SUSPENDED Public Protector Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane has blamed the executive, judiciary and legislature for the death of ANC MP Tina Joemat-Pettersson.
During a press conference at The Capital Hotel in Sandton, Joburg on Tuesday, 13 June, Mkhwebane told the media that it is "most likely" that Joemat-Pettersson would still be alive if the three arms of state had done their duty.
She shared WhasApp messages and audio of conversations between Joemat-Pettersson and her husband, Mandla Skosana, which she said proved that the deceased ANC member solicited a bribe from her husband.
“Needless to say, had the legislature, the speaker and members of the committee discharged their duties in line with their oaths of office, it is most likely that Ms Joemat-Pettersson would be very much alive today,” said Mkhwebane.
She said the two meetings between Skosana and Joemat-Pettersson were held at Ocean Basket at OR Tambo Airport in March.
Mkhwebane said her husband played along to trap the culprits. “When these recordings of the meetings are considered together with the WhatsApp messages exchanged between the two persons, then the issues is put beyond doubt,” she said.
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It has been alleged that Joemat-Pettersson, ANC MP, Qubudile Dyantyi, and ANC Chief Whip, Pemmy Majodina, demanded R600 000 to make the impeachment process "go away”.
Dyantyi chairs the Section 194 Committee, which is probing Mkhwebane’s fitness to hold office. She was suspended in June 2022 and her five-year term of office comes to an end in August 2023.
One of the messages she read out was Joemat-Pettersson saying: “The courts are with Cyril Ramaphosa.”
Mkhwebane said she felt she was persecuted for investigating President Cyril Ramaphosa for the robbery scandal that took place on his Phala Phala farm.
“For the first time we can talk about State Capture because all three arms of state, aided and abetted by the media, are deeply implicated in the concerted effort to violate my rights and those of the public I am appointed to serve,” she said.
She said ordinarily, the evidence would be left for the police, but the investigation was about her impeachment process and that was the reason she decided to share the messages with the public.
Mkhwebane said: ”This is also because it is highly unlikely that the biased South African media can report objectively in a matter which has the potential to hurt the agenda of the DA and or the President.”
