The disappointment in Futana Tebele’s voice was evident when, at the close  of testimony in the Section 194 inquiry into suspended public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane, evidence leader Ncumisa Mayosi entered a screenshot of an SMS into the bundle.

Purportedly from Mkhwebane to former COO Basani Baloyi and sent in February 2019 soon after Baloyi’s appointment, it read: “COO be careful of what you hear from Pona and Tebele. But you are an adult, be wise.”

For much of Wednesday morning at the Section 194 parliamentary impeachment inquiry, Tebele, who has known Mkhwebane since his school years, had respectfully lauded Mkhwebane and the way she had run her office. 

He had defended her alleged harsh treatment of investigators, who have claimed Mkwebane harassed them. It was an office, Tebele told the inquiry, that functioned under pressure. To the allegation that she “raised her voice” occasionally in meetings, Tebele said, “not unreasonably so”.

Tebele, a senior manager in executive support at the Office of the Public Protector denied there was a “culture of fear” that pervaded the workspace and sketched Mkhwebane as a driven leader, determined to see outcomes, particularly in the backlog of cases.

Her demands on her staff, he added, were not also “unreasonable” under the circumstances and under Mkhwebane’s watch “everyone was brought close to the PP”. 

Earlier Tebele said he had worked on the Vrede Dairy and the South African Reserve Bank/CIEX report “but only on the editorial side.”

And then Mayosi flipped up the message on the screen just before the tea break.

Mayosi asked Tebele whether he had been aware of the message and the sentiment by Mkhwebane which implied that he “could not be trusted”.

“I have never seen that before. That I could not be trusted. I have always believed that she trusted me and even today I still believe her,” he responded.

The team of evidence leaders had provided Tebele with a copy of the message earlier in the day, said Mayosi, “but he might not have looked at his phone”.

Tebele said he had received the message at the start of the day before he was due to give testimony.

It did not take long after the tea break for Advocate Dali Mpofu, acting for Mkhwebane, to suggest that sending the witness the message had been an attempt by evidence leaders to “shake” Thebele’s belief in the PP.

“Even now, are you shaken in your belief?” he asked the witness, adding that there was “nothing in the SMS that says the PP does not trust you — those were words put to you.”

“Except the words I saw,” responded Tebele.

Earlier in the day, Tebele set out the atmosphere in the office of the public protector after several leaks had occurred, including that CEO Vussy Mahlangu did not have Top Level security clearance.

When Baldwin Neshunzhi, PPSA head of security had returned to the office after a suspension, Tebele said he had been approached by Mahlangu, 

It was Mahlangu, who had suggested to him that “because of the current cloud of the leaking of information he deemed it best he be moved out of that portfolio.”

A hunt for the culprit ensued and laptops were confiscated from staff. 

Visit Daily Maverick’s home page for more news, analysis and investigations

Mkhwebane, he said, set up a structure called the Task Team which would hold meetings every Friday. This was to check on the progress of reports and the issuing of notices.

When asked by Mayosi whether the substance of investigations had been discussed at these meetings, Thebe said they had.

On Tuesday committee members heard that Mahlangu did not have the necessary High Level security clearance from the SSA. He had been appointed to the PP’s office pending the outcome of disciplinary proceedings related to his position of Deputy Director General at the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform.

The charge by Baloyi was that Mahlangu, apart from acting as Mkhwebane’s enforcer, had interfered with an investigation by the PP into Gugu Nkwinti, Minister of Agriculture at the time.

On Wednesday, Tebele set out how when he had joined the private office of the PP he had had an introductory meeting with Mkhwebane and her chief of staff. Mahlangu was employed by then.

He had also met with the Quality Assurance Team (QAT), headed by Isaac Matlawe who were part of Mkhwebane’s “task team”.

“It was a committee that sat every Friday. It was chaired by the PP and on the Task Team agenda was mainly investigations that had reached Section 79 stage or investigations that were ready,” he told the committee.

He said there were tensions between Linda Molelekoa, acting chief of staff, and QAT head Isac Matlawe. Matlawe had been unhappy reporting to Molelekoa whom he charged with not having adequate legal qualifications.

QAT as well as investigators had a direct link to Mkhwebane as well as their Executive Managers, said Tebele.

Tensions were exacerbated when Matlawe did not turn up on a weekend when he was asked by Mkhwebane to “quality assure” the CIEX report.

“I remember the PP asking that because of the time the report needed to be finalised and there was a request to Matlawe, being the lead, to come…but he did not pitch on that day.”

He told the inquiry while everyone was responsible for quality assurance of a particular report in the end it was Mkhwebane who signed them off.

“She will not attach her signature to a report that she is not satisfied with it. She reads the all the reports and I have seen it in many instances when reports were sent back,” said Tebele.

With regard to the Vrede matter and his role, Tebele said that he had been tasked with checking the public/private nature of the Gupta-linked undertaking. Because of his expertise, he had been asked to do this.

“I gathered from the unit in National Treasury that it was not registered as a public/private project and as such did not meet the criteria in the PFMA. That was my involvement,” he said.

Mkhwebane was suspended from office on 9 June. The parliamentary impeachment hearings got underway on July 11.

The inquiry continues. DM