In February the North Gauteng High Court found that Mkhwebane must pay the money to the central bank in her personal capacity
The North Gauteng High Court has dismissed Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s application for leave to appeal a previous judgment that she personally pay 15% of the costs incurred by the South African Reserve Bank in the long-running Bankorp-CIEX matter.
In February the North Gauteng High Court found that Mkhwebane must pay the money to the central bank in her personal capacity. At the time the court also ordered that the Public Protector’s Bankorp-CIEX report, in which she ordered ABSA to pay R1.125-billion, be set aside.
A panel of three judges on Wednesday said there was “no reasonable prospect that another court will come to a different conclusion to the reasons as set out in the judgment”.
The new application was dismissed with costs.
The court case related to a report Mkhwebane released in June 2017, in which she called for ABSA to repay R1.125-billion for a what she said was a “lifeboat” provided to Bankorp by the SA Reserve Bank during the apartheid era.
In turn, both the Reserve Bank and ABSA filed applications to have a court review the report and set it aside, saying the Public Protector did not have her facts straight. — Fin 24