In seven days, Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane is expected to find out whether she has succeeded in her attempt to have perjury charges against her dropped.

Mkhwebane briefly appeared in the Pretoria Magistrate's Court on Thursday. It was her second appearance.

State prosecutor Connie Erasmus told the court they had received Mkhwebane's representations and they were being considered. Erasmus added that the National Director of Public Prosecutions (NDPP) will decide whether or not to withdraw the charges and the decision will be communicated to Mkhwebane's legal team by next week Friday.

Advocate Dali Mpofu, for Mkhwebane, asked that the decision be communicated on Thursday instead, as Friday will be a public holiday.

Mpofu also told the court if the representations to have the charge withdrawn is not successful, they would apply to have the NDPP decision reviewed.

This request was agreed to 25 June to make time for the possible review.

If the representations and review are not successful, both Erasmus and Mpofu agreed that they can move straight to trial, and that a pretrial hearing would not be necessary.

Mkhwebane has become the first Public Protector to be criminally charged. She had been charged with three counts of perjury.

News24 previously reported that the perjury charges, laid against Mkhwebane by non-profit organisation Accountability Now in August 2019, stem from the findings of the Constitutional Court in the Absa/Bankorp review case.

In December 2020, the Gauteng Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) announced the decision to criminally prosecute the Public Protector.

The State has accused Mkhwebane of lying under oath in November 2017 when she unlawfully and intentionally deposed to an answering affidavit under oath in a Gauteng High Court review application.

The review application followed a judgment on her report in which she directed the Special Investigating Unit to recover R1.125-billion in "misappropriated public funds", describing the funds as an "illegal gift" given to Bankorp by the SA Reserve Bank in the 1980s.

Fin24 previously reported that the ConCourt judgment upheld the February 2018 Gauteng High Court ruling that Mkhwebane pay 15% of the Reserve Bank's legal fees in the Absa/Bankorp review case.

It agreed with the lower court ruling that her entire Absa/Bankorp investigation was flawed and that she was not honest during her investigation.

The court also found that Mkhwebane had acted in bad faith and put forward a "number of falsehoods" during the litigation, Fin24 reported.