Parliament: Only R4 million in legal fees paid to Section 194 evidence leaders so far
Parliament says it has so far only paid around R4 million in legal fees to the two evidence leaders of the Section 194 inquiry.
Chief parliamentary advisor, Advocate Zuraya Adhikarie, said this was because of the time it took to receive invoices for payment from the state attorney’s office.
The inquiry has been probing the Public Protector’s fitness to hold office for more than a year now.
Some opposition parties have for months been calling for Parliament to disclose what Cape Bar advocates Nazreen Bawa and Ncumisa Mayosi were being paid amid fees for the Public Protector’s legal team having reached R30 million by the end of March.
The inquiry probing Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s fitness to hold office is in its final stages.
The fees paid for her legal team, which included three advocates, stalled in March when the Public Protector’s office ran out of budget.
A further R4 million was then allocated for a new firm of attorneys to take over.
But Adhikarie said it was still unclear what the final bill for the inquiry’s evidence leaders would be.
By the end of March, Parliament had paid the state attorney R4 million.
“The state attorney takes six to twelve months to invoice us and we reimburse them for costs. So at this point, we don’t have a consolidated amount that would give a fair reflection.”
Advocate Nazreen Bawa is being paid an hourly rate of R2,800, while her junior, Ncumisa Mayosi, earns R2,500.
The evidence leaders’ daily rate is less than half of the lead advocate on Mkhwebane’s team, Dali Mpofu, who successfully negotiated new rates in June.
“I can say with some certainty that they’ve worked consistently virtually every day for the past year on this matter.”
The inquiry is currently working on a draft report of the four misconduct charges faced by Mkhwebane.
-EWN
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