Here’s how much Mkhwebane could lose after being booted from PP office

Axed Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane could forfeit a loss-of-office gratuity worth about R10m after being fired a month before her tenure of office was due to end.

President Cyril Ramaphosa formally fired Mkhwebane on Tuesday after 318 of the 400 MPs voted in favour of the Parliament’s Section 194 Committee Report, while 43 were against and one abstained.

In a letter to Mkhwebane, Ramaphosa said the Constitution stated he “must” remove her from office.

READ MORE: ‘If I perish, I perish’- Busisiwe Mkhwebane fights Public Protector firing

Mkhwebane said she would challenge her removal from office, telling The Citizen she was meeting with her legal team to discuss a way forward.

Briefing media last month at the Premier Hotel in Midrand, Gauteng, Mkhwebane said she was entitled to her “hard-earned” R10m gratuity, even if she is removed before her term ended.

“Even if I’m removed today, I would be entitled to my gratuity … It is my hard-earned benefits, which cannot be taken away,” she said at the time. 

Full salary while on suspension

According to the government gazette, Mkhwebane received an annual salary of R2,316,919. 

This means her monthly take-home was about R193,100, which she received while on suspension. 

“The president said I am suspended with full benefits, including allowances and protections,” Mkhwebane told media last week. 

[WATCH] Suspended Public Protector Adv Busisiwe Mkhwebane says her deputy and acting PP Adv Kholeka Gcaleka is "acting as the president’s protector."#Newzroom405 pic.twitter.com/NQyrjH2Jug

— Newzroom Afrika (@Newzroom405) September 5, 2023

Former public protector payouts 

A 2017 Mail & Guardian report said former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela received R7.6m when she concluded her tenure in October 2016.

The payout was not without drama as she butted heads with Mkhwebane over the damage of a state car her son crashed in 2012. The cost to fix the BMW X6 was reportedly R450,000, which Mkhwebane insisted be taken from her payout.

Madonsela’s son told EWN that he had crashed into a wall after swerving to miss an animal that ran across the road. 

Departing the public protector office in 2009, Lawrence Mushwana received R6.8m. 

News24 reported the payout was met with questions over his entitlement to it. 

The publication said Mushwana’s payout included R90,000 in lieu of leave, which was specifically prohibited in terms of his conditions of employment.