Publications
- The committee handling Busisiwe Mkhwebane's impeachment will resume on Tuesday.
- A ConCourt ruling opened the way for the process to continue.
- The committee will now decide on its programme.
The committee handling Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane's impeachment will resume its work on Tuesday after a six-month hiatus due to court processes.
Two weeks ago, the Constitutional Court effectively gave Parliament the green light to continue with the impeachment.
Mkhwebane must now be allowed legal representation when the hearings take place.
The process does not have to start from scratch because the court found nothing unconstitutional had taken place in the process so far.
At the National Assembly Programming Committee's meeting on Thursday, DA deputy chief whip Siviwe Gwarube enquired about the committee, which is called a Section 194 committee after the section of the Constitution dealing with the removal of the head of a Chapter 9 institution.
House chairperson, or chair of chairs as he's known in Parliament, Cedric Frolick, said he signed off on the committee meeting on Tuesday.
He said the committee would then determine its programme.
In August last year, after a ruling by the Western Cape High Court put the brakes on the proceedings, the Section 194 committee had already been constituted, with ANC MP Richard Dyantyi elected as its chairperson, but it hadn't started with the inquiry.
In line with the court's ruling, which the Constitutional Court upheld, Mkhwebane will be entitled to have a legal representative during the hearings.
In December 2019, days after the National Assembly adopted rules for removing a Chapter 9 head, like the Public Protector, DA chief whip Natasha Mazzone brought a motion for Mkhwebane's removal to former National Assembly Speaker Thandi Modise.
However, in February 2020, Mazzone withdrew the motion and lodged another, with what Mazzone considered evidence for Mkhwebane's removal.
The process then stalled as Parliament was seized with the Covid-19 pandemic.
Modise appointed Justice Bess Nkabinde, advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza SC and advocate Johan de Waal SC in November last year to an independent panel, which had to determine whether there was a prima facie case for Mkhwebane's removal.
READ | ConCourt says no to impunity for Chapter 9 heads, Parliament can continue Mkhwebane's impeachment
The panel reported to Modise in February 2021, with the finding that there was a prima facie case to institute removal proceedings against Mkhwebane.
On 16 March 2021, the National Assembly decided to impeach Mkhwebane - the first Chapter 9 head to suffer this fate.
The Section 194 committee must report back to the National Assembly with a recommendation on whether or not Mkhwebane should be removed.
A two-thirds majority vote is required to remove the Public Protector.
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