Cape Town - The committee inquiring into suspended Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s fitness to hold office has adjourned for a week after refusing a request to postpone her testimony, which is set for March 15.
Mkhwebane’s legal team had made a written request for a further extension of the date when she is required to provide her statement following committee chairperson Qubudile Dyantyi’s previous agreement to extend the original deadline for this from March 7 to March 9 and 14.
On Tuesday, Mkhwebane’s legal team, led by senior counsel Dali Mpofu, had asked for the date for the deadline to provide the statement to be pushed to March 20.
Mkhwebane also asked that the date of her testimony be moved to March 27 instead of March 15, as per the programme.
Summarising the committee discussions on the matter, Dyantyi said that the committee had already granted one postponement for receipt of Mkhwebane’s affidavit, and would allow additional time for preparation of the statement without moving the date for her appearance.
Dyantyi said: “Our programme at this stage is to finalise the evidence on March 30. We had already granted a two-day postponement, factoring in former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela’s testimony.”
Referring to the committee’s operational directives, Dyantyi said they did not specify that an affidavit must precede the testimony. He said committee members were of the firm view that the process was not open-ended.
He said the committee was also taking into consideration the letter it received from the PPSA regarding the financial difficulties that the office finds itself in.
According to the letter, due to financial constraints, the PPSA can only pay legal fees for Mkhwebane in respect of the hearings until the end of the financial year, March 31.
Dyantyi said: “The committee is of the view that it cannot put the PPSA under further strain where they could be incurring irregular expenditure. We will be the very people to question them on this.”
Regarding Mkhwebane’s request to call further witnesses, the committee resolved that at this stage it will accept statements from the witnesses provided by Mkhwebane’s lawyers and then make a decision on the relevance and necessity of calling for oral evidence.