Elite crime fighting unit the Hawks on Tuesday confirmed it will investigate a fraud case against embattled public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane.
The investigation follows charges laid at the Ocean View police station in Cape Town by nonprofit organisation Accountability Now’s director Paul Hoffman.
Hoffman submitted an affidavit to the police on Monday in which he recommended that charges of perjury and defeating the ends of justice be brought against Mkhwebane as a result of the Constitutional Court judgment in which her conduct, among other things, was labelled dishonest.
Mkhwebane has been embroiled in a political war with President Cyril Ramaphosa and public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan, both of whom have faced investigations by the public protector and against whom she has made adverse findings.
Three different reports — two regarding Gordhan and one involving Ramaphosa — are being taken on judicial review, moving the battles to the courts. Mkhwebane has been accused of using her office to fight internal ANC factional battles. She has denied this.
Hoffman said in his affidavit that “while the matter was in the nature of civil proceedings the findings of fact in relation to dishonesty, deliberate misrepresentation of facts and an attempt to mislead the courts all involve criminal activities on the part of the accused”.
He added that it “would appear from the said findings that the accused is guilty of perjury and defeating the ends of justice”.
Western Cape police spokesperson Lt-Col Andre Traut confirmed a fraud case had been reported at the Ocean View police station on Monday, as per the case number provided by Hoffman, but said the identities of the parties concerned could not be disclosed. He said the case would be investigated by the Hawks.
Hawks spokesperson Brig Hangwani Mulaudzi said the docket was still in transit and had not yet arrived at the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation. “Until we read it, we can’t make any comment on the content of the docket,” Mulaudzi said.
Accountability Now has also laid a complaint with Mkhwebane’s office, asking that she be investigated for maladministration.
Hoffman said that if recent media reports, based on interviews with Mkhwebane as well as her actions on social media, were accurate “the office has a huge maladministration problem in the form of advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s utterances and actions, as set out in the reports”.
He said that he asked the office of the public protector to verify the accuracy of the remarks attributed to Mkhwebane in summaries in Legalbrief and “if they are accurate, an investigation of the way in which the advocate is leading the office is required and appropriate remedial action in a form allowed by law is required”.
Hoffman said the maladministration complaint against Mkhwebane will have to be investigated by her deputy as she cannot investigate herself.
The public protector’s office did not respond to requests for comment by the time of publication.
The intensified approach by Accountability Now follows its first move three weeks ago when it asked the Legal Practice Council (LPC) to bring an application to have her struck from the roll of advocates.
The LPC said last week the complaint was sent to the relevant provincial office for processing, “like all other complaints received by council”.
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