The Chief Operating Officer of the Office of the Public Protector (PPSA), Charles Mohalaba, has resigned from the PPSA, giving 24 hours’ notice of his departure this week.
Mohalaba told News24 that ‘my time at the PPSA is a period I wish to quickly forget about in my whole professional career.’
Mohalaba is the second COO to resign under Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s tenure. Former COO Basani Baloyi left under a controversy in 2019, alleging ‘rot at the core’ of Mkhwebane’s office.
Baloyi approached the Constitutional Court in 2020 after unsuccessfully applying to the North Gauteng High Court to declare that Mkhwebane had failed in her duties as the Public Protector in dismissing Baloyi the previous year, alleging Mkhwebane had acted in her own self-interest.
Mkhwebane embarked on a sweeping purge in 2019, firing Baloyi and suspending four senior officials and investigators: executive manager Pona Mogaladi, chief investigator Abongile Madiba, chief investigator Lesedi Sekele and senior investigator Tebogo Kekana.
The PPSA has not yet provided comment.