Whilst testifying against the suspended PP, Busisiwe Mkhwebane, in Parliament, Hamilton Samuel said he even escalated the matter about the politicians to Mkhwebane - which included the suspended ANC Secretary-General (SG), Ace Magashule, and former MEC, Mosebenzi Zwane. She, however, told him that she did not want any findings against politicians. 

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The Section 194 Committee, which is probing Mkhwebane’s fitness to hold office, was further informed that the suspended PP declined Samuel’s request to investigate the two politicians.

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Hamilton recently won a case against Mkhwebane at the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA), after he was fired in January 2021 following a letter to Parliament in 2020, requesting an investigation into the conduct of the Public Protector, as well as pointing out financial mismanagement at the institution through court litigations.

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His statement comes after Tebogo Kekana also made similar damning allegations against Mkhwebane during the testimony at this inquiry, where he claimed that Mkhwebane did not want any findings against politicians.

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Samuel is expected to continue with his testimony on Thursday with the evidence leader, Senior Counsel (SC) Nazreen Bawa. He is also expected to be grilled by Mkhwebane’s Defence Advocate, Senior Counsel Dali Mpofu, during the cross-examination once he concludes his testimony at the inquiry.

In 2020, Mkhwebane hit out at Samuel after he laid a complaint at Parliament about Mkhwebane’s alleged financial mismanagement. She said the complainant, only when action was being contemplated against him for being found guilty of assault, only thereafter decided to submit an affidavit to Parliament, accusing her of spending too much money on litigation.

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“The latest staff member to depose to an affidavit alleging misconduct against the Public Protector, supervised the senior investigator who led the Vrede investigation in the Bloemfontein office. A report thereof was issued in February 2019 and he kept quiet all along,” she adds. “The question that any open-minded person should ask themselves is why these affidavits are being churned out in quick succession like this when the parliamentary process for the removal of the Public Protector has just commenced,” she further added.

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