DA: Mkhwebane spent R67m ‘defending incompetence’
The DA wants solicitor-general Fhedzisani Pandelani to reveal the exact amount spent by the state on the public protector’s legal fees.
According to the official opposition, Busisiwe Mkhwebane has spent more than R67 million of her office’s budget on legal costs over the past two years.
“A written response to the parliamentary portfolio committee on justice dated 31 May 2022, revealed that the public protector has spent R67 122 771 in the 2020 to 2022 financial years to defend reports taken on judicial review and legal costs relating to her impeachment process – R38 878 530 in 2020/21 and R28 244 241 in 2021/22,” the DA said in a statement on Friday.
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The party’s Glynnis Breytenbach says the money should have been used to investigate complaints from the public, and not defending Mkhwebane’s “incompetence”.
“Had this money not been wasted on these frivolous endeavours, the budget constraint issues within the office of the public protector would be greatly alleviated, and important matters may have received the attention they deserve,” she adds.
