Areas of focus
South Africa
The seven-year running sore that was Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s tenure as the Public Protector has ended.
Any relief may be short-lived. With the likely appointment of her deputy, Kholeka Gcaleka, to the post, a new suppurating mess is about to be created.
The same African National Congress-dominated Parliament that last year kiboshed an impeachment investigation into President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala scandal, on Monday voted for Mkhwebane’s impeachment by 318-43, comfortably more than the two-thirds majority required. By lunchtime on Tuesday, the chronically sluggish Ramaphosa, acting with uncustomary vigour, had fired her.
It was the culmination of a process — started by the Democratic Alliance against substantial resistance from the ANC and the Economic Freedom Fighters — that took a foot-dragging two-and-a-half years and cost around R160m. It seems that despite being suspended early last year and now being fired for misconduct and incompetence, Mkhwebane will still receive a R10m end-of-service gratuity, which is equivalent to about four times her annual salary.