Parliament’s inquiry into Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s removal from office is set to proceed, it emerged at Thursday’s programming committee. Hours later, before the justice committee, Mkhwebane asked for help as her remedial actions seem to be increasingly ignored.
It was never going to be easy to hold an inquiry into the removal from office of Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane. But it’s a step closer now – three years after the first complaint from the DA in September 2017, the adoption of a new parliamentary rule, a flurry of letters and court action.
On Thursday, National Assembly Speaker Thandi Modise told the programming committee that “in place before me” were the names of members of the independent panel that would make a first assessment on whether the Public Protector had a case to answer.
It’s procedurally complicated. Following a complaint motion, once approved by the speaker, political parties nominate candidates for a three-person independent panel that is the first stage of a two-stage removal procedure under the parliamentary rule Removal of Office Bearers in Institutions Supporting Constitutional Democracy. Adopted in early December 2019, the rule sets out a 17-step process that may end in the constitutionally required two-thirds vote in…
Comments