The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) has struck from the roll, with costs, impeached former Public Protector Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s application to appeal a High Court judgment, which dismissed her bid to review the decisions of the Section 194 inquiry that led to her removal from office.
The matter which listed the appellant as the “Public Protector of South Africa” was heard in the appeal court in August this year after the Section 194 inquiry had been completed and Mkhwebane removed from office.
This prompted the critical question; in what capacity does Mkhwebane appear before the SCA and is there an appeal properly placed before the court?
Mkhwebane submitted a Rule 15 application which applies to a change of status to deal with the technicality, as she no longer occupied the Office of The Public Protector of South Africa.
However, the SCA, in a judgment on Tuesday, found that the said rule applies to change of status, not a change of persona.
In addition, the court held that the steps taken by the attorney to prosecute the appeal was not duly authorized; certainly not by the Public Protector of South Africa, in whose name and on whose behalf the attorney purported to act in the matter. As a result, because there is neither an appeal properly before the Court, nor an appellant to prosecute it.
The SCA concluded that the matter falls to be struck from the roll, with costs, including those of two counsels to be paid by Mkhwebane.
