The public protector has cautioned parliament against using requests for updates on its ongoing investigations to interfere with its work.
In a stern letter dated July 17 sent to Xola Nqola, chair of parliament’s portfolio committee on justice and constitutional development, public protector advocate Kholeka Gcaleka said parliament cannot use accountability avenues to cast doubt on her office’s probes.
“Accountability requires the public protector to explain how her functions have been carried out and to report and account to the National Assembly,” Gcaleka said.
“However, this does not give the assembly or any committee the power, as the ATM contends in its submission to the committee, to probe, oversee or second-guess the substance, methods or progress of an investigation while it is ongoing.”
This comes after Nqola’s committee wrote to Gcaleka earlier in July requesting a progress update on the complaint by the ATM against suspended police minister Senzo Mchunu, and whether his actions to unilaterally attempt to disband the political killings task team amounted to political interference and misconduct.
Gcaleka told Nqola the letter, which sets out what oversight role parliament and its committees play on bodies such as the public protector, especially in continuing investigations, is tantamount to interference.
“To assume the role as suggested by the ATM would amount to interference with the functioning of the institution, contrary to section 181(4) and to erode the independence guaranteed by section 181(2),” Gcaleka said.
“The manner and the pace of an investigation lie within the public protector’s discretion, subject to the law and to the oversight of the courts and not to external direction.”
She said she offered a progress report which would be scant on detail, as the investigation was live. She could only confirm that her office is busy with the probe and that the investigation has never been stagnant at any point.
“Without disclosing detail that would compromise its integrity, substantive investigative work has been undertaken to date,” Gcaleka said.
“The office is, at this stage, unable to disclose the identities of witnesses, the specific evidence obtained, or any provisional view on the merits.”
She said disclosure of such details at this stage would “compromise the integrity of the investigation and prejudice the rights of affected persons, including the right to procedural fairness, and risk trespassing on the concurrent processes described”.
The processes Gcaleka refers to are the judicial commission of inquiry chaired by retired justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga, established to inquire into the allegations of criminality, corruption and interference in the criminal justice system arising from the public disclosures made by KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Lieutenant-General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, and the parliamentary ad hoc committee constituted to probe the same allegations.
“The office trusts the committee will appreciate this reticence is not a want of candour, but a necessary incident of a responsible investigation,” she said.
TimesLIVE
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.