The impeachment process of the sitting public protector, Busisiwe Mkhwebane, will resume next week. The committee, which is tasked with handling the impeachment process, will be meeting next week Tuesday to execute its task.
The Constitutional court gave a green light two weeks ago for the process of impeachment to resume. The Committee called section 194 will be tasked with dealing with the current head of Chapter 9 institution.
The decision for the impeachment process to happen did not come without a fight. There was a ruling at the Western Cape High Court which stopped the whole process. The committee led by Richard Dyantyi, the elected chairperson, was about to start the process, but was halted by the court.
In 2019 the Democratic Alliance chief whip Natasha Mazzone brought the motion to remove the public protector from office. She withdrew the motion in February 2020 and launched a new motion with substantial evidence. On 16 March the National Assembly took a decision to move forward with the impeachment process
The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic stalled the matter even more. Busisiwe approached the courts with the hope that she would get impunity. The court rejected the call for impunity and gave way to parliament to continue with the impeachment process.
A two thirds majority will be needed to remove the sitting public protector. The section 194 committee needs to give feedback to parliament on whether there are grounds to remove the public protector. This would be the first of its kind.
Source: Daily Maverick, News24, image from News24
