Democratic Alliance (DA) Shadow Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Glynnis Breytenbach said her party had always maintained that Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane was not a suitable candidate to lead the Office of the Public Protector as a crucial institution in the fight against injustice and corruption.

This was after today’s scathing judgment by the North Gauteng High court, setting aside Mkhwebane’s Bankorp-CIEX report, which had ordered financial institution Absa to pay R1.1-billion for an apartheid-era bailout provided to its predecessor, Bankorp, by the South African Reserve Bank.

The court has ordered Mkhwebane to personally pay 15% of the costs, while 85% must be paid by her office.

Breytenbach said this was not the first time Mkhwebane had wasted “precious resources on frivolous court applications . . . Since her appointment, she’s wastefully incurred legal costs.”

The DA said this judgment against the Public Protector was more proof that she should immediately be removed from office.

“It also constitutes a scathing indictment on the ANC members of the Justice Portfolio Committee, who – on the same grounds found by the court today – refused to consider our request to remove her,” said the DA.