Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen says Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane should step down in the wake of the Gauteng High Court’s scathing judgment against her in the matter between her and President Cyril Ramaphosa, involving donations to his CR17 campaign.
In a statement, Steenhuisen said: ‘Yet again, the courts have found Mkhwebane to be unable to perform her responsibilities in a competent, fair and unbiased manner. We hope this brings to an end her disastrous chapter in office. The DA has consistently fought it, ever since her name was first put forward as a possible candidate for appointment.’
He added: ‘Mkhwebane should now do the honourable thing and resign. She is now so tainted and deeply compromised that any of her future findings will be questioned.’
Steenhuisen said Mkhwebane’s ‘incompetence has let the president off the hook, when in fact he has much to answer for’.
‘A finding against a Public Protector as compromised and incompetent as Mkhwebane does not mean that Ramaphosa is automatically innocent of all claims against him.
‘These crucial questions still need answers:
- ‘What services did Andile Ramaphosa deliver for R2 million and why did this contract coincide precisely with Ramaphosa’s election as ANC president?
- ‘What was the connection between Andile’s consultancy and the massive contracts Bosasa got from the state?
- ‘Why did Bosasa CEO Gavin Watson’s R500 000 donation to the CR17 campaign move through a number of accounts before ending up in the campaign bank account?
- ‘What exactly is the financial relationship between Cyril Ramaphosa and Bosasa and between the ANC and Bosasa? and
- ‘The Bosasa donation was part of a R400 million campaign budget. Considering there were only 4500 delegates voting, what was this money spent on?’
Steenhuisen said that ‘successive court rulings against her, as well as photos of such known state capture agents as Mosebenzi Zwane and Bongani Bongo at her 50th birthday party, support the DA’s long-held view that Mkhwebane is not fit for office, that her appointment was politically motivated, that she is aligned to the pro-Zuma faction of the ANC, and that hers was a state capture deployment all along’.
He hoped the latest finding would add weight to the DA’s motion in the National Assembly to have her removed from office.
He said: ‘In an ideal world, we should have a public protector who is able to carry out her duty to protect the public in an unbiased and competent manner and we should have a president who does not allow those connected to him to benefit financially from his position of power. Unfortunately, we have neither.’