Mkhwebane 'exchanged Pleasantries' With Ex-spy Minister Mahlobo Before Meeting On CIEX Investigation

• Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane will deny she instructed investigators to include a recommendation to nationalise the SARB in her controversial CIEX report.
• Mkhwebane will also testify she merely “exchanged pleasantries” with former spy minister David Mahlobo.
• This came out during the cross-examination of former Public Protector investigator Tebogo Kekana during Mkhwebane’s impeachment hearings on Monday.

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Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane merely had “chitchat” and “exchanged pleasantries” with former state security minister David Mahlobo before a meeting between the Public Protector and State Security Agency (SSA), her counsel, advocate Dali Mpofu, said. She will also testify she did not instruct investigators to include a recommendation the Constitution be amended to nationalise the SA Reserve Bank (SARB) in her controversial, discredited report on the CIEX. The Section 194 Committee heard this on Monday afternoon during the cross-examination of former Public Protector investigator Tebogo Kekana on a day in which Mkhwebane’s former employer, the SSA, again featured prominently. READ | Mkhwebane ‘rogue unit’ recording exposes alleged SSA  abuses by her former boss Arthur Fraser Kekana’s testimony was explosive and did not reflect well on Mkhwebane. He said before a meeting in May 2017, while investigating the SARB/CIEX matter, Mkhwebane first met privately with Mahlobo, which he found “odd”. She told him not to record the meeting and to stop taking notes, which was not typical, as he always recorded investigative meetings or took notes. He also testified Mkhwebane instructed him to include a recommendation to amend the Constitution to nationalise the SARB. At the start of his cross-examination, Mpofu said he was going to place Kekana in the category of witnesses he calls “disgruntled employees”.

Former Public Protector investigator Tebogo Kekana testifying before the Section 194 Committee via the virtual platform on Monday. News24 Jan Gerber

He later reprised this line of questioning, suggesting Kekana’s subpoena to appear before the committee was a “simulation”.            Kekana did not agree with this characterisation. He said he had been unwilling to testify and had to be subpoenaed because he was hesitant about how much he could remember of the events and because he had litigation pending before the Labour Court. “I’m testifying on the strength of a subpoena,” said Kekana. READ | SSA members were SARS’ enemies, Van Loggerenberg tells Mkhwebane impeachment hearing Mpofu asked several questions about his characterisation of the private meeting between Mkhwebane and Mahlobo as odd, but Kekana stuck to his guns. Mpofu said the meeting could have been a “chitchat” lasting “half a minute”. Kekana said he could not say, repeating he found it odd. Mpofu said Mkhwebane would say she met Mahlobo before the formal meeting as the “courtesy as a host” not to leave the minister waiting, and they were only “exchanging pleasantries”.

Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane and Adv Dali Mpofu. News24 Jan Gerber/News24

According to Mpofu, Mkhwebane will say in sensitive meetings, there was a “need-to-know basis”, so it would not be recorded. Kekana said he recorded all investigative meetings. Mpofu then disputed it was an investigative meeting, but Kekana said in his mind it was – he even prepared questions for Mkhwebane to ask, but she never did. READ | Mkhwebane asks for time to explain, after Mpofu admits her ‘unlawful possession’ of classified report Mpofu added Mkwhebane would testify she never gave an instruction to include a recommendation that the Constitution should be amended to nationalise the SARB. Kekana disagreed. He said he indicated to Mkhwebane it was not sensible to include a recommendation on the nationalisation in the CIEX report, but she did not agree with him. Kekana added he did not understand the remedial action Mkhwebane wanted in the report to this day. Mpofu’s cross-examination of Kekana will continue on Tuesday when he is expected to canvass his testimony that Mkhwebane instructed investigators not to use the information contained in the GuptaLeaks in their investigation into the Vrede dairy farm, and they should not include any findings against politicians in their report. The saga involved then-Free State premier Ace Magashule and the province’s former MEC for agriculture, Mosebenzi Zwane. Proceedings will start at 10:00.

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