Mkhwebane perjury charge ‘best news out of NPA’

The charge stems from a perjury complaint laid by civil society organisation Accountability Now. 

It laid the charge against Mkhwebane following a Constitutional Court ruling which found her to have been dishonest in her investigation into the apartheid-era loan by the SA Reserve Bank to Bankorp.

NPA spokesperson Sipho Ngwema says they decided to prosecute after being presented with evidence by the Hawks. 

"Indeed, the Director of Public Prosecutions in Pretoria did take a decision to prosecute after a carefully assessed the evidence presented to him by the Hawks. 

"The decision is in line with the prosecution policy and the law, as we have always maintained once the sufficient evidence is presented to the National Prosecution Authority by investigating agencies, the NPA will take a decision to prosecute.” 

Mkhwebane is expected to appear in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on three counts of perjury. 

“This is the best news to come out of NPA after some time. The public protector holds a very high station in our constitutional democracy and the fact that she is now at last charged with perjury is heart warming and shows a respect for the rule of law,” says Accountability Now director Paul Hoffman.

"We have written to the president this morning that he should now give consideration to suspending her because she is not only under investigation by Parliament for her fitness of office, she is also under criminal charges of perjury and she is under investigation by the legal practice council in relation to her being struck off from the roll of advocates because she is not fit for office.”

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