Section 194 Committee heard that suspended Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane instructed investigators, who were probing the Vrede dairy farm not to implicate Ace Magashule and Msebenzi Zwane.
This is according to Spelo Samuel, who is the head of the Public Protector’s Office in the Free State and is testifying against Mkhwebane.
He was fired by Mkhwebane after he supported an investigation into her conduct but was reinstated with the CCMA ordering that he be paid a year’s salary or R1.5 million.
Mkhwebane’s report into the project was declared unlawful and invalid by the high court. Samuel was the head of the Public Protector in the Free State when there were allegations of maladministration in the Vrede Dairy Farm Project.
Samuel, who has recently been reinstated as the Free State head of the Public Protector testified before the commission on Wednesday when the parliamentary proceedings looking into the fitness of Mkhwebane to hold office resumed after a break.
There was a break last week to allow Mkhwebane and her legal team to attend to a court matter where she approached the court to try and overturn her suspension by President Cyril Ramaphosa. Judgement was reserved in that matter.
Samuel told the Section 194 committee how former Public Protector Thuil Madonsela rejected the draft of the report because it did not specify who were the politicians who were responsible for the maladministration.
He said the investigation was handed over to Mkhwebane as she took over from Madonsela. Samuel said he tried to invite former Free State Premier Ace Magashule and former Free State MEC Msebenzi Zwane for meetings, but they declined.
He wrote to Mkhwebane requesting that they be subpoenaed: “Her response was that she does not want any findings made against these politicians. So, she declined my request to prepare subpoenas for her signature.”
Source: Eyeitness News, Polity, News24, image from Twitter