Constitutional Court on the constitutionality of the National Assembly rules governing the removal processes for the office-bearers of institutions supporting democracy.
Mkhwebane had lost part of her Constitutional Court case where she sought to have the impeachment proceedings against her dismissed. The court had ruled that she be granted full legal representation during the proceedings, however, it allowed for the parliamentary inquiry to go ahead.
She filed an application to interdict the Parliament inquiry into her fitness to hold office, pending her Constitutional Court rescission application on its earlier ruling.
The president then wrote to the Public Protector, asking her to give reasons why she should not be placed on suspension while she was being probed.
Mkhwebane has argued that Ramaphosa was heavily conflicted and unable to decide whether she should be placed on suspension.
The inquiry into Mkhwebane arose from the motion tabled in February 2020 by DA chief whip Natasha Mazzone.
kailene.pillay@inl.co.za