Committee for Section 194 Enquiry
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The Committee for Section 194 Enquiry is an ad hoc committee of the National Assembly of South Africa that was established on 7 April 2021 to determine if there are grounds for the removal of Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane as Public Protector.
In February 2020, the Chief Whip of the Official Opposition, Natasha Mazzone, submitted a motion to the Speaker of the National Assembly, Thandi Modise, with regards to Rule 129R of the National Assembly rules for the initiation of proceedings, more particularly an inquiry to establish whether or not Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane should be removed from office as Public Protector on the basis of misconduct and/or incompetence.[1]
After the declaration by the Speaker that Mazzone's motion was in order, she appointed a three-member independent panel headed by retired Constitutional Court justice Bess Nkabinde and consisting of advocate Dumisa Ntsebeza and academic Johan de Waal on 25 November 2020 to conduct and finalise a preliminary assessment to determine whether there is prima facie evidence showing that the Public Protector is not fit to hold office. Mkhwebane did attempt to stop the formation of the panel and approached the Western Cape High Court but her application was dismissed.[2][3] On 6 December 2020, Modise granted an extension to the panel and extended its mandate from 30 days to 90 days.[4] Modise received the panel's report on 25 February 2021.[5] On 1 March 2021, the report was released and it found prima facie evidence of incompetence and misconduct on the part of Mkhwebane. The panel also recommended that the charges, based on the findings, be referred to a committee of the National Assembly to investigate.[6]