APA-Cape Town (South Africa) South Africa’s parliament has dismissed Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane from office for “incompetence”, with a majority of 318 lawmakers voting on Monday in favour of her removal against 43 who wanted her to remain in office.
One lawmaker, however, abstained from the voting to remove the Ombudsman.
The voting on Mkhwebane’s status began when the House found her to be “incompetent and not fit for office” following a string of scathing court judgments which overturned her investigation reports and remedial recommendations.
The vote came with only a month left on her seven-year term that started in 2016 – becoming the first head of South Africa’s Constitution Chapter 9 institutions to be impeached.
Mkhwebane now risks losing some of her benefits, including a portion of her pension believed to be in the region of US$421,052 to US$526,315, according to knowledgeable insiders of her pay packet.
Her dismissal follows a recommendation by a parliamentary committee which conducted an inquiry into the Ombudsman’s fitness to hold office.
The committee said the Ombudsman should be removed on the grounds of incompetence and misconduct in line with the constitution.
Mkhwebane has had a difficult tenure since taking office in 2016, in which she suffered court defeats that overturned several of her reports and recommendations, which eventually led to parliament starting the process to investigate her fitness to run the office.
NM/jn/APA