The EFF's Floyd Shivambu has come to public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane's defence after Thuli Madonsela questioned her successor's methods.

Last week Mkhwebane said public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan had been implicated in her investigation into the rogue unit at revenue service Sars.

TimesLIVE reported that Mkhwebane announced on social media that she had issued Gordhan with a section 7(9) notice about many complaints lodged against him by the EFF.

In the same week‚ she issued President Cyril Ramaphosa such a notice detailing the findings against him regarding his donation from Bosasa CEO Gavin Watson.

In a Business Day report‚ Madonsela said Mkhwebane took the unprecedented step of releasing confidential aspects of probes to the public.

Madonsela said Mkhwebane should not have used her predecessor to justify her actions‚ adding that her office never announced such.

"When the media asked my office if anyone was implicated‚ we'd say it's confidential. It may be that an implicated person provides us with evidence that exonerates him or her.

"Should that happen‚ we would not want their reputation to be unfairly besmirched through us identifying them as implicated‚" Madonsela told the publication.

Taking to Twitter‚ she said "announcing that you've released a provisional report is not the same as announcing you've released a section 7(9) notice."

Madonsela said the reason she chose to speak on the matter was to "clear her name". However‚ Floyd Shivambu criticised her move.

Shivambu said Madonsela must "relax" and allow Mkhwebane to do her job.

In her defence‚ Madonsela said it was her "responsibility to tell the truth".

Earlier‚ Shivambu had mentioned the SACP's concern at the manner in which Madonsela handled her investigation in defence of former president Jacob Zuma 2014.

Source: TMG Digital.