Mkhwebane perjury case postponed to March

The Pretoria Magistrate’s Court has postponed the case of perjury against Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane to March 25, 2021.

Mkhwebane appeared on Thursday morning on three charges of perjury relating to a damning Constitutional Court ruling against her which found she may have been biased in her investigation into the Absa-Bancorp matter.

The ConCourt found that Mkhwebane had put forward a number of falsehoods in her 2017 Absa-Bancorp report, in which she found that Absa must repay R1.1 billion to the Reserve Bank for the “lifeboat” lending agreement between the Bank and the then Bankorp, which was later taken over by Absa.

Head of Accountability Now Paul Hoffman laid criminal charges against Mkhwebane in 2019 after the ConCourt judgment.

The state and defence reached mutual agreement on the postponement.

Magistrate Adriaan Bekker says the postponement is to allow for the parties to sort out any pre-trial issues.

Mkhwebane on Absa-Bancorp loan:

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Absa-Bancorp report:

Source: SABC News (sabcnews.com)