Cape Town – The Western Cape High Court has reserved judgment in the application by Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane to halt the parliamentary process aimed to remove her from office.
Mkhwebane launched the application early this year to interdict National Assembly Speaker Thandi Modise from taking further steps in her removal from office until she obtains relief wherein she wants to set aside the rules and have them declared unconstitutional.
The court is set to hear her application, to set the rules aside and have them declared unconstitutional, in two months’ time.
Mkhwebane's legal representative, advocate Dali Mpofu, said the primary relief sought was a declaration of unconstitutionality in the rules of Parliament.
"This case must not be seen as interim relief pending a review. It is pending declaration of constitutionality," Mpofu said.
He told the court that Mkhwebane was set to suffer irreparable harm if she was not granted the interdict.
He said her application to be heard later in the year was likely to succeed on several grounds. "We are interested in what might happen in the interim."
Mpofu also said there was no foreseeable harm to Modise and that granting the interdict would not thwart her constitutional mandate.
However, he said if the removal process was not suspended, Mkhwebane faced being disciplined by the National Assembly.
Mkhwebane's career and personal circumstances were to be impacted. "These fears are not misplaced," he said.
Asked about assertion by Mkhwebane that she did not believe she would be impeached on the basis of numbers, Mpofu said the process of facing the parliamentary committee and being disciplined constituted irreparable harm.
Mpofu also said her suspension during the parliamentary process would impact on the poor served by her office and it would destabilise her office.
He said Modise was meant to evaluate the motion submitted by the DA both in procedural and substantive aspects but did not do so.
"She did not apply her mind to relevant factors, whether the motion complies with constitutionality," he said, adding that she did not apply her mind to law.
Political Bureau