Adv Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s reaction to losing yet another court case yesterday should remove all doubt as to the contempt with which our public protector holds the judiciary.
Shortly after a scathing judgment against her – this time setting aside her findings into the so-called Sars rogue unit – Mkhwebane tweeted what can only be characterised as the proverbial middle finger to our courts.
“Adv Dali Mpofu once said whoever is litigating against [the public protector] need not prepare a solid case but must just show up and win. It is a concerted effort to render [the public protector’s office] useless just to deal with me. Oksalayo there is evidence supporting our findings,” she tweeted.
In setting aside her report, the court found that Mkhwebane’s conduct was egregious and that the report was a product of a wholly irrational process.
The court judgment was always going to be a contentious matter in our public discourse. The rogue unit saga has deeply divided public opinion, albeit for political reasons rather than real concern over the legality or otherwise of the unit.
Those who support the narrative that the unit was rogue regard it as some sort of smoking gun against public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan and, by extension, the ANC grouping led by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Therefore disturbing as it is, it was to be expected that those who want their rogue unit view validated would hit out at the courts, even accusing judges, without basis, of being biased against Mkhwebane.
However, it is Mkhwebane’s own reaction that we find astonishing and completely unbecoming of an officer of the court, let alone one who leads an important Chapter 9 institution.
Mkhwebane could have reacted in one of two ways. She could have demonstrated respect for the ruling, even if she did not accept the court’s finding against her.
She also has the option to appeal it to a higher court.
But yesterday she chose a more sinister option, that of claiming false victimhood while casting dangerous aspersions on the credibility of our justice system to solicit public sympathy from those who are amenable to her disingenuity.
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