Parliament to vote on Mkhwebane’s impeachment, Gcaleka’s appointment

Parliament will vote on the impeachment of suspended Public Protector (PP), Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane, and the appointment of Acting PP, Advocate Kholeka Gcaleka on the 11th of September.

Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula announced this during the National Assembly Programming Committee meeting on Thursday morning.

Parliament’s Section 194 committee has been occupied with looking into Mkhwebane’s fitness to hold office for over a year.

It has recommended her removal, while the committee established to select the next Public Protector is set to recommend Gcaleka to the House.

Mapisa-Nqakula elaborates, “We will deal with the matter of the Section 194 report which relates to public Protector Mkhwebane. Following that, we will consider the report of the Ad-Hoc committee  that was mandated to select an incoming Public Protector. We want to deal with both matters on the same day because of the challenges of the venue.”

Opposition divided

Some opposition party MPs did not support the move to recommend Kholeka Gcaleka to be the next Public Protector.

The African National Congress which held the majority of members in the committee set up to select and recommend the next PP, proposed Gcaleka as the most suitable candidate. They were supported by the Inkatha Freedom Party.

But members from the Democratic Alliance, Economic Freedom Fighters and Freedom Front Plus say they found Gcaleka to be unsuitable.