EFF leader Julius Malema believes the office of the Public Protector is being destroyed. He says his party will continue to defend the institution.Malema was speaking outside the High Court in Pretoria as Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan began his legal fight against Busisiwe Mkhwebane.
“We are here to say, if one can interdict the remedial actions willy nilly, we may as well close the office of the Public Protector,” he said.
“Nobody should be above the Constitution and no one is above the law. The EFF’s lawyer earlier reminded the court that all are equal before the law, including government representatives.
Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi says the EFF isn’t presenting arguments in support of Mkhwebane, but rather in support of her office. President Cyril Ramaphosa said he can’t take action against Gordhan until the court decides whether the Public Protector’s report is legally valid.
In a statement, the Presidency said Ramaphosa has complied with Mkhwebane’s recommendations.
“President Ramaphosa said that having considered the Public Protector’s findings against Minister Gordhan as well as the Minister’s challenges to those findings in his review application, it would be inappropriate to take disciplinary action against Minister Gordhan at this point.Malema said, “we have no alliance with the ANC.”
“We will fight to expose the corruption. They are going to victimise us but we must never be shaken. We must die with our boots on.
You might also like…6 legal arguments Pravin Gordhan makes against Mkhwebane
Public Enterprise Minister Pravin Gordhan’s legal team has argued before the High Court in Pretoria that the “erroneous findings” and remedial orders made by Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane in her Sars “rogue unit” report would have an “adverse personal and political impact” on him.
Gordhan, represented by Advocate Wim Trengove, approached the High Court on Tuesday on an urgent basis seeking to suspend and interdict the enforcement of Mkhwebane’s remedial orders pending the final determination of a review application to set the report and its findings aside…Read more here
Source: IOL
