The Public Protector, Busisiwe Mkhwebane, has defended her recommendation that the President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, be investigated for possible money laundering during his 2017 ANC presidential campaign.
Mkhwebane stated during her impeachment inquiry on Tuesday that she could not ignore the flow of money between several accounts that she had uncovered during her investigation.
Although the High Court overturned her report in 2020 because it was outside of the Public Protector’s mandate to investigate, Mkhwebane maintained that she had not exceeded her mandate by recommending that the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) investigate the possibility of money laundering in the CR17 campaign.
The Public Protector cited an R500,000 donation from Bosasa that raised her suspicion of money laundering and said that her recommendation was based on the bank statements and how the money had been transferred from one account to another.
In her argument, Mkhwebane referenced the rulings of Gauteng High Court Judge President Dunstan Mlambo, who deemed it acceptable for her predecessor to pass on certain matters to external organizations during the review of the State of Capture report.
Busisiwe made it clear that her intention was not to assign culpability to any particular person but rather to highlight the evidence and prompt the NPA to undertake an investigation, as it is their constitutional obligation to do so.