<\/p>\n
Cape Town – Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane maintained on Wednesday that the Section 194 Committee engaged in a \u201ckangaroo court\u201d when it continued with its \u201ccommittee sessions\u201d on the evidence presented before it.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy view is that a travesty of justice has continued to happen since the previous, I think, 17 days,\u201d Mkhwebane said in an interview with the public broadcaster.<\/p>\n
She was commenting after the committee \u201cpaused\u201d its meetings after evidence leaders concluded with presentations to the members on evidence already presented and before the committee.<\/p>\n
The inquiry was put on hold after Public Protector South Africa stopped paying Mkhwebane\u2019s legal fees on March 31.<\/p>\n
This prompted the committee to proceed with receiving presentations from evidence leaders in the absence of Mkhwebane, who has not briefed her legal team, while some intervention was sought for the funding of her legal costs.<\/p>\n
Evidence leaders continued their presentations until Tuesday, after the committee met throughout when Parliament was in a constituency period.<\/p>\n
Late on Tuesday afternoon, committee chairperson Qubudile Dyantyi said: \u201cWe are going to pause the committee session to empower members.<\/p>\n
Next time we resume it will be the resumption of the inquiry.\u201d<\/p>\n
He hoped that the presentations by the evidence leaders were not only helpful to the members, but also to those following the inquiry.<\/p>\n
Dyantyi explained to the MPs that they would be \u201con standby\u201d because this week was set aside in Parliament, Next week MP would be on leaves.<\/p>\n
The week after that there would be a \u201cstampede\u201d of programmes with interaction with departments on their budgets.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe moment there is an indication that the button has been switched on, we will indicate that. I am not able to give the date when we resume,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is going to be important that we have that in mind because we will ask for permission and space in order for us to conclude this and be free of this in order to play other roles.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dyantyi said \u201cdifferent higher offices\u201d were dealing with Mkhwebane\u2019s legal costs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a very clear and definite commitment that we must see it through. We must conclude it hence, and it was good we did this exercise so that we can take a week or so out of what we would have to do,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Moments before the committee concluded its \u201ccommittee session\u201d on Tuesday, Mkhwebane had taken to Twitter to complain that Parliament had allowed the \u201cillegal and unlawful\u201d continuation of the Section 194 committee hearings.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs the accused, I am not present.<\/p>\n
My legal team is not present. What kangaroo process is this?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n
In an SABC interview, Mkhwebane said the committee had continued with presentations from evidence leaders, and that she had written a letter of demand to stop the proceedings after Dyantyi muted her when she wanted to raise her concerns.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a very wrong, illegal and unlawful process they are following,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Mkhwebane said the committee did not subject itself to the Constitution and went ahead in contempt of the Constitutional Court, which ruled she should have legal representation.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow do you proceed without me and my legal representative not being there?<\/p>\n
\u201cYou allow the evidence leaders to dwell on the merits of the matter.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere have you seen that? The evidence leaders should have advised the committee that legally you can\u2019t do that, whether it is in court, arbitration or an inquiry.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mkhwebane said National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa -Nqakula refused to intervene, and President Cyril Ramaphosa had not responded.<\/p>\n
Mkhwebane noted that the Western Cape High Court dismissed her application in which she sought relief when Dyantyi and DA MP Mike Mileham did not recuse themselves from the committee proceedings.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey did not deal with the merits.<\/p>\n
They said I must wait until the work of the committee is finished and review the report. What kind of justice is that?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n
Cape Times<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Cape Town – Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane maintained on Wednesday that the Section 194 Committee engaged in a \u201ckangaroo court\u201d when it continued with its \u201ccommittee sessions\u201d on the evidence presented before it. \u201cMy view is that a travesty of justice has continued to happen since the previous, I think, 17 days,\u201d Mkhwebane said in […]<\/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":[1084,536,14178,3208,1082,4191],"class_list":["post-175346","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-politics","tag-committee","tag-court","tag-kangaroo","tag-labels","tag-mkhwebane","tag-section"],"yoast_head":"\n