Politics

Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane Wants Impeachment Halted After Court Ruling

Thursday, July 29, 2021 at 2:23 PM by Lebogang Mashego

Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane believes her impeachment trial can be halted based on the Western Cape High Court's ruling
The Western Cape High Court dismissed Mkhwebane's application to declare the rules for the removal of a Chapter 9 head unconstitutional
While the court dismissed her application, the court agreed with Mkhwebane on two points that she made

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CAPE TOWN - Public Protector Busiswe Mkhwebane had high hopes after the Western Cape High Court in Cape Town ruled in favour of two out of the 12 points she made in her application to have the regulations to remove the head of a Chapter 9 institution declared unconstitutional.

Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane, Impeachment, Western Cape High Court, judgement, Chapter 9 — The Western Cape High Court dismissed Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane's application to declare the rules of removing a Chapter 9 head unconstitutional. Image: Moeletsi Mabe
Source: Getty Images

Despite the Western Cape High Court dismissing her application altogether, Mkhwebane believes that the two points the court agreed with were enough to halt her impeachment process, according to a report by News24.

High Court agrees with 2 points out of 12 raised in Mkhwebane's application

The High Court stated in favour of Mkhwebane that the rules were amended to allow a Chapter 9 head the opportunity to have legal representation present when appearing before a Section 194 committee.

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The court also stated that judges should not be on an independent panel that would decide the fate of a Chapter 9 head. Based on these two points the impeachment process needed to be halted with immediate effect, according to a report by eNCA.

Mkhwebane urged the National Assembly to enable the necessary process of changing the rules before they can be put into effect legally.

Based on the high court's judgement, the independent panel that had been appointed to hear Mkhewabane's impeachment case, which was to be chaired by Justice Bess Nkabinde, is now invalid.

Public Protector Mkhwebane challenges Constitutional Court judgement not to unseal Ramaphosa CR17 documents

Briefly News previously reported that Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane is approaching the Constitutional Court in an application to have the court rescind its judgement to keep President Cyril Ramaphosa's CR17 bank statements sealed.

In a statement issued on Sunday, Mkhwebane stated that the application is to ask the Constitutional Court to either rescind or reconsider the ruling made earlier this month, according to the Daily Maverick.

Mkhwebane had initially approached ConCourt to appeal the Gauteng High Court's ruling to keep Ramaphosa's CR17 bank statements sealed.

The Constitutional Court maintained the decision made by the High Court, stating that it was not within the office of the Public Protector's purview to investigate Ramaphosa's ANC presidential campaign.

Mkhwebane is particularly challenging the fact that the Constitutional Court stated that she had changed the Executive Code of Ethics in her investigation into Ramaphosa's CR17 campaign.