‘No responses from Mkhwebane will not delay committee report,’ says chairperson Dyantyi

Chair of the parliamentary committee inquiry into Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s fitness to hold office, Qubudile Dyantyi, says failure by the suspended public protector to meet deadlines on answering questions would not delay the conclusion of the draft report.

The section 194 committee inquiry started in March 2021 and is set to table a draft report on July 28.

Last week Mkhwebane missed deadlines to answer questions posed by evidence leaders and political parties. This was not the first deadline missed.

“The non-response to written questions by the suspended public protector will not make our deadlines longer. To the contrary, her continued non-responses to deadlines means we may produce our draft report much sooner than initially planned,” Dyantyi told TimesLIVE.

In a Twitter Space, Mkhwebane accused the committee of operating in an illegal manner, saying she was not consulted with a legal representative on the change to only have written evidence submissions and not oral evidence presentations.

Dyantyi refuted the claim, saying Mkhwebane was made aware of the changes in advance.

“There is nothing illegal about doing written evidence. They are both allowed and permissible. The most important thing is we have received her sworn statements taken under oath (oral is merely to amplify what is written),” he said.

Dyantyi said R4m was made available by the public protector's office this year for Mkhwebane's legal representatives after there was a slight halt to proceedings.

Mkhwebane said she was treated unfairly by the committee. She said her lawyers were forging ahead with an application to have Dyantyi recused.

“This process is very unlawful. There are no two deadlines that I have missed. I indicated I object and reject [written evidence] the directives they drafted and proposed,” she said. 

Mkhwebane said she was expected to submit answers to “1,000 questions” without being afforded enough time. 

While the committee is left with three weeks before tabling the draft report, the advocate said she still had to give evidence on the Bosasa corruption report, Vrede Dairy farm and allegations she was “purging staff”.

TimesLIVE