Cape Town - The Committee for the Section 194 Inquiry into Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s fitness to hold office will today meet for the first time this year before hearings expected to resume as scheduled on January 30.
Committee spokesperson Rajaa Azzakani said members would be briefed on correspondence before the committee and also discuss housekeeping matters during the virtual meeting.
The committee was forced to adjourn on December 5 after it emerged that its anticipated witness, Zambian public protector Caroline Zulu-Sokoni, was not available to testify because she had just been appointed as a judge and as such required Zambian government clearance.
On November 24, the Zambian Independent Observer newspaper reported that President Hakainde Hichilema had appointed Zulu-Sokoni a judge of the high court subject to ratification.
Mkhwebane’s senior counsel, Dali Mpofu, told the committee that as a result of her appointment, Zulu-Sokoni was required to inform the Zambian government that she planned to travel outside the country to address South Africa’s Parliament.
Mpofu said because the processes for her appointment as a judge were taking longer than initially expected, Zulu-Sokoni would only be available to testify this month.
During that meeting, committee chairperson Qubudile Dyantyi wanted to know when the issue of the permission certificate became known.
Zulu-Sokoni, attending virtually, said that was the process for all government officials wanting to leave the country, whether work-related or personal.
She said she was only informed that she would be appointed as a judge two weeks earlier and had been cautioned by her office that even if her testimony was virtual, it would be better if she informed her government first.
At the end of the committee’s December 5 meeting Dyantyi told members the latest committee draft programme had been approved by Parliament’s presiding officers.
He said Parliament had given the committee until April 21 to wrap up hearings and that a firm indication had been given that that deadline would not be extended.
“We will have to finalise our work within that time frame. We will have to allocate the witness onto this programme,” Dyantyi said.