Impeached Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane could be made to pay back at least R2.1 million that the office spent on her accommodation during her tenure.
The amount is part of irregular expenditure flagged in the annual report that has been under scrutiny in Parliament on Friday.
The chief executive officer of the Office of the Public Protector, Thandi Sibanyoni, said Mkhwebane ignored advice that the office could not foot her accommodation bill.
The Public Protector’s office is cleaning house and checking on all irregular payments made for the personal benefit of Mkhwebane.
This includes personal cost orders from the courts and legal fees for a defamation case launched by Mkhwebane against the Democratic Alliance even before she was appointed to the office.
CEO Sibanyoni said: “So we want to do all the calculations of every money that we could have paid that we shouldn’t have paid from 2016 to date.”
She said Mkhwebane was first advised by the chief of staff that the Office of the Public Protector could not be expected to pay her rent for a ministerial housing complex she moved into in 2018.
“Subsequently we found a letter that was written by the then minister of public works that said she needs to sign a stop order towards the payment of rental,” said Sibanyoni.
Sibanyoni added that the letter appeared to have been concealed until the office started to collate invoices paid for Mkhwebane.
-EWN
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