The committee chairperson for the Section 194 Enquiry into Public Protector (PP) Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s fitness to hold office, Qubudile Dyantyi, emphasised on Tuesday that the deadlines set by the committee for Mkhwebane to submit written notice will not be extended any further.

This after Mkhwebane failed to meet another deadline on July 7. She had also missed a June 19 deadline to submit additional information for the committee’s consideration.

The committee was established on March 16, 2021 to conduct a constitutional enquiry into the PP’s fitness to hold office.

Dyantyi said up to this point, Mkhwebane had failed to meet any of the deadlines stipulated in the new path that the committee was forced to take so as to fulfil its constitutional mandate and finalise its work.

He explained that, according to the new timetable, Mkhwebane had to submit written notice to the committee secretariat indicating whether she will make a closing statement and the format of her statement by no later than July 7.

He noted that the committee’s July 28 deadline for the consideration of the draft report for its adoption would still stand.

“In fact, to the contrary, her continued non-response to questions and deadlines means that we may produce a report much sooner than initially planned because there would be no reason for the chairperson not to direct evidence leader to do the summation earlier than planned or to convene a committee meeting earlier than 28 July if this is practical,” he added.

He noted that the committee provided an opportunity to Mkhwebane to explain her version of the allegations against her, but she failed to respond.

“This is not the first deadline missed by Adv Mkhwebane since the committee was forced to forge a new path after various challenges and delays arose in relation to the PP’s legal assistance, even though the Public Protector South Africa made another R4-million available in additional funds and the PP was granted permission to retain all three of her counsel at increased fees,” explained Dyantyi.
 
Last week Mkhwebane also ignored the deadline to respond to written questions posed by Members and evidence leaders. Mkhwebane was also due to notify the committee by June 19, whether she would be responding to questions in writing or orally.

Dyantyi noted that Mkhwebane was granted another opportunity, until June 22, to submit any additional affidavits or documentation in support of Part B of her statement or in relation to the evidence leaders’ presentation to the committee on Part A of her statement to the extent that there is a part that was not addressed in her oral evidence or written statement.
 
“Adv Mkhwebane did not meet the deadline of 19 June and did not submit any additional information for the committee’s consideration. On 25 June 2023, two sets of questions – one by Members of the committee and one by evidence leaders – were sent to Chaane Attorneys, Adv Mkhwebane’s attorneys of record. This due date was also not adhered to,” he added.