Accountability Now has launched an urgent bid in the high court in Pretoria to have public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane declared unfit to hold office.
The public protector, whose credibility has been damaged by her losing court challenges in key cases, is also facing the prospect of a parliamentary inquiry into her fitness to hold office. Business, the DA and ANC alliance partner the SACP have all called for Mkhwebane’s removal, as her credibility has been dented by the various adverse judicial findings.
The SACP had also said she should not be used as the “hired gun" of the fightback against President Cyril Ramaphosa’s administration.
The move by Accountability Now is the latest in a series of actions taken by the nongovernmental organisation against Mkhwebane, including laying criminal charges against her after the Constitutional Court found that she had misled the courts under oath.
The judgment gave impetus to calls from those who believed she should be removed from office.
The Constitutional Court upheld an order by the high court that Mkhwebane pay a portion of the costs out of her own pocket, as a result of her conduct in the case involving her investigation into the apartheid-era bailout from the SA Reserve Bank to Bankorp.
Accountability Now said in a statement on Wednesday that its urgent application was based on the adverse findings against Mkhwebane.
“The Pretoria high court has now been approached to grant declaratory and mandatory relief in respect of her conduct and her competence by declaring that the public protector is no longer fit for office," the nongovernmental organisation said.
It said the matter was provisionally set down to be heard on October 22.
Accountability Now has also asked the Legal Practice Council (LPC) to investigate her conduct and consider bringing an application to have her struck from the roll of advocates.
The LPC referred the matter to a provincial office for processing in July. It is not yet known whether any decision was taken by the body, which regulates the conduct of legal practitioners.
While Accountability Now is trying several methods to ultimately have Mkhwebane declared unfit for the job, parliament has broadly agreed on the process that needed to be followed to remove heads of Chapter Nine institutions, such as the public protector.
The need for rules dealing with the removal of these individuals arose due to the DA’s bid to have Mkhwebane removed from office on grounds of incompetence.
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