Mkhwebane ‘conflict of interest’ halts Deputy PP process

The portfolio committee on justice and correctional services has halted its process to select the next Deputy Public Protector after a legal opinion found EFF member Busisiwe Mkhwebane had failed to declare a conflict of interest with two of the candidates.

The committee was expected to select the Deputy Public Protector when Parliament’s legal adviser, Zingisa Zenani, tabled the findings of her report into Mkhwebane’s alleged conflict of interest.

Members of the committee said Mkhwebane should have declared upfront her relationship with the two candidates.

Zenani said Mkhwebane failed to declare that one candidate, Shadrack Tebeile, was representing her in her impeachment case. Mkhwebane has challenged her removal as Public Protector in the African Court on Human and People’s Rights.

Tebeile is representing her on a pro bono basis.

Mkhwebane was also found to have failed to declare that she had fired executive manager in the Office of the Public Protector, Ponatshego Mogaladi, when she was Public Protector.

Mogaladi, who is also a candidate, challenged her dismissal in the Labour Court and Mkhwebane was forced to reinstate her.

But Mkhwebane dismissed Zenani’s finding, saying the report lacked facts and substance.

“The legal opinion the legal adviser has decided on is not well researched and very much biased,” she said.

The committee met on Tuesday to decide on the successful candidate after it interviewed seven candidates for the job.

Portfolio committee chairperson, Gratitude Magwanishe, said since most of the parties accepted the findings of the report against Mkhwebane, they must call off the process and Parliament will have to start the process again. He said this was also to protect Parliament from being taken to court over the matter.

There are many decisions that have been challenged in court and they did not want this process to be tainted.

“We agree we will have a report to the House indicating that the process will start from scratch.

“In the report to the House, we must indicate what led to the process to start from the beginning because it’s important for issues of transparency and accountability.

“Parliament has already spent money. We need to account in detail why we would not finish the process because failure to do that might amount to fruitless and wasteful expenditure. It would be incorrect to say because there were no declaration forms and, therefore, a person who has an obligation to declare can use that as a defence.”

The committee decided it will table the report in the House to indicate that the process must be started again.

Cape Times