<\/p>\n
Cape Town – Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane\u2019s legal team signalled on Wednesday that it would take whatever legal steps necessary to get President Cyril Ramaphosa to appear before the impeachment inquiry.<\/p>\n
This comes after the Section 194 Committee declined on Tuesday a request to subpoena Ramaphosa after he refused Mkhwebane’s request to appear voluntarily.<\/p>\n
The committee took its decision after it received legal opinion.<\/p>\n
Addressing the committee, Mkhwebane\u2019s legal counsel Advocate Dali Mpofu yesterday noted they received the outcome of the committee\u2019s deliberation through the media.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe said we did not want to discuss it in the media, unfortunately the committee saw fit to release a media statement before informing us of the development,\u201d Mpofu said.<\/p>\n
He also noted that GOOD Party secretary-general Brett Herron\u2019s proposal that the committee should get more information was defeated.<\/p>\n
Mpofu said they agreed with the legal opinion that there was no legal impediment prohibiting calling Ramaphosa.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe only legal impediment is the vote of the committee,\u201d he said, adding that they should have been asked to explain certain things if they were not clear in their request to summon the president.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough we had to address him at his work place, we were not calling him in his capacity as the president of the country, but as a citizen, like any witness, who has implicated the Public Protector in alleged conduct, which will be impeachable before this committee.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is not in a different position from Johan van Loggerenberg, Ivan Pillay and other witnesses who made allegations in the affidavits.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mpofu said they did not accept the majority decision of the committee to go against the legal opinion and not being given an opportunity to clarify where there might have been lack of clarity in their request.<\/p>\n
\u201cFailing all of that, if you are not prepared to go that route, then we will take your letter at face value as the final word on the issue, and we will take whatever legal steps necessary to secure the presence of this necessary witness,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Mpofu insisted that Ramaphosa should be viewed as a witness deemed necessary by Mkhwebane and complained that failure to summon Ramaphosa might affect the sequencing of their witnesses.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will advise you as soon as we have worked out our legal position in terms of the legal opinion that we are to formulate around these issues.<\/p>\n
\u201cHopefully before Friday, but you must rest assured that we don\u2019t accept the decision to the extent that it will be challenged and whatever implication for this body, we will address you further,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Committee chairperson Qubudile Dyantyi said the committee satisfied itself and decided the matter did not pass the test when it took that decision.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will await any response you will formally write back to the committee based on that letter,\u201d Dyantyi said in reference to correspondence to Mpofu communicating their decision.<\/p>\n
He also said the nature of oversight of all parliamentary committees was transparency and open to the public.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything we do and say gets to be reported on the spot because our meetings are open to the public and the media \u2026 They would have reported the decision by the time you received correspondence formally,\u201d Dyantyi said.<\/p>\n
He said they took cognisance of Mkhwebane\u2019s commitment to provide the committee with the list of witnesses by Friday despite him expressing difficulties to sequence the witnesses.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou placed it on record and at this point it is not an item on our agenda. We have noted it, including with the legal opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cape Times<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Cape Town – Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane\u2019s legal team signalled on Wednesday that it would take whatever legal steps necessary to get President Cyril Ramaphosa to appear before the impeachment inquiry. This comes after the Section 194 Committee declined on Tuesday a request to subpoena Ramaphosa after he refused Mkhwebane’s request to appear voluntarily. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[466,4032,11393,11341,2040,426,2567],"class_list":["post-130180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-politics","tag-call","tag-determined","tag-inquiry","tag-protector","tag-public","tag-ramaphosa","tag-remains"],"yoast_head":"\n