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The Public Protector’s senior representative in the Free State, Hamilton Samuel, is dragging advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane to the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration (CCMA).
This followed his dismissal from the Chapter Nine institution which he said was confirmed in a letter after he had been on suspension for nearly a year.
Samuel was suspended last March after penning an open letter to Mkhwebane calling for her resignation, claiming that she was unfit to hold office and that she had brought the Institution into disrepute.
He said he would be challenging his dismissal on the grounds of procedural unfairness, as his disciplinary hearing went ahead in his absence and that of his legal representative, despite having asked for a postponement following contact with a Covid19 positive relative.
Mkhwebane’s spokesperson, Oupa Segalwe, said previously that the decision to place Samuel on suspension was not a sanction, but a measure to allow investigations into his conduct to be carried out without any obstruction.
He said Samuel wrote the letter using office resources, including a branded letterhead, and that he abused the office's facilities to pursue his own vendetta and incite staff to turn against the Public Protector.
Whilst the same reasons had been outlined by the chairperson of the hearing, Samuel said the procedure was not fair as the hearing had proceeded without him, thus eliminating him from presenting his side of the evidence.
(Source: OFM)
