Removed Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane, who has since become an Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) MP, will serve on the committee to which she once had to account, and that will oversee her successor Kholeka Gcaleka.

According to Parliament's Announcements, Tablings and Committee Reports (ATC), Mkhwebane will join the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services.

Mkhwebane blamed Gcaleka for withdrawing funding her legal representation. At the time the perennially cash-strapped Office of the Public Protector said they could not continue to fund Mkhwebane's burgeoning legal costs, which in the end was more than R30-million.

Also serving on this committee is ANC MP Qubudile Dyantyi, who chaired the Section 194 Committee, which found Mkhwebane incompetent and guilty of misconduct and recommended her removal to the National Assembly, which adopted it with the required two-thirds majority.

Also on the committee is Democratic Alliance (DA) MP Glynnis Breytenbach, who opposed Mkhwebane's appointment in 2016 and whom Mkhwebane sued for calling her - a former State Security Agency (SAA) analyst - a spy.

On two occasions during the protracted inquiry, Mkhwebane unsuccessfully applied for Dyantyi's recusal as chairperson.

In September last year, Mkhwebane brought an application for Dyantyi's recusal, along with an application for the recusal of DA MP Kevin Mileham. She claimed that Dyantyi had been biased against her and her legal team, and had allowed the process to be procedurally unfair.

Dyantyi refused to recuse himself.

"I do so in the belief that the Public Protector has failed to establish any grounds upon which it can be said that I am biased or that my conduct may give rise to an apprehension of bias," he stated.

Mkhwebane wanted Mileham to recuse himself because the motion that led to the impeachment proceedings was moved by his wife, DA MP Natasha Mazzone, in her capacity as DA chief whip at the time.

Even though the motion was adopted by the National Assembly – thus becoming a motion of the National Assembly – Mkhwebane and her legal team continue to refer to it as the "Mazzone motion" and refer to Mazzone as the "complainant".

Mileham, too, refused to recuse himself.

Mkhwebane subsequently challenged their decisions in court, but the Western Cape High Court dismissed her application. She appealed to the Supreme Court of Appeal and took to Twitter to raise funds for this litigation.

On 12 July, Mkhwebane filed her formal application for his recusal, compiled by her counsel, advocate Dali Mpofu SC, and his juniors, advocates Bright Shabalala and Hangwi Matlhape, a day before the Constitutional Court upheld her suspension by President Cyril Ramaphosa and dismissed her challenge to the impeachment proceedings.

Mkhwebane refused to brief her counsel for anything other than the recusal application at a time when Mkhwebane was engaged in a war of attrition with the Section 194 Committee and used delays in appointing her legal representation to filibuster the inquiry.

Mkhwebane's application has its genesis in allegations by her husband, David Skosana, that the late ANC MP Tina Joemat-Pettersson solicited bribes of R200 000 each for herself, Dyantyi and ANC chief whip Pemmy Majodina.

Dyantyi and Majodina have publicly denied the allegations. Joemat-Pettersson died on 5 June. Her death is the subject of an inquest. Skosana opened a complaint with the police, while Mkhwebane did so with Parliament's ethics committee.

Mkhwebane also complained to the ethics committee about National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, because she turned down a "legitimate meeting request by a whistleblower" - Mkhwebane - and made herself an accomplice to the contraventions that Mkhwebane referred to in respect of the MPs she accused of corruption.

The Joint Committee on Ethics and Members' Interests found Mkhwebane's allegations were unfounded.

Mkhwebane provided WhatsApp messages purportedly between Joemat-Pettersson and Skosana, as well as edited recordings Skosana allegedly had with Joemat-Pettersson at the Ocean Basket at OR Tambo International Airport.

"The committee found that the version of events offered by Mr Skosana to the SAPS, which forms the basis of the complaint, does not specifically mention the two Members of Parliament. Also, the audio recordings do not mention the two Members of Parliament and the WhatsApp messages do not link the two Members of Parliament to the allegation," said Moshodi.

"Furthermore, the committee noted that parts of the WhatsApp messages and audio recordings between Ms Joemat-Pettersson and Mr Skosana appear to be missing and therefore may not be a true reflection of the communication between them."

In Mkhwebane's interview on 11 August 2016, Breytenbach noted that she left the position of director at the Department of Home Affairs to join the SSA as an analyst, and asked if this wasn't a demotion.

Mkhwebane said it wasn't, and that she had used her expertise in immigration and refugee law in her new post.

"But going then to work in the State Security Agency, is to make sure then that we protect the Constitution," Mkhwebane said.

Breytenbach wasn't convinced.

At a media conference on 6 September 2016, she said: "In the absence of a logical explanation for what is seen as a demotion the ineluctable conclusion is unfortunately that Adv Mkhwebane is on the payroll of the SSA."

The DA was the only party that didn't support Mkhwebane's nomination, and she garnered the 60% support needed for the president to appoint her.

Subsequently, Mkhwebane sued Breytenbach for defamation. This matter appears to be on hiatus after the Supreme Court of Appeal ordered Mkhwebane to hand over her "application for the post of Analyst: Domestic Branch: DBO1 in the State Security Agency... by no later than 1 April 2021".

This was apparently never done.

At the time, the SSA was a central cog in the state capture machinery, the Zondo Commission and Mufamadi Panel have subsequently revealed.

Furthermore, the Office of the Public Protector paid the legal bill for this litigation, and it will be included in the millions of Rands that the office will attempt to recover from Mkhwebane. 

More than 70 judges have ruled against Mkwhebane during her term as Public Protector.

Like her "president and commander in chief" – as the EFF MPs like to call their party's leader Julius Malema – she has a habit of disparaging the judiciary.

This includes laying spurious complaints against judges who have ruled against her. She also told the Section 194 Inquiry that judges harbour "professional jealousy" towards her and that some of the rulings which formed the basis of the complaints against her were based on "wrong facts".

In July, the ever-litigious Mkhwebane told the National Press Club of South Africa that she continued to go to court, despite her limited success, "to expose those judges who are not objective".

Mkhwebane said: "Unfortunately, it has been my experience that seeking the protection of the courts by somebody like me is indeed a futile exercise. Just this year alone, the courts have simply refused to give me the protection I need and deserve as a citizen of this country." 

Furthermore, evidence before the Section 194 Inquiry revealed that the Office of the Public Protector, through its legal services budget, paid a "fugitive" who is not allowed to practice law in South Africa, Paul Ngobeni, to write articles disparaging judges who have ruled against Mkhwebane on some her most politically charged investigations.

The evidence also shows that Mkhwebane signed off on some of these articles.

Mkhwebane will replace EFF MP Yoliswa Yako on the committee. Mkhwebane will also be an alternate member of the Portfolio Committee on Mineral Resources and Energy. Mileham serves on this committee.