Inquiry chairperson calls Mkhwebane's bluff and hears explosive evidence without Mpofu

Suspended Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane tried to compare herself to a victim of domestic violence in her efforts to further delay the parliamentary investigation into her fitness to hold office – but the inquiry's chairperson didn't buy it.

"Today, the president [Cyril Ramaphosa] is dealing with the issue of GBV [gender-based violence]. It's like you are subjecting me to stay in an abusive relationship with yourselves…I can't. Chairperson, it's unfair," Mkhwebane told the chairperson of the Section 194 inquiry, Qubudile Dyantyi, on Tuesday.

She had been asked to answer MPs' questions about the as-yet unexplained decision by her lawyers to walk out of the inquiry on Thursday.