Mungo Soggot and Sechaba ka ‘Nkosi
The Public Protector, Selby Baqwa, has tried to silence the Mail & Guardian, warning that it broke the law by writing about his role in the affairs of the Vaal Technikon.
Baqwa has reported the M&G to the press ombudsman for the article and has referred the newspaper to a section of the Public Protector Act which begins: “No person shall insult the Public Protector.”
“Your report is a contravention, inter alia, of the provisions of Section 9 of the Public Protector Act. The appropriate steps to be taken in this regard are presently being considered,” he said.
The M&G wrote last week about Baqwa’s intervention in a dispute between the Minister of Education, Sibusiso Bengu, and the council of the Vaal Technikon over the fate of its former rector, Aubrey Mokadi.
Baqwa said a year ago the allegations against Mokadi were vague. He asked the technikon to provide legal aid for Mokadi, who enjoyed a R400 000 annual salary, and actively sought financial assistance for the academic. Baqwa never asked for details of the allegations.
He declined this week to explain his intervention at the technikon, where he sought to block Mokadi’s dismissal.
What is striking about Baqwa’s intervention in the Vaal Technikon case is that Mokadi has been the subject of a lawful disciplinary inquiry conducted by the two most senior office-holders of the Johannesburg Bar Council. Mokadi himself agreed to the inquiry, headed by Roland Sutherland, SC.
Mokadi was found guilty of financial impropriety and the inquiry recommending his axing. But despite the fact that Sutherland has come to a finding, Baqwa said this week the matter was still under investigation.
Baqwa also endorsed a threat by Bengu last week to stop funding the institution if it expelled Mokadi and did not implement the findings of an “independent assessor” dispatched by Bengu to investigate the institution after the Sutherland inquiry got under way.
Bengu’s probe was ostensibly aimed at examining the technikon’s problems in general – Bengu says his independent assessor, Jaap Durand, was not tasked to deal with the Mokadi matter.
However, Durand’s report effectively cleared Mokadi of the allegations and claimed the council was using Mokadi as a scapegoat for its failure to advance transformation.
Meanwhile, Bengu, who became friends with Mokadi when he lectured him at Fort Hare University, is due to meet representatives of the technikon council in Pretoria today (Friday), while Mokadi is appealing the council’s decision, claiming he has been the victim of a conspiracy.
Mokadi has also threatened to approach the press council and the Human Rights Commission.