The Democratic Alliance (DA) Member of Parliament, Advocate Glynnis Breytenbach, and Economic Freedom Fighter’s MP, Mzwanele Manyi, were both booted out of Parliament on Thursday.
Breytenbach refused to recall her statement insinuating that acting Public Protector and soon-to-be PP, Advocate Kholeka Gcaleka’s intimate relationship with former Director of Public Prosecutions Menzi Simelane was a key factor in her speedy ascendency and promotions within the NPA.
Manyi suffered the same fate as his DA counterpart after he called ANC MPs thugs in the National Assembly as voting to recommend Advocate Gcaleka as the next Public Protector was underway.
Breytenbach, in a statement on Friday, said the DA has been steadfast in its stance that Gcaleka is not fit to be the country’s Public Protector after showing integrity and ethical flaws during her tenure as acting PP.
“The Democratic Alliance has been unequivocal in its view that the process to appoint a new Public Protector must be reopened, as all shortlisted candidates were unsuitable. The Office of the Public Protector has suffered immense damage under predecessor, Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane, and no longer meets its envisioned integrity.
“The Public Protector is meant to be a firm, independent voice in the midst such efforts, yet Advocate Gcaleka has demonstrated her political biases, as well as her inexperience in litigation and prosecution. She is unfit for the battles that will be before her, as those that captured our State will seek to do so again,” the DA MP said.
In their statement, the EFF rejected Gcaleka’s appointment, with the party saying it was not surprised by this appointment through a parliamentary vote endorsed by ANC MPs parachuted her into her a seven-year tenure as the new PP.
This comes after a total of 244 MPs voted in favour of Gcaleka, while 12 voted against. The ANC, GOOD, IFP, NFP and Al Jama-ah voted in favour of Gcaleka. The DA and EFF were not present during the voting session.
Over the past months, as acting Public pProtector, Gcaleka has been seen as protecting President Cyril Ramaphosa after her investigation found Ramaphosa not guilty of contravening the executive ethics code in the Phala Phala farm scandal in which millions in American dollars were allegedly stolen while stuffed in couches in his farm.
“Gcaleka’s appointment hardly catches us off guard, for we have emphatically underscored that this appointment bears the hallmarks of a quid pro quo arrangement- a reward for absolving Cyril Ramaphosa of any wrongdoing and conflicts of interest in the Phala Phala farm investigation by the Public Protector’s office.
“This is despite the findings of a Section 189 Independent Panel, which unequivocally confirmed that the President had transgressed our Constitution and the executive ethics Act (EMEA),” the EFF said.