Ax Hovers Over South Africa’s Controversial Graft Ombudsman

(Bloomberg) -- The South African graft ombudsman who accused President Cyril Ramaphosa of misconduct faces mounting odds she’ll be fired after the nation’s top court ruled she lied under oath and parliament indicated it may investigate her competency.

Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane has undermined Ramaphosa’s authority since he took office 17 months ago. Removing her requires the backing of two-thirds of lawmakers, and it’s been unclear whether that threshold could be reached given deep divisions within the ruling party.

A scathing Constitutional Court judgment against Mkhwebane on Monday gave her critics added ammunition, and she’ll be left in a “completely untenable situation” if Ramaphosa and Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan successfully challenge her rulings against them in court, according to Dirk Kotze, a politics professor at the University of South Africa.

“It’s clear that she feels very much under pressure,” Kotze said. “It’s a fight for survival at the moment.”

Mkhwebane, who previously worked at the state security agency and was appointed during ex-President Jacob Zuma’s scandal-marred rule, accuses her critics of trying to derail investigations that have been done by the book. More than 30 reports she’s released since taking office in 2016 have been challenged in court and Johannesburg-based transparency group Corruption Watch says the credibility of her office has plummeted.

Gordhan, 70, challenged Mkhwebane’s findings against him at the High Court in the capital, Pretoria, on Tuesday, saying she ignored his attempts to respond to allegations of wrong-doing before finishing her probe into the South African Revenue Service during his tenure as finance minister. She said in a July 5 report he misled parliament, violated the executive ethics code and oversaw an illegal intelligence unit at the national tax agency.

The High Court last year ruled that Mkhwebane didn’t understand her constitutional duty. It ordered her to personally pay 15% of the legal costs the central bank incurred when it sought to review her proposal to change its inflation-targeting mandate. The court also overturned her findings that the bank’s decision to bail out troubled lender Bankorp resulted in Absa Group Ltd., which bought it, unduly benefiting from the transaction.

The Constitutional Court upheld that judgment, saying Mkhwebane put forward “a number of falsehoods” during the course of her litigation and acted in bad faith.

Scathing Rebuttal

The judgment came a day after Ramaphosa issued a scathing rebuttal of Mkhwebane’s finding that he violated the constitution and executive ethics code when he misled lawmakers about a campaign donation. The president said he would seek an urgent judicial review.

Ramaphosa insisted he didn’t know about the 500,000-rand ($36,000) payment made to his campaign to win control of the ruling African National Congress, inadvertently failed to disclose it and rectified his mistake as soon as possible. The Public Protector’s ruling was “fundamentally and irretrievably flawed,” he said.

The ANC said in a statement that it had full confidence in Ramaphosa, who showed “unwavering commitment and determination to fight all forms of corruption and malfeasance.”

Gordhan, who Ramaphosa appointed to stamp out rampant graft at state companies, has filed lawsuits challenging Mkhwebane’s findings that he oversaw an illegal intelligence unit at the national tax agency more than a decade ago and illegally approved the early retirement of one of its top officials when he was finance minister.

‘Unsuitable Occupant’

While the main opposition Democratic Alliance made the complaint against Ramaphosa, it has also petitioned parliament to probe Mkhwebane’s fitness to hold office.

National Assembly Speaker Thandi Modise has referred its request to the legislature’s justice committee to decide whether an inquiry is necessary. Should it decide to proceed, it would have to hold hearings, draft a report and refer it to the assembly for a vote -- a process that could take several months.

“Nobody can argue that the current incumbent is by any stretch of the imagination a suitable occupant,” said John Steenhuisen, the DA’s chief whip in parliament. “The DA does however believe that every report produced by the office of the Public Protector should still be judged on its own merits.”

Mkhwebane has warned parliament against her early removal and threatened to go to court to defend her position, the Johannesburg-based Sunday Times reported, citing a letter she wrote to Modise.

To contact the reporters on this story: Amogelang Mbatha in Johannesburg at ambatha@bloomberg.net;Mike Cohen in Cape Town at mcohen21@bloomberg.net;Paul Vecchiatto in Cape Town at pvecchiatto@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Paul Richardson at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net, Gordon Bell

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