For the third time this week the Committee for Section 194 Enquiry into Public Protector (PP) Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s fitness to hold office came to a halt on Thursday, after it became evident that her legal team had failed to adequately consult with the witness, Bianca Mvuyana. 

After being served with a subpoena to appear before the committee on February 3, as well as being tasked by the PP’s legal team to make preparations for a Saturday consult, Mvuyana noted that the PP’s legal team did not honour their agreement. 

She added that she had initially chosen not to make an affidavit after being informed of her rights by Parliament’s legal adviser Fatima Ebrahim and parliamentary support staff, but now she preferred to have a statement taken beforehand. 

Mkhwebane’s lawyer Advocate Dali Mpofu SC claimed that the witness’s preference for a statement was only known to him on Wednesday night. 

Apart from addressing the responsibility that the PP’s legal team had to ensure that they got statements from witnesses they summoned, the chairperson of the committee Qubudile Dyantyi gave an assurance that the proceedings could continue without the written affidavit as oral evidence.

Given that Mvuyana’s name was on the list of witnesses supplied to the committee in November and that they had been given an opportunity to get a statement from her, even after she had changed her mind to come forward voluntarily as a witness, the committee resolved that the PP’s legal team did not make enough of an effort to get a statement from the witness. Taking relevance into consideration, the committee will decide whether to subpoena this witness again.

“This is the last opportunity we have at this stage with the witness. The committee went out of its way to accede to the request by the PP’s legal team to summon this witness. The committee will now have to discuss whether to subpoena this witness again based on relevance. It does not mean that we automatically subpoena a witness again,” Dyantyi explained.

In an attempt to avoid a repeat of Thursday’s delay, evidence leader Advocate Nazreen Bawa SC asked the committee to address the manner in which the PP’s legal team would be obtaining a statement from their next witness, Advocate Thuli Madonsela.

Dyantyi confirmed that it was likely that they would meet on Monday to discuss all matters including the idea that these are stalling tactics used to undermine the work of the committee.