Cape Town - The ANC avoided a potentially bruising clash with opposition parties over the choice of a new public protector by dropping Judge Siraj Desai, widely seen as its preferred candidate.
In place of Desai, all parties except the DA settled on advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane as the candidate to be recommended for adoption by a 60 percent majority in the National Assembly.
The ad hoc committee on the public protector is to meet again on Wednesday, the deadline for it to finalise and submit its report on the process, which will then be debated and voted on by a full sitting.
It became clear early during Wednesday's meeting of the committee that opposition parties would dig in their heels over Desai, and the ANC was open to a compromise.
EFF leader Julius Malema, a member of the committee, who did not attend the candidate interviews, announced as soon as chairwoman Makhosi Khoza opened the floor for discussion that he was there only to make sure Desai was not chosen.
The DA and other opposition parties were similarly vehement, with DA MP Glynnis Breytenbach saying Desai had a poor interview and was “rude, aggressive, arrogant and dismissive of members of the committee”.
Malema added to his initial objection by pointing out Desai had failed to answer EFF MP Floyd Shivambu’s question about his attitude to the #RememberKhwezi protest at the Independent Electoral Commission results centre earlier this month. Desai had an opportunity to express a view on the prevalence of “rape culture” in the country and, despite being asked the question twice, had said nothing.
Mkhwebane, by contrast, enjoyed almost universal support in the committee.