‘I am one of the best ever’: Axed Busi weighs her options

Busisiwe Mkhwebane – who will become the first public protector to be removed from office – has put on the back burner the original plan to take her axing on review, saying she is now going to consult her lawyers on the way forward.

“We need to see how we are going to do it. I am still going to discuss with my legal team and to see whether we are taking on review,” Mkhwebane told The Citizen in an exclusive interview yesterday.

Asked if she would be joining any political party, she laughed.

“Not really. We would have to see how one does that going forward.”

Mkhwebane accused the courts of using personal costs as a way to deter other black professionals.

“Unfortunately they are so blinded by hatred,” she said. “It is not easy and it’s very painful, but I wouldn’t allow it to create any feeling that I am a failure, or think I am not good enough. For me, I am one of the best ever.”

She said after “a very bumpy seven years” – she would continue to work with the public.

“I might be serving in some office again, fighting for the people. But I am still weighing my options.

“Maybe you might find me in parliament somewhere. Another critical issue I will focus more on is alternative dispute resolution… This is where I can help the public to resolve conflicts.”

On Monday, parliament removed her from office after 318 of the 400 MPs voted in favour of the parliament’s Section 194 inquiry recommendation for her impeachment after holding an inquiry into her fitness to hold office.

Forty-three voted no, while Cope’s Mosiuoa Lekota abstained.

Mkhwebane insisted the committee should be removed on the grounds of incompetence and misconduct.

Meanwhile, ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri said yesterday it had been clear to all that Mkhwebane was out of her depth.

She said her conduct and incompetence had made her continued occupation of that office untenable.

“As the nation closes the Mkhwebane chapter, we hope the new public protector will take the sad and ugly lessons of Mkhwebane’s era into account and strive to build a solid and accountable office that is above factional loyalties,” she said.

“Never must a head of a Chapter 9 institution act like a law unto himself/herself.”

Economic Freedom Fighters spokesperson Sinawo Tambo said they reserved a right to take the report for judicial review.