Johannesburg - The EFF has vowed it will ensure that Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane will remain in office until her seven-year tenure comes to an end.
This was the warning made by EFF president Julius Malema when he addressed the media in Erasmia, outside Pretoria on Sunday.
Malema's announcement comes after National Assembly Speaker Thandi Modise called on political parties to nominate eminent persons to sit on the panel which would look into the fitness of Mkhwebane to hold office.
Last week, Mkhwebane filed an urgent application in the Western Cape High Court for an interdict.
The interdict seeks to halt the parliamentary process under way to remove her from office.
But Modise indicated that she would oppose the application in defence of “Parliament powers” as enshrined in the Constitution.
And it is set to be a bigger fight as Malema warned: “We are aware that Parliament has entertained the frivolous and disingenuous motion of the DA to remove advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane as the public protector.
“We will oppose this move, which is a united action by the DA and a Ramaphosa faction in the ANC, to the end. We have no doubt that this motion will be defeated.”
He also said that his party would oppose the nomination of Retired Judge Robert Nugent, who recently chaired the Nugent Commission tasked with investigating maladministration at the SA Revenue Service (Sars) while Tom Moyane was the commissioner.
The EFF has also vowed to challenge the decision of the National Director of Public Prosecutions, advocate Shamila Batohi, to withdraw criminal charges against Sars officials Ivan Pillay, Andries Janse van Rensburg and Johan van Loggerenberg.
Giving reasons for the decision, Batohi said this followed a “careful assessment of the evidence and other relevant material.
"The unanimous conclusion of the panel in respect of all counts is that there are no reasonable prospects of a successful prosecution.”
But Malema said: “We have taken the resolution to review the irrational and factional decision by the NDPP to withdraw the criminal case against culprits of the Rogue Unit.
“A rational and fair NDPP would have allowed the matter to conclude in court and not short-cut it when it is already on trial.”
Meanwhile, the party has also vowed to defy Modise and disrupt President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation address (Sona) if Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan remains in office on Thursday.
Video: Jacques Naude/African News Agency(ANA)
“If Cyril (Ramaphosa) starts speaking. We will also speak,” Malema said. He claimed that Ramaphosa had not recorded a single victory or achievement since his election as president after Zuma was removed, saying under his watch the economy was contracting, recording some of the highest unemployment rates in the world; with over 50% of the youth effectively out of work.
“His government is dismantling and destabilising state-owned enterprises, which are people’s property, to justify privatisation and mass retrenchment of workers. In essence, he is effectively enabling white monopoly capital to take over SOEs and restrict the role of the state in the economy and industrial development in general. This is a reversal of the 1994 gains where the interests of the white minority reigned supreme over the interests of the black majority,” Malema said.
Video: Jacques Naude/African News Agency(ANA)
He said the problems of Eskom had worsened under the “incompetent and seemingly untouchable” Gordhan.
“South Africa, the largest economy on the continent, has power cuts every day, disrupting all social and economic life. Yet, there are no consequences on Pravin Gordhan, who is the minister responsible for this crisis.