The Democratic Alliance (DA) and the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) are calling for Parliament to remove Busisiwe Mkhwebane as Public Protector.

On Monday, the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria found Mkhwebane’s report on the Estina dairy farm project to be unconstitutional and set it aside on the grounds that she failed in her duties to investigate and report on the controversial project.

DA Chief Whip John Steenhuisen said on Thursday that the party has submitted another request to National Assembly Speaker Thandi Modise in terms of Section 194 of the Constitution, to have Mkhwebane removed.

In terms of the Constitution, the Public Protector may be removed from office on the grounds of misconduct, incapacity or incompetence, following a finding to that effect by a committee of the National Assembly and a vote in favour of removal by at least two-thirds of the MPs.

Steenhuisen went on to say that Mkhwebane was not fit to hold office, noting that she had defended former President Jacob Zuma by laying criminal charges against former Public Protector Advocate Thuli Madonsela, for releasing the transcript of her interview with him during her State Capture investigation.

“[Mkhwebane] admitted to stepping outside of her mandate by recommending changing the Constitution regarding the mandate of the South African Reserve Bank; and first consulted former President Zuma’s legal advisers and discussed further recommendations not included in her initial report into the ABSA/Bankorp bailout,” he said.

Over the past three years, Mkhwebane compromised the integrity of the Office of the Public Protector by showing a poor understanding of both the law as well as of her own powers. In addition to this, she has also brought the independence of her office into question, said Steenhuisen.

“The Public Protector’s office has not only stumbled from one blunder to the next, but the public has now also lost faith in her ability to competently and fairly represent their best interests and for these reasons she must be removed,” he said.

Meanwhile, Outa also intends petitioning Parliament to remove and replace Mkhwebane and it wants an inquiry into Mkhwebane’s fitness to hold office.

Its petition will include a report to Parliament outlining why it believes Mkhwebane is incompetent and should not hold the office of Public Protector.

Outa chief legal officer Advocate Stefanie Fick said the public petition to Parliament would support the organisation’s call for an inquiry.

“We call on our supporters and the public to show their support by signing our petition. The petition will form part of our submission,” she explained.

The deadline for signing of the petition is Wednesday, May 29.