Suspended Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane has denied that she has missed two deadlines set by the committee.
Chairperson of the section 194 committee, Qubudile Dyantyi, had said Mkhwebane had last week missed the first deadline on whether she would respond to the questions in writing or orally.
Members of the committee sent a number of questions to Mkhwebane.
Dyantyi had said the deadlines were in line with the new process of finishing the work of the committee.
Dyantyi said the second deadline related to Mkhwebane submitting more documents or affidavits on the matters at hand.
But Mkhwebane denied that she had missed the two deadlines.
She said she would also bring an urgent application for the recusal of Dyantyi as chairperson of the committee because of the allegations of corruption against him.
Dyantyi and ANC chief whip Pemmy Majodina have denied bribery allegations. Mkhwebane’s husband David Skosana was said to have met with late MP Tina Joemat-Pettersson to discuss the bribery of R600,000 to make the inquiry go away.
Mkhwebane said the issue of missing the deadlines was not true.
She said the new process to be followed by the committee was imposed by Dyantyi and she had objected to it as she had no legal representation during the meeting on June 9.
“Even then I told the committee that I rejected the proposed new procedure. It is unheard of to conduct a fact-finding or disciplinary enquiry without oral evidence. To do so after more than 25 witnesses, all of whom gave oral evidence in public, makes a mockery of a process which is meant to be fair and reasonable. These deadlines, therefore, have no legal force and effect,” said Mkhwebane.
She said there were 1 000 questions that have been sent to her by MPs and evidence leaders.
Mkhwebane said it was unreasonable to expect her to respond to these questions in a short space of time and she did not have a lawyer representing her.
She said she will lodge an urgent application before the committee for Dyantyi to recuse himself as he was implicated in the alleged bribery.
“If Dyantyi predictably refuses to recuse himself as before, the matter will be urgently escalated to court. Previously the court abdicated its responsibility to deal with the recusal issue and incorrectly held that the issue must be raised at the end of the inquiry. Thankfully, the court recognised that a different court would find differently and granted leave to appeal to the SCA (Supreme Court of Appeal). The appeal was lodged today,” said Mkhwebane.
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