Search for new public protector: Parliament to discuss process of replacing Mkhwebane

Parliament is looking to start the process of finding a replacement for suspended Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane as her term is set to end in October this year.

New public protector

Parliament’s chairperson of committees Cedric Frolick revealed that the matter was discussed in the chief whips’ forum on Wednesday.

Frolick told the National Assembly’s programme committee on Thursday that political parties had two options to choose from.

“Given the long constituency period that will kick in from June, it is paramount that the house decides soon what must be done. The proposal on the table is an ad hoc committee consisting of 11 members that is the configuration of the current portfolio committees.

“But there is also a second proposal where we have 11 voting and add 14 non-voting members to that process,” he said.

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“The chief whips requested time for further consultation with their party leaders, but I would implore that this consultation process be concluded soon because the viable date for the house to consider the establishment of the ad hoc committee will be the 25th of May and by then we must be clear on the route to be followed.”

Frolick highlighted that a decision needed to be taken urgently.

“It is urgent because the committee will have to be established after the house agrees to it, must elect a chairperson, it must look at the programme and the advert that must go out.

“Then the process of going through all the applications will kick in, looking at the shortlisting, the vetting processes and the interviews. We must also leave time for the new identified candidate to then be involved in a handover process so that there is a seamless transfer of authority in that office from the one incumbent to the other,” he further explained to the committee.

Watch the meeting below:

Mkhwebane legal fees

Meanwhile, the Public Protector’s office will avail funds to pay for Mkhwebane’s lawyers in order for the Section 194 Inquiry to resume.

The Chapter 9 institution has already spent R30 million on Mkhwebane’s legal fees for the impeachment inquiry, which has been on hold due to the funding impasse.

Public Protector CEO, Thandi Sibanyoni told Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services on Wednesday that the office will use surplus funds of about R4 million to pay Mkhwebane’s legal team.

READ MORE: ‘Playing for time’ – Mkhwebane trying to hold on until term of office expires

Sibanyoni said National Treasury gave the office the greenlight to use the funds, which were approved for the 2021/2022 financial year.

“We looked at the budget for the current financial year and we realised that it is not affordable because, while we are paying for the Public Protector’s legal fees, we had to suspend some of the payments that we had to pay.

“There were court orders that were issued against us, the office itself, so we couldn’t even settle those bills. So, we had to postpone them to this financial year,” she said.

“So, we still had some leftover money of about R4 million that we can make available, just to support the process because we don’t want anything to disturb the process. That is all that is available, and that money should cater for everything to do with the Section 194 process.”

Watch the meeting below:

Acting Public Protector Kholeka Gcaleka also told the committee that some of the office’s operations “stagnated” because Mkhwebane’s defence had “really took us off-budget”.

Gcaleka said the office was seeking further advice to assess the invoices Mkhwebane submitted. 

“In the current budget, we will not have any amount to allocate for these legal fees because we have our own operations to run, which have stagnated because of the money we have made provision for,” she said.

The Public Protector’s office had originally planned to spend R4.5 million on Mkhwebane’s legal fees for the inquiry if the process was scheduled to end in September 2022.

On 1 March, the Chapter 9 institution wrote to Mkhwebane informing her that the office will stop paying her legal team by the end of the month.

The office previously argued it was not liable to pay her legal fees.

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