Ramaphosa Wins Latest Clash With South African Graft Ombudsman

(Bloomberg) -- South African President Cyril Ramaphosa secured a victory in his ongoing legal battle with the nation’s anti-graft ombudsman when the High Court suspended her directive that he discipline a cabinet member.

Judge Letty Molopa-Sethosa upheld the president’s argument that there should be a review before he carries out Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s May 24 directive to censure Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan. She accused him of violating the constitution by granting tax agency official Ivan Pillay early retirement when he was finance minister in 2010. Gordhan is challenging the finding in court.

Ramaphosa acted rationally and reasonably and it was “mind-boggling” that Mkhwebane hadn’t consented to delaying the censure, Molopa-Sethosa said Thursday at a hearing in Pretoria, the capital. She ordered the Public Protector to pay legal costs.

The court ruling is the third within as many weeks to have gone against Mkhwebane, who civil-rights groups accuse of siding with Ramaphosa’s opponents in a power struggle in the ruling party. Her repeated setbacks will serve to strengthen the president, who’s also contesting her separate findings that he intentionally misled lawmakers about a campaign donation.

Last month, the High Court suspended Mkhwebane’s directive to Ramaphosa to discipline Gordhan for establishing an illegal intelligence unit when he headed the national tax agency until a court reviews the finding.

In May, the Constitutional Court upheld a 2017 High Court finding that she didn’t understand her mandate and acted in bad faith when she proposed changes to the central bank’s mandate.

Parliament’s justice committee is due to decide whether to probe Mkhwebane’s fitness to hold office early next month. She denies that she is playing politics, accuses her critics of seeking to undermine her investigations and has refused to resign.

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