Suspended public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane came out guns blazing and made her intentions clear that she is not going to be intimidated by Section 194 committee chairperson Richard Dyantyi.
Speaking to the media in Sandton on Tuesday, Mkhwebane detailed how she had been frustrated by attempts to impeach her by President Cyril Ramaphosa with the help of other parliamentary officials.
She said she views this as an attempt to get rid of her from office because it came at a time when she was probing the Phala Phala scandal that implicated the president.
Mkhwebane added that she was due back in office in September 2022, however, she said that was blocked by Ramaphosa and the DA through the use of courts.
“The high court failed to see through this scheme and refused to grant relief in terms of section 18 of the Superior Court Acts to implement the judgment pending appeal,” Mkhwebane said.
“Without the unlawful suspension and disingenuous ‘appeal’, I would have returned to my office on 10 September 2022 and Ms [Tina] Joemat-Pettersson would probably be alive today.
“It is noteworthy that the court found that the real reason for suspension was to avenge the 31 questions I asked in respect of alleged criminality involved in the Phala Phala scandal.
“More than a year after the complaint into Phala Phala, the Office of the Public Protector has not issued a report. The objectives for removing me illegally have therefore achieved.”
She alleged that the role of the legislature in the death of Joemat-Pettersson was probably much more direct than that of the executive and the judiciary “although they all played a direct or indirect role”.
“On 16 March 2033, Joemat-Pettersson attended the enquiry physically, for the first and only time.
“She asked one of the parliamentary officials who attends the enquiry regularly to give her phone to my husband and requested him to punch his number. This can be verified with the parliamentary official in question.”
She also stated that the late politician invited her husband, David Skosana, to two separate meetings where Joemat-Pettersson allegedly solicited a bribe to the tune of R600 000 for herself, Dyantyi and ANC chief whip in parliament Pemmy Majodina.
There was a predetermined outcome for her impeachment, she charged, adding that Majodina was the one who instructed the members of the committee to take her to the cleaners.
“Both Mr Dyantyi and Ms Majodina were very angry that they were not made ministers and were prepared to frustrate the impeachment process by delaying it until the end of my term of office, but upon being paid a large amount of money.
“Ms Majodina was particularly angry that the president ‘chose’ Noxolo Kiviet who had forged a master’s certificate. They wanted to know ‘tomorrow’ if the deal was on or not.”
She also said the courts should not play the person but the ball.
“Going to courts is aimed at exposing those who are corrupt. Cyril Ramaphosa was desperate to make an offer that I must resign,” she said.
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