The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) launched a blistering attack on Busisiwe Mkhwebane on Thursday‚ accusing her of tarnishing the image of the Public Protector.

The red berets joined others who raised concerns about the recently announced commission of inquiry into state capture becoming “overburdened” if the scope of the probe was too wide.

Party spokesman Mbuyiseni Ndlozi called on Mkhwebane to “learn to keep quiet; for at times‚ silence is golden”.

“Each time she speaks‚ and because it is not even necessary for her to do so at all times‚ she continues to tarnish the reputation of the respectable office of the Public Protector‚” he said in a statement.

“We say this in relation to her recent comments that the remit of the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture can be extended beyond what is directed by the remedial action of the Public Protector’s State of Capture Report. In so saying‚ Mkhwebane seeks to give credence to Zuma’s ill-intention to overburden the scope of the inquiry so that it never really arrives at holding him accountable for his corruption with the Gupta family.”

He suggested that she risked undermining the reputation of the office of the Public Protector.