Suspended Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane is on the verge of being evicted from the prestigious Bryntirion ministerial estate in Pretoria, where she has been living at great expense to taxpayers.

According to a City Press report, Mkhwebane moved into the estate near the Union Buildings in 2017, citing danger to her life.

However, a SAPS threat assessment was unable to verify that claim.

The cost to the cash-strapped Office of the Public Protector so far is said to be in the region of R4m.

Last month, the institution’s CEO Thandi Sibanyoni and acting Public Protector Advocate Kholeka Gcaleka wrote to Mkhwebane, notifying her of the Office of the Public Protector’s decision to terminate its lease between it and the Department of Public Works & Infrastructure, which oversees the use of state-owned property.

In a terse response, Mkhwebane wrote that she did not mind vacating the property, but added: ‘I reserve all my rights relating to this matter.’

The move to evict Mkhwebane comes after the office of the Public Protector sought a legal opinion on whether it was legally permissible for it to pay for her accommodation at the ministerial estate. 

City Press says legal opinion, dated 17 October, prepared by the institution’s senior manager of legal services Neels van der Merwe, recommended that the accounting officer notify Mkhwebane that the lease agreement was being terminated following an internal investigation.

The Public Protector's legal services had to investigate whether the arrangement permitting Mkhwebane to reside in a state-owned house was part of her contractual benefits or a legal obligation in terms of her status as a protected VIP, as envisaged in the risk information administration system.

The City Press report notes Mkhwebane is indeed a protected VIP; however, the internal legal opinion also found that her conditions and benefits did not provide for access to prestigious state-owned accommodation.

While former Minister of Public Works & Infrastructure Nathi Nhleko had consented to her moving into Bryntirion, he had made it clear that she would have to pay her own rent and that it was a temporary arrangement of 12 months.

According to the legal opinion: ‘The office of the Public Protector’s communications to National Treasury, that it was obliged to accept liability for the funding of the Public Protector’s accommodation at a state-owned residence because of the security threats emanating from the scope of and during the performance of her official duties, were misdirected against the provisions of the risk information administration system and the responsibilities of the protection security services. The explanation of the Office of the Public Protector – that the Public Protector was and is still faced with threats as a result of the work she was conducting in her capacity as the Public Protector – were also not sustained by the results of the actual threat assessments conducted by the SAPS and the VIP protection unit. The assessment reports had in fact concluded that ‘no imminent direct threat against the physical security of the principal was identified’. 

Mkhwebane's response to a request for confirmation that her office had alerted her of its intention to cancel the lease and that there were no longer security threats to her life, was pointed.

‘I suggest you ask the office of the Public Protector to respond as to why it is cancelling the lease, which was signed by the CEO without any confirmation from the SAPS about the status of my security. The last security threat and risk, done in 2020/21, indicated that the status quo remained,’ she is quoted as saying in the City Press report.

Full City Press report