Acting Public Protector Gcaleka: No delays in Phala Phala probe
Acting Public Protector Kholeka Gcaleka said that there was no truth to claims by her suspended senior, Busisiwe Mkhwebane, that her absence was delaying a probe into the Phala Phala farm burglary saga.
Gcaleka said that it was also untrue that Mkhwebane was being denied access to documents required to defend herself before Parliament’s impeachment inquiry.
Gcaleka has defended the work of the Public Protector’s office in an affidavit filed with the Western Cape High Court.
Mkhwebane will on Friday urgently apply to the court for last week’s ruling on her invalid suspension, to take effect immediately.
Deputy Public Protector Kholeka Gcaleka said that there had been no undue delays in the Phala Phala investigation.
In an affidavit filed with the court, she said that there was no way for Busisiwe Mkhwebane to know the status of the investigation.
She said that submissions and voluminous documents were currently being read, assessed, and analysed by investigators.
And 11 more witnesses are still required to provide evidence on the responses received so far.
Gcaleka said that she had no intention of releasing an interim report, and would reveal the alleged breaches of the ethics code, once the investigation had been completed.
She added that Mkhwebane still had full access to both her email and profile on the Public Protector’s IT network and that all the documents she required for the Section 194 inquiry had been delivered to her attorneys.
Gcaleka said that the office was functioning well in Mkhwebane’s absence.
-EWN
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