<\/p>\n
Pretoria – A former lead investigator in the Office of the Public Protector, Tebogo Kekana, told the parliamentary committee that Busisiwe Mkhwebane failed to follow standard procedure while compiling a report on the South African Reserve Bank (SARB).<\/p>\n
Kekana was giving his testimony on Monday after he was subpoenaed to appear in the hearings into the suspended public protector’s fitness to hold office.<\/p>\n
In his affidavit, Kekana said during his time at the public protector\u2019s office, he witnessed several troubling instances of improper conduct by Mkhwebane.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt that I needed to report misconduct which I had observed at the office of the public protector.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kekana told the inquiry that Mkhwebane\u2019s provisional CIEX report, also known as the SARB report, was never quality assured before it was leaked, he said was a crucial departure from standard procedure.<\/p>\n
He said when he was drafting the final report, Mkhwebane told him that he must find a way to include a recommendation in the final report in terms of which the Constitution would have to be amended to cater for the nationalisation of SARB.<\/p>\n
“None of the drafts which I prepared included a recommendation that the SARB be nationalised. This was because I did not believe that this recommendation was warranted based on the findings of the investigation.<\/p>\n
“In fact I thought that such recommendation was bizarre,\u201c Kekana said.<\/p>\n
In his affidavit, Kekana also added that told Mkhwebane did not want the Gupta Leaks report to be used in the Vrede dairy farm investigation, and did not want any findings against politicians such as the former Premier of the Free State, Ace Magashule, and MEC for the Free State Department of Agriculture, Mosebenzi Zwane.<\/p>\n
He said he was appointed as lead investigator in the Vrede dairy farm matter after Mkhwebane removed the matter from the initial investigator claiming that she was a member of the Democratic Alliance (DA).<\/p>\n
He said most of the evidence needed for the investigation was contained in the leaked emails of members of the Gupta family, however, Mkhwebane, stated that the emails were not to be used in the investigation or included in the report.<\/p>\n
Kekana joined the office of the public protector in 2011. After Mkhwebane’s appointment in 2016, he was appointed as a senior investigator in the quality assurance unit. <\/p>\n
In January 2017, he was transferred to the private office of the public protector and reported directly to Mkhwebane.<\/p>\n
The 44-year-old was placed on precautionary suspension in August 2019.<\/p>\n
He will continue with his testimony on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
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