JOHANNESBURG – Public Protector advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane returns to court on Wednesday where she is set to defend her report on an Apartheid-era bank loan.
Earlier this year in June, Mkhwebane filed her findings to parliament based on the Ciex report which was commissioned in 1997.
Her findings therefore did not settle well with major financial institutions like Absa, National Treasury and the Reserve Bank; they all want the court to dismiss her report.
The report concentrated on the lifeboat loans that were given to Bankorp by the Reserve Bank between 1985 and 1992, but according to financial institutions, her report had no factual figures.
Absa advocates believe Mkhwebane’s report lacked depth, and she has failed dismally on her part as the public protector.
Absa Advocate Carol Steinberg also accused the public protector for instructing the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to get permission and re-open a closed SIU case probing the Bankorp loan.
“She can’t instruct, and as my learned friend demonstrated and as she has conceded in her answering affidavit, she does more than recommend. She has placed a duty on the SIU to approach the President,” said Steinberg.
“In doing so” added Steinber, “Mkhwebane has violated the Public Protector Act.”
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