CONSTITUTIONAL COMMENTARY AND EVENTS

On Tuesday, 26 November 2019, the National Assembly’s (NA) Rules Committee announced that it had agreed to Draft Rules to Regulate the Removal of Office Holders of Institutions Supporting Constitutional Democracy (the Rules). The Rules will govern the removal from office of heads of offices such as that of the Auditor-General and the Public Protector. 

The drafting of these Rules has been driven in earnest by the repeated calls for the removal of the Public Protector, Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane, by the official opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, as well as civil society. The calls for her removal stem from multiple court findings against the Public Protector in her personal capacity, and against her Office. Of these, the most notable have been the ABSA/Bankorp matter, in which the Public Protector’s Report was set aside, and she was ordered to pay 15% of the South African Reserve Bank’s legal fees. More recently, she was ordered to pay 5% of the legal costs of each of the two applicants in the Estina Dairy case.

25 November marks the annual commemoration of the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, as well as the commencement of the United Nation’s 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence (GBV) campaign. This campaign is an annual movement aimed at galvanising action, raising awareness, and honouring and acknowledging powerful women’s movements whose unrelenting work seeks to create and foster safer environments for women and children, wherever they may find themselves. The 16 Days Campaign comes to an end on 10 December, which is also International Human Rights Day, when the world recognises the great strides that have been made in the protection and promotion of universal human rights.