Cape Town - Former public protector Thuli Madonsela told the impeachment inquiry into the fitness of incumbent Busisiwe Mkhwebane that she was hesitant to give testimony because of the relevance of her evidence.
Madonsela said she had been asked to respond to two issues – the CIEX and Vrede Dairy Farm investigations – which had already been extensively dealt with by the courts.
“My reluctance to appear had nothing to do with the lack of respect for this important pillar of our democracy.
“It was because of the apprehension that I have been put in a situation where we are rehashing what the courts have decided on the SA Reserve Bank matter, also known as CIEX matter, and also Vrede.
“I apologise if there is a sense that I was reluctant to appear,” she said.
Madonsela was giving her evidence after the section 194 committee reversed its earlier decision to treat her affidavit as a written submission.
She also told the inquiry there was confusion when Mkhwebane’s legal team wrote her a letter and listed some questions they wanted to ask her.
“When I looked at the charge sheet, I could not find a reason to answer those questions.
“I asked for relevance, and the person who has information is the Public Protector (South Africa), the archives and staff members.”
Madonsela added that, if someone had accused her of any wrongdoing, the inquiry was not the right forum to address the issue.
“It is a forum about my successor. If Parliament wants to question what I did or did not do, they would need to have a separate forum,” she said.
Madonsela stated that the inquiry could not be diverted to question her about her past work at the Public Protector SA.
“I do not think Parliament has jurisdiction to question those matters,” she said.
The inquiry previously heard evidence from two witnesses who had expressed unhappiness with the manner in which she had handled their complaints and related matters during her term.
Mkhwebane’s legal team had in their questions indicated that they wanted to question her around some of the related issues.
But, Madonsela said, the forum she could be reported to was the Human Rights Commission.
“Certainly, it (Parliament) is not the right forum.”
She told the inquiry that she did not have access to the investigative reports, but indicated that she was the lead investigator at the start of the CIEX investigation.
Madonsela said she had left no final report or approved a provisional report on CIEX.
On the Vrede Dairy investigation, she said this was conducted by the regional office in the Free State.
“The investigator and her team struggled with drafts being sent back from my desk and from their peers in the think tank. Presumably the investigator had been doing service failure of an early resolution nature while at national office, and that until my time regional offices did not conduct investigations on complex matters, particularly involving corruption and related financial impropriety allegations.”
Cape Times