Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane will have to wait six weeks to find out whether she has succeeded in her attempt to have two of the perjury charges against her dropped.

Mkhwebane appeared in the Pretoria Magistrate's Court on Wednesday.

Prosecutor advocate Zinzile Matebese SC asked for a six-week postponement, saying National Director of Public Prosecutions Shamila Batohi will have a decision by then.

Meanwhile, Mkhwebane's legal representative, advocate Dali Mpofu SC, told the court his client was "aggrieved" by having to come to court "so many times".

He said Mkhwebane should be excused from coming to court on the next date.

The matter was postponed to 2 December for the outcome of the representation, and the State agreed that there would be no need for her to appear in court.

Mkhwebane has become the first Public Protector to be criminally charged and faces three counts of perjury.

However, following representations to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in Gauteng, one of the charges was withdrawn.

News24 previously reported that the perjury charges, laid against Mkhwebane by non-profit organisation Accountability Now in August 2019, stem from the findings of the Constitutional Court in the Absa/Bankorp review case.

In December 2020, the Gauteng DPP announced the decision to criminally prosecute the Public Protector.

Mkhwebane is accused of lying under oath in November 2017 when she unlawfully and intentionally deposed to an answering affidavit under oath in a Gauteng High Court review application.

The review application followed a judgment on her report in which she directed the Special Investigating Unit to recover R1.125-billion in "misappropriated public funds", describing the funds as an "illegal gift" given to Bankorp by the SA Reserve Bank in the 1980s.

The Constitutional Court judgment upheld the February 2018 Gauteng High Court ruling that Mkhwebane pay 15% of the Reserve Bank's legal fees in the Absa/Bankorp review case, Fin24 previously reported.

The apex court agreed with the lower court ruling that her entire Absa/Bankorp investigation was flawed and that she was not honest during her investigation.

It also found that Mkhwebane had acted in bad faith and put forward a "number of falsehoods" during the litigation, Fin24 reported.