Western Cape Premier, Helen Zille, said that the Public Protector, Busisiwe Mkhwebane, has once again reflected her severely limited understanding of the constitution and the law.
She was reacting to the findings of the Public Protector on Wednesday that she had exposed herself to a risk of a conflict between her official responsibilities and private interests.
This followed a complaint last year by the ANC in the province who claimed that Zille had breached the provincial government's code of ethics by influencing officials to allow her son, Paul Maree, access to computer tablets purchased by the Western Cape Education Department in 2014.
Mkhwebane noted that while the project run by Maree for free had benefited many learners, she said the Premier had exposed herself to a risk of a conflict of interest.
In a statement, Zille said she will, yet again, be taking the finding against her on review to the High Court.
"I reject out of hand that there was any conflict of interest between my public role as Premier and the fact that I supported my son, a mathematics teacher in Khayelitsha at the time, to borrow equipment of the Western Cape Education Department in order to run free matric preparation workshops in disadvantaged schools.
"Insofar as there may have been a perception of a conflict of interest, I fulfilled the requirements of the law in mitigating it," she said.
