Bankorp

Not investigating politicians is a breach of standards, former public protector tells inquiry into her successor, Busisiwe Mkhwebane

The senior counsel suggested to MPs that everything a former employee of the public protector’s office said was a lie

The public protector was wrong to think legal review was the remedy for incompetence on her part; it is, in fact, removal, an independent report concludes

After considering a 25-page defence submitted by Mkhwebane, the justice portfolio committee voted that it was premature to begin proceedings

Mkhwebane is fighting a court order which ruled she was liable for part of the legal costs incurred by the Reserve Bank in the Bankorp matter

The case relates to an earlier court case which followed a report which Mkhwebane released in June 2017

The high court has dismissed Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s application for leave to appeal a judgment that she pay 15% of the costs incurred by SARB

The public protector’s ill-conceived report and behaviour are grounds for Parliament to oust her

Mkhwebane personally on the hook to pay some of the Reserve Bank’s costs

In June this year, Mkhwebane put her signature to a report that seemed to suggest that the government must recover R1.125-billion from Absa.

The hearing is expected to wrap on Wednesday afternoon or during the course of Thursday morning.​

Gigaba has asked the court to overturn the entire Bankorp report rather than just striking down sections of it, as Absa and the Reserve Bank has asked

After getting wrong the law and the facts, the public protector outsourced the process of trying to justify a crucial report, ABSA told the court.

Busisiwe Mkhwebane has been accused of a conspiracy with the spy agency and presidency

In its application to review Mkhwebane’s report the Reserve Bank listed what it calls a number of “evidential factual inaccuracies therein”.