Four members of the Section 194 inquiry into suspended Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane's fitness for office have recused themselves from a Joint Committee on Ethics and Members' Interests probe into allegations that three African National Congress (ANC) MPs solicited bribes from her.

Mkhwebane's husband, David Skosana, alleged that late ANC MP Tina Joemat-Pettersson, who served on the committee but wasn’t an active member, sought bribes of R200 000 each for herself, committee chairperson Qubudile Dyantyi and ANC chief whip Pemmy Majodina.

Dyantyi and Majodina have publicly denied the allegations.

Skosana has laid a complaint with the police, and Mkhwebane, after being so advised by National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, laid a complaint with the Joint Committee on Ethics and Members' Interests.

Mkhwebane, along with the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), United Democratic Movement (UDM) and African Transformation Movement (ATM), insist that Dyantyi should recuse himself. Mkhwebane also brought an unsuccessful application for Dyantyi's recusal last year.

This ethics committee does its work behind closed doors.

According to a statement from Parliament, the committee met on Monday when it received a briefing from the Acting Registrar of Members' Interests, advocate Anthea Gordon, on Mkhwebane's complaints.

"The matter is on the ongoing agenda of the committee," the statement read.

It said:

The committee noted that four of its members serve on the committee for Section 194 inquiry. The four members, Mr Bekizwe Nkosi, Mr Julius Malema, Ms Violet Siwela and Ms Mimmy Gondwe have been recused from the committee for the purpose of the complaints by the Public Protector. This is to ensure that the process before the committee is fair, ethical, and conducted with integrity.

"The committee will process the complaints in line with the provisions of the Code of Ethical Conduct and Disclosures of Members' Interests and will at its next meeting engage on the substance of the complaints. The committee observes principles of natural justice, which must be adhered to."

TimesLIVE reported that the committee advised Mkhwebane against releasing audio recordings she claims relate to the bribery allegations at a media briefing she scheduled for 12:30 on Tuesday because doing so could jeopardise the committee's work.

Mkhwebane nonetheless released the audio recordings, and called it the biggest corruption scandal ever for Parliament.

"For the first time, we can talk about state capture," she claimed.

The National Assembly rises on Thursday and only reconvenes in September. The ethics committee is not expected to meet during the recess. However, the Section 194 Committee, under pressure from Parliament to conclude its work, will meet during the recess and intends to finalise its report on 28 July.

This means that the committee, never known for the speed with which it processes complaints, will only finalise its investigation after the Section 194 Committee concludes its work.

The inquiry has suffered many delays in the last two months, relating to Mkhwebane's legal costs and representation, and on Friday it decided that it would pose written questions to Mkhwebane. If she chooses not to answer, it would only consider the evidence before it.

Mkhwebane has been waging a war of attrition with the inquiry, including court applications, calling irrelevant witnesses and filibustering by her advocate, Dali Mpofu, SC.

This means the process, which was initially scheduled to be completed by September last year, with R4.5-million as Mkhwebane's legal costs, is ongoing, and her legal costs have ballooned to R30-million.