National Assembly speaker Thandi Modise has agreed to the United Democratic Movement’s (UDM) request to change how the committee handling Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s impeachment will vote.
Parliament announced in April that the impeachment committee would comprise 26 MPs who would conduct the inquiry into Mkwhebane’s fitness to hold office.
Only 11 of the 26 MPs from the ANC, DA, EFF, IFP, and FF Plus would have been voting members of the committee, while the remaining 15 would be non-voting members, including the UDM.
The UDM complained about this and wanted all members of the committee to have equal voting rights, instead of a weighted voting system.
In March, MPs in the National Assembly voted to impeach Mkhwebane after an independent panel that found sufficient prima facie evidence of incompetence and misconduct on her part and recommended that an impeachment committee be convened.