The Speaker of the National Assembly will write to parties represented in the National Assembly to nominate members to serve on the committee that will institute an inquiry into Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane's fitness for office.

On Tuesday, the National Assembly voted in favour of an inquiry to impeach Mkhwebane, as per the recommendation of an independent panel which found prima facie evidence of misconduct and incompetence on her part.

But the vote wasn't without controversy with the African National Congress (ANC) clearly divided on the matter. While no ANC MPs voted against the inquiry or abstained, only 168  of them voted. The ANC has 230 seats.

At Thursday morning's meeting of the National Assembly Programming Committee, MPs heard that it would still take a few days to obtain the list of MPs who participated in the sitting, because it was a hybrid sitting, with some MPs in the National Assembly chamber and others on a virtual platform.

Before Tuesday's sitting, ANC chairperson Gwede Mantashe was said to have given ANC MPs clear marching orders: They must support the inquiry.

On Thursday, ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule told KwaZulu-Natal radio station Gagasi FM there would not be any repercussions for the MPs who defied Mantashe's diktat because they did the right thing by not "sleeping with the enemy", TimesLIVE reported.

He said the ANC, through its national working committee (NWC) or national executive committee (NEC), had not finalised the matter, so there wasn't an official party line.

At the programming committee, Democratic Alliance chief whip Natasha Mazzone, who started the process when she lodged a motion for Mkhwebane's removal in February 2020, asked for a timeline of how the committee conducting the inquiry would proceed.

Secretary to the National Assembly, Masibulele Xaso, said Modise would write to the political parties so they could submit names of members who would serve on the committee.

"Members will recall that the rules on this process have already established a committee, and what remains is for the committee to be constituted and for the speaker to make a determination of the size of the committee," Xaso said.

"I can indicate the speaker's inclination is for all the parties possible to participate in the process, but you could have an arrangement where you have voting members and non-voting members."

He said Modise would communicate this in "clear terms".

Once the committee has met and elected a chairperson, it will determine its programme and the timeframes of its work.