President Cyril Ramaphosa will know on Thursday morning if his urgent application to interdict the Public Protector’s remedial action has succeeded. The High Court in Pretoria will hand down judgment after Ramaphosa argued he doesn’t want to discipline Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan immediately, as directed by Busiswe Mkhwebane.
The judgment relates to her findings on Gordhan’s approval of former SARS deputy commissioner Ivan Pillay’s early retirement with full pension payout.
Ramaphosa seeks to suspend implementation of the Public Protector’s remedial action, but he also wants the court to declare that he has complied with the same remedial action. In court last week, lawyers for Mkhwebane argued the President’s application was contradictory. On the other hand, Mkhwebane insists it’s Gordhan — and not Ramaphosa — who should interdict implementation of her remedial action.
Ramaphosa’s lawyers poked holes in Mkhwebane’s apparent contradictions too by referring to her letter of 9 July to the President. In the letter, Mkhwebane advises Ramaphosa to either implement her remedial action or seek an interdict.
Mkhwebane’s lawyers also accused Ramaphosa of being worse than his predecessor Jacob Zuma by aligning himself with Gordhan, whom they say insulted the Public Protector as an enabler of corruption and state capture.
The president now wants Mkhwebane to personally pay the legal costs should the court rule against her.
His lawyers cited a similar judgement that suspended implementation of Mkhwebane’s remedial action in a separate case involving Gordhan and the so-called SARS rogue unit. Should the judgment rule against Mkhwebane, it is likely to increase calls for her removal from office.
You might also like…Mzansi Celebrity Weddings we Loved – Pictures
It’s always breaking-news when celebrities announce that they are getting married. We all look forward to the glitz, the glam, decor and all the other celeb guests that show up in their best-freakem dresses and tuxedos.
As we eagerly wait for the wedding of the ostentatiously fabulous Somizi, a.k.a SomGaga, with his boo Mohale, we reminisce on the 5 celeb weddings we got to see on the Internet…Read more here
Source: eNCA