Johannesburg - The ANC believes Parliament’s inquiry which will look into Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane's fitness to hold office is nothing but an opportunistic exercise by opposition parties.
On Tuesday Parliament's Justice Committee agreed to hold an inquiry into Mkhwebane’s fitness to hold office, following the DA's request asking National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete to look into the public protector's ability to do her job.
The matter on if there should be an ad hoc committee set-up to look into the matter, caused a fracas among ANC MPs who did not support the committee chairperson, Mothole Motshekga's recommendation that an ad hoc committee should take charge over the issue.
Some ANC MPs said the justice committee was the perfect avenue to follow to discipline Mkhwebane.
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The ANC has come out in defence of the public protector, who has been in the position for a year. It said the charge to sack her was led by opposition parties' unhappiness with the cases that Mkhwebane has handled.
One of these cases is the controversial investigation into the CIEX report that investigated monies that were given to Bankorp by the SA Reserve Bank in the early 1990s.
“During her tenure, she has chosen to focus her attention on serving the masses of our people rather than solely conducting Hollywood style investigations. Further, she has dared to question the mandate of the Reserve Bank and called upon ABSA, successor to apartheid era bank Bankorp to repay monies lent to them by the Reserve Bank. She has clearly rattled cages and unsettled entrenched interests," said the ANC on Wednesday.
Mkhwebane’s recommendations, which included changing the current mandate of the central bank, have been successfully challenged in court.
The party said Mkhwebane had done nothing wrong and as a result nothing warranted her removal from office, according to the Constitution.
"The proposed inquiry is merely a witch-hunt designed by the opposition to intimidate her into silence and bend her to their warped views on what constitutes the work of the Public Protector," said the ANC.