Busisiwe Mkhwebane, South Africa’s errant public protector, has made headlines again and again for her court defeats over legally dubious reports. These seemingly played into the state capture fightback agenda, taking aim at Ramaphosa and public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan. This year, things will come to a head for Mkhwebane, who has undone much of the good work her predecessor Thuli Madonsela achieved. She faces an impeachment process in parliament, scheduled for February this year. But Mkhwebane, Trump-style, is fighting it tooth and nail – disputing the process to remove her in a separate court matter. She’s nearly lost whatever dark battle she was helping fight: Girlfriend needs to move on.  Or better still, focus her attention on what the public protector is supposed to do: investigating concerns about government service on behalf of ordinary citizens. Think housing allocation, service delivery and so on. The stuff that really matters.

With assistance from Aarti Bhana.

This brief was originally published in The Wrap here.

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verashni@explain.co.za |  + posts

Verashni is passionate about empowering citizens to hold those in power to account. She was previously editor-in-chief of the Mail & Guardian and HuffPost South Africa, and won the CNN African Journalism Award, among others.