Mkhwebane will be removed before her term ends, claims Vytjie Mentor

Former ANC MP Vytjie Mentor on Monday made a prediction about another issue of national importance and, this time, all roads lead to Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane.

Mkhwebane in a recent report ordered Absa to pay back R1.125 billion for the lifeboat Bankorp received from the Reserve Bank as part of a bailout. Both Absa and the Reserve Bank are approaching the high court in the belief that the public protector made fundamental errors in reaching her findings, and even over-reached her constitutional powers.

The report has been a subject of discussion by both her supporters and critics, who claim she does not know what she is doing.

Mentor is one of those who have criticised the public protector, and on Monday took to Facebook to predict Mkhwebane’s future.

“Busisiwe [Mkhwebane] is going to be the very first public protector that will be removed from office before her term ends,” she claimed.

Most of her followers said they hoped Mentor’s predictions were right, “for the sake of the country”, though they also questioned the likelihood of the removal.

According to the Public Protector Act, the public protector may be removed from office only on “the grounds of misconduct, incapacity or incompetence; finding to that effect by a committee of the National Assembly; and the adoption by the Assembly of a resolution calling for that person’s removal from office.”

The resolution must be adopted with a supporting vote of at least two-thirds of the members of the Assembly; or a member of a Commission must be adopted with a supporting vote of a majority of the members of the Assembly.

The president may then remove the public protector from office upon adoption by the Assembly of the resolution calling for that person’s removal.

However, her supporters, such as Black First Land First’s Andile Mngxitama, president of The Progressive Professionals’ Forum (PPF) Mzwanele Manyi and former SABC COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng, have criticised the naysayers for “attacking” Mkhwebane.

Manyi, who claimed on eNCA to have read Mkhwebane’s report twice, wrote over the weekend that the matter was a simple piece of corruption, since Bankorp had been given money by the Reserve Bank at low interest and then reinvested that money with the same bank for more interest.

He has been calling for Absa to pay back the money.

Bankorp borrowed R1.5bn from SARB at 1% interest and reinvested the loot with SARB at 16%.The PP says ABSA owes SARB 15% interest or R1.15bn

— Mzwanele Manyi (@MzwaneleManyi) June 24, 2017

Mngxitama has been overjoyed by Mkhwebane’s latest recommendations. His party has previously protested against Absa, and say they will take to the streets again on Wednesday to try to convince Absa to pay back the money.

Motsoeneng has gone as far as approaching Paseka Mboro Motsoeneng’s Incredible Happenings Church for prayers in the matter. He reportedly told Mboro at his church on Sunday Mkhwebane was “under attack, like many others who wanted to change the country”. He further asked the congregants to pray for the public protector against such attacks.

Only time will tell if Mentor should stick to “opening files” and leave the predictions to EFF leader Julius Malema.

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