POLL | Do you believe Mkhwebane when she claims she can't make ends meet?

Former public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane is arguing that the salary she makes as an MP is not enough and is in court fighting to get the gratuity she believes she was entitled to when she left office.

Mkhwebane lost out on her right to an almost R10m payout when she was impeached by parliament and fired by President Cyril Ramaphosa last year.

Her term of office as a parliamentarian may be coming to an end and she has “no guaranteed source of income” beyond the upcoming national elections, she argued in court papers.

In 2023, ordinary MPs were earning about R1.2m a year. 

Mkhwebane's predecessor Kholeka Gcaleka believes the court challenge over nonpayment of Mkhwebane's multimillion-rand gratuity will help clarify a legal conundrum of whether an impeached head of the institution is entitled to the money. 

Gcaleka said a court judgment in Mkhwebane’s legal challenge will be crucial in determining what happens to a gratuity payment when a public protector is fired.

“The institution came to a decision that there is no prescript which refers to removal from office. We must be very clear this is unprecedented and probably indeed in exercising her right, that is what is required so that there is clarity in law in this particular issue,” Gcaleka said in an interview with Newzroom Afrika.