Parliament wrapped up the grilling of the last batch of candidates vying for the position of public protector, with deputy to incumbent Busisiwe Mkhwebane coming under heavy scrutiny from the opposition parties.
The interviews, held over two days, will result in the ad hoc committee nominating a person for appointment, by making a recommendation to the National Assembly.
The preferred candidate will require 60% of the votes in order for his or her name to be forwarded to President Cyril Ramaphosa for appointment before the end of Mkhwebane’s term in October.
Thursday’s interviews saw Acting Public Protector Kholeka Gcaleka’s past regarding her probe into the Phala Phala scandal and her stint at the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) come back to haunt her.
The opposition parties did not spare her any tough questions, with DA MP Glynnis Breytenbach voicing her support to former NPA head Menzi Simelane, when she was chairperson of the Prosecutors' Association.
In her response, Gcaleka said she was supportive of the transformative agenda Simelane stood for at the time.
“It is an agenda I still support even in the Office of the Public Protector,” she said.
When EFF MP Omphile Maotwe raised Gcaleka’s membership of the ANC Youth League, she said: “I possess no membership of the ANC or any other political party.”
Gcaleka denied an assertion by Maotwe that she had failed the initial security vetting when she was to be appointed as an advisor to former finance minister Malusi Gigaba.
She also insisted that she was acting ethically when she terminated the funding of legal fees of Mkhwebane in March earlier this year.
Gcaleka said she exercised her public power and had acted within her role and responsibility as an accounting officer at Public Protector South Africa.
Earlier, Pension Funds Adjudicator Muvhango Lukhaimane said the challenges of the Office of the Public Protector and country required someone who had proven experience in governance and administration.
Lukhaimane also said the office required someone who could discharge the mandate of the office in a way that showed integrity, discipline and the ability to perform and achieve.
“Given my qualifications, I am qualified to do the post. I have legal degrees up to Master’s in law and business administration.
“I am well vested with experience to run the office to deal with complainants, and have experience in governance issues and public administration,” she said.
Another candidate, Professor Boitumelo Mmusinyane, said the Office of the Public Protector needed someone who was not connected to anything.
The deputy director at North West University’s law faculty said he could neither be bought nor threatened. He vowed to enforce what the Constitution prescribes and follow what law says.
“While I do investigations, I will do so without fear, favour or prejudice. I will do it to the best of my ability,” he said. “I am confident that my findings will always be justified by facts and the law, and nothing else,” Mmusinyane said.
Magistrate Johannah Ledwaba, despite wrongly naming the Home Affairs Department as a Chapter 9 Institution in the questionnaire and mistaking the National Assembly Speaker as the person to suspend the public protector, said she was suitable for the position because there was not much difference in her profession and that of a public protector.
She also cited her experience and qualifications.
“The position I am holding now, I am a presiding officer. I uphold the law,” she said.
“I am accountable and I exercise my duty without fear, favour or prejudice. I uphold the Constitution and the law,’” she said.
The committee will meet on Tuesday to deliberate on the interviews.
Cape Times