CAPE TOWN - Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane has moved to once again defend her sidelining her former deputy, Kevin Malunga.
On Wednesday, Mkhwebane’s impeachment inquiry heard that she was in a fix about what to do about him performing his duties, without top security clearance.
Mkhwebane has always denied pulling him from investigations, for any other reason, but security.
The inquiry on Wednesday heard testimony from the head of human resources in the Public Protector’s office Gumbi Tyelela, who has been providing context to labour disputes in that office.
The suspended public protector’s lawyer Dali Mpofu said it would have been a risk to the organisation to allow former deputy public protector Kevin Malunga to carry on as before, without security clearance.
“The PP was in a fix. Either she assigns sensitive investigations to the person, or not, but either way, it was in her power in terms of the statute to delegate whatever powers she wanted to delegate to the person,” Mpofu elaborated.
Mpofu said Malunga is a naturalised South African citizen, and did not qualify for top security clearance during his tenure and Mkhwebane assigned him to staff-related functions: “Training senior investigators, career-path development, training on good governance and ethics, those are not menial tasks, those are crucial functions in an organisation”.
Mpofu said Mkhwebane wrote to the National Assembly speaker at the time, for advice as to how to handle Malunga’s security status predicament.
