President Cyril Ramaphosa’s hand on power was strengthened after the high court in Pretoria set aside findings by the Public Protector that he had deliberately misled Parliament.
The scathing court ruling has dealt a massive blow to Public Protector Busisiwe’s Mkhwebane’s efforts to block a parliamentary inquiry into her fitness to hold office.
Ramaphosa had asked the court to nullify Mkhwebane’s findings that he had misled Parliament over the R500 000 donation that the controversial facilities management company Bosasa made to his ANC 2017 presidential campaign.
On behalf of the full bench of the high court, Judge Elias Matojane said Mkhwebane did not have jurisdiction over the internal ANC donation matter.
“We find (Mkhwebane) did not only commit a material misdirection in her legal approach, but also reached an irrational and unlawful conclusion on the facts before her,” Matojane said.
Mkhwebane had displayed a “complete lack of basic knowledge of the law and its application and some of her findings were “unfathomable”, the court ruled
Ramaphosa, whose grip on power was being undermined by the country’s power failures that have led to economic recession, now goes to the ANCs national general council in August in a stronger position.
By George Matlala
