Cape Town - The issue of suspended Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s investigation into the controversial Free State Agriculture Department’s Vrede Dairy Project and her report on it returned to the fore during Parliament’s inquiry into her fitness to hold office.
The matter was at the core of the evidence from yet another former senior investigator at the office of the Public Protector of South Africa (PPSA), advocate Nditsheni Raedani.
In his evidence Raedani accused Mkhwebane of protecting politicians implicated in the report. The committee has previously heard that Free State politicians implicated in the report included former premier Ace Magashule and the then Agriculture MEC, Mosebenzi Zwane.
Three weeks ago Raedani featured in PPSA whistle-blower Tebogo Kekana’s testimony at the inquiry. Kekana, a former PPSA investigator, also told the hearing that Mkhwebane had instructed that the names of politicians be removed from the Vrede Dairy report.
Raedani, whose role at the PPSA included quality assurance of reports, testified that Mkhwebane tampered with the report implicating Magashule and Zwane.
During cross-examination Mkhwebane’s lawyer, advocate Dali Mpofu SC, got Raedani to admit that in general it was possible for adverse findings to have been removed from the public protector’s draft reports in the editing process or if suitable explanations had been given for them.
Raedani agreed with Mpofu and said that even internal contributions to debates about issues from colleagues during the compiling of reports could cause certain issues to be cut.
At this point Mpofu said internal debates in the office were how the controversial findings against Magashule and Zwane were removed from the final report.
Earlier, evidence leader Nazreen Bawa SC gave the background to the Pretoria High Court case that was brought against Mkhwebane as a result of the report on the project. She took the committee through the parts of Judge Ronel Tolmay’s judgment that dealt with costs.
In August 2019 the judge ordered punitive costs against Mkhwebane with regard to the project in a case that was brought by the DA and the Council for the Advancement of the SA Constitution (Casac) which both launched high court applications based on the same facts.
The parties sought to have the report reviewed and set aside because it was alleged that Mkhwebane had acted unlawfully and had violated her constitutional mandate in her investigation into the Vrede Dairy.
Judge Tolmay said Mkhwebane had failed to investigate numerous irregularities properly and objectively by not interviewing victims and provincial politicians implicated in the Estina matter and ordered the public protector’s office to pay 85% of the DA’s and Casac’s costs.
The dairy project was eventually found to have been defrauded of about R230 million.
Raedani also testified that he was actively involved in union activities through the Public Servants Association where he was a shop steward and said that this activity, his closeness to former PPSA Thuli Madonsela and a number of disagreements with Mkhwebane resulted in his being targeted by her.