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We’ve long since lost confidence in Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane, and her shortcomings have been laid bare for the entire country to see.

At the centre of her current battle with President Cyril Ramaphosa is the fate of Pravin Gordhan, who already has his hands full trying to turn around this country’s State-Owned Enterprises.

It has emerged this week that Mkhwebane wrote to Ramaphosa on June 26, warning that he was in violation of the Constitution for not implementing her finding that Gordhan be disciplined for approving former deputy SARS commissioner Ivan Pillay’s early retirement.

Gordhan has challenged that report, filing papers in the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria.

According to the Daily Maverick, Ramaphosa isn’t going to back down on that front:

Mkhwebane sent the warning to Ramaphosa as he was putting the final touches on his response to her draft report in which she is likely to have found that he was in breach of the Executive Ethics Act.

This is because he provided Parliament with two different answers to explain a R500,000 payment from Bosasa boss Gavin Watson and that he received money which may have been the fruits of money-laundering.

If Ramaphosa isn’t going to discipline Gordhan as Mkhwebane directed, then she believes that he needs to interdict the report.

The president disagrees:

According to his office, “President Ramaphosa said that having considered the Public Protector’s findings against minister Gordhan, as well as the minister’s challenges to those findings in his review application, it would be inappropriate to take disciplinary action against minister Gordhan at this point”.

What we’re looking at here is a showdown between the President and the Public Protector, which we’ve seen before when Thuli Madonsela tackled the State Capture reign of Jacob Zuma.

Only this time around, it’s the Public Protector that has been compromised, and those critical of Mkhwebane say she’s keen to take down Gordhan at the behest of the pro-Zuma ANC faction:

They allege that Mkhwebane is an ally of ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule and is tied to a grouping that includes Deputy Minister of Water Affairs and Sanitation David Mahlobo, as well as ANC MP Bongani Bongo.

Call me cynical, but I lost all faith in the integrity of Mkhwebane a long time ago.

For those who feel the same way about President Ramaphosa, the Daily Maverick also has you covered. Ferial Haffajee has written an obituary for Ramaphoria, which you can read here.

Finally, if you want a simplified, blow-by-blow breakdown of the battle between Ramaphosa and Mkhwebane, you should read this News24 article.

Pretty tough to keep up to speed with all the power struggles and grabs taking place, right?

[sources:dailymav&dailymav&news24]