Mkhwebane displays RET faction symptoms

The year 2023 must seem so far off for President Cyril Ramaphosa right now.

It might be just a few months away for the rest of humanity but for the president, it’s not close enough to wait for the Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s term in office to come to its end as stipulated in the constitution.

The president faces a bruising battle to ensure he gets the ruling party’s nod for a second term.

He has enough problems facing an unknown number of challengers for his position and provinces like Mpumalanga electing a murder accused onto the ANC provincial executive council are not making life any easier for him.

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But all these are the public and visible internal battles that he faces within his own party.

His biggest battle is the one he faces outside his party in the form of Mkhwebane.

In some twisted sort of way, even though she is outside the ruling party, her battles with the president embody the aspirations of the president’s biggest opponents within his party, the radical economic transformation (RET) faction.

It is ironic that it was the president’s party that formed part of the 266 out 400 National Assembly votes that brought Mkhwebane into office in 2016.

The Democratic Alliance (DA) was the party quickest out of the blocks to do something about what was clear for all to see, the then new public protector was a far cry from her predecessor, advocate Thuli Madonsela, in terms of competence.

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As early as 2017, the DA wanted her out of office and they initiated the process that has now had the president write to her asking her to outline reasons why he shouldn’t suspend her while the committee set up to deal with her impeachment goes about its job.

In a manoeuvre that has now become a signature move of the RET faction within the ruling party, the public protector responded by pointing out to the president and parliamentary Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula how conflicted they are.

And to ensure that the president was truly conflicted to be part of the process initiating her removal from office, she immediately launched two probes into the president, part of which allege that he worked in cahoots with Justice Minister Ronald Lamola to capture the judiciary.

This move has all the hallmarks of suspended ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule who, upon receiving his suspension letter from the president, issued his own letter suspending the president.

The DA, even though it initiated the whole process, has been rendered just mere a spectator in the battle that might turn out to be the president’s biggest distraction as he eyes re-election at the ANC’s national conference in December.

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Mkhwebane, on the other hand, has just played into the hands of those who have always associated her with the RET faction of the ruling party, the one that is seen as responsible for the deplorable state that many of the state’s institutions are in, including her office itself.

Like that faction, she gets opponents entangled in legal proceedings to stall the inevitable.

Surely, if the office of the public protector is not characterised by incompetence as her accusers allege, it should all become clear during her impeachment.

But like one former president who always shouted how much he wanted his day in court but then, when it was offered to him, he fought it off, the public protector is fighting against a chance to demonstrate her competence.