Durban - With embattled Public Protector getting another legal smackdown on Monday morning at the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, more people are joining the crowdfunding effort to raise money to pay her R900 000 legal bill.
So huge are the efforts to raise the funds is that it has even been joined by citizens of neighboring countries.
On Monday the campaign had raised R50 266 and the leaders of the campaign were hopeful that they would eventually hit the R900 000 mark they were aiming. The money is needed to pay the legal costs personally levied on Mkhwebane by the Constitutional Court over the ABSA/Bankorp investigation which was later set aside.
Speaking to Independent Media on Monday, Thabo Mtsweni, the chairperson of Democracy in Action, the civic organisation driving the crowd funding campaign, said they recently received a E500 (equivalent to R500 as the currency of eSwatini, Lilangeni, is pegged to the Rand) from a Swati national.
The money was sent through FNB from the landlocked kingdom on Friday last week and the donor referenced himself as Goje, the praise names of the Sibandze surname.
“We recently received a donation from Swaziland… I think the people who are donating from outside South Africa are people who have an interest in our politics and are following it closely. They are seeing what is happening to the Public Protector,” Mtsweni said.
Mtsweni added that other the financial donations they get from people outside the country’s borders, they also get a tonne of messages of support. He said they recently received some messages from citizens of Uganda and Malawi.
“We are also receiving a lot of messages of support for the Public Protector and it is not only South Africans sending them but also people from outside the country.”
Mtsweni said the lowest amount they have ever received was R5 and the highest was R4000.
While some of the donors make their names known, Mtsweni said others prefer to make donations anonymously.