Johannesburg – The suspension of Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane as Public Protector was valid, the Constitutional Court ruled on Thursday.
Handing down judgment, Deputy Chief Justice Mandisa Maya said: “This Court rejected the findings of the High Court that the decision to suspend the Public Protector was ‘hurried’ and ‘retaliatory’.
Advocate Mkhwebane was suspended by President Cyril Ramaphosa in June last year, a day after she announced that her office would investigate the presidents conduct regarding the so-called Phala Phala farm scandal.
Advocate Mkhwebane then approached the Western Cape High Court challenging her suspension.
The sequence of events, according to the High Court, constituted objective facts that found a basis to form a reasonable perception that the Public Protectors suspension was triggered by her decision to investigate the President.
Although the court ruled in her favour, the judgment was subject to confirmation by the Constitutional Court in terms of section 172(2)(a) and (d) of the Constitution.
However, on Thursday, the Constitutional Court handed down a contrary judgment that found Advocate Mkhwebane’s suspension was, in fact, valid.
In a unanimous judgment, penned by Justice Maya, the Constitutional Court held that there was “a rational reason for the precautionary suspension” of Public Protector Mkhwebane.
“In coming to that conclusion, this court considered the Independent Panel report by Justice Nkabinde which found that there was prima facie evidence of incompetence on her part,” said Justice Maya.
Commenting on the ruling, President Ramaphosa said he has “noted and welcomed” the judgment by the Constitutional Court, affirming his “adherence to due process and fairness”, in the process of suspending Advocate Mkhwebane.
