Busisiwe Mkhwebane new damning allegations
Dali Mpofu, who is defending suspended public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane spoke to the parliamentary committee. He claimed that a senior investigator who had previously worked for the office of the public protector was an unreliable witness and was retaliating against his client. This is because he had been fired for dishonesty.
On Monday, Tebogo Kekana, a former investigator at the Office of the Public Protector, leveled serious accusations against Mkhwebane.
Speaking during the investigation of Mkhwebane’s eligibility to serve in office.
On Tuesday, Mpofu accused Kekana of lying during his cross-examination. Claiming that he was still enraged at Mkhwebane for dismissing him.
He continued by saying that Kekana had been found guilty of sharing confidential information that had been mistakenly forwarded to him. The disciplinary hearing’s chairwoman had determined that there was proof of dishonesty against him.
He accused Kekana of gossiping about Mkhwebane to lawyers and said he was the opposite of a whistle-blower
Kekana insisted that his testimony had nothing to do with his suspension. He said that although he had been found guilty of unpermitted information disclosure, he had not been accused of dishonesty.
In his defense, Kekana said that he did not view his complaints to an attorney or an advocate about Mkhwebane’s behaviour as mere chitchat. The only reason he was suspended was that he brought up issues of poor office management through a trade union.
Mpofu persisted in casting doubt on Kekana, claiming that because he revealed information on Busisiwe Mkhwebane in retaliation for the disciplinary punishment that was taken against him, he was not a whistle-blower but rather a “whistle inhaler.”
Kekana claimed that he was unable to respond to some of the questions that were in his affidavit, which he had written a couple of years prior because they related to events that occurred three or five years prior when he was being cross-examined.
“My memory of some of the events is hazy, which is one of the reasons I didn’t want to testify.
But I did my best to respond to the majority of questions.
Kekana stated, “I could have helped more if I had received more documentation from the office of the public protector.
Kekana is attempting to be restored by contesting his termination at the Labour Court.
Also read: Busisiwe Makhabane gives Cyril Ramaphosa an ultimatum