A modern-day discussion about the distinction between ownership and control of central banks should throw up a few interesting contemporary references: Peru, Venezuela, Canada, for example.

So, why turn back to 1938 and Adolf Hitler and how his National Socialist party, the Nazis, repurposed the German economy while systematically murdering six million Jews and other undesirables? Why seek inspiration in this dark corner of human history? In the end, 55 million people perished in genocidal Europe.

Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane, the suspended Public Protector, went there.

So heard the historic Section 194 impeachment inquiry into her fitness to hold office. Her enchantment with Nazi economics is a bit of evidence that has lingered low-key in the steaming pile that has been presented so far. Mkhwebane and her co-conspirators had sought to tweak the Constitution through the back door in her Bankorp-CIEX report.

Mkhwebane had consulted Holocaust denier and Hitler acolyte Stephen Goodson, State Security Agency (SSA) officials and former president Jacob Zuma – and kept this secret. Until her report was challenged and set aside by the courts, Mkhwebane’s lack of candour had gone undetected.

Don’t touch us on our Guptas

The CIEX report was released shortly after the South African Reserve Bank had fined the Gupta family’s bank of choice, Baroda Bank, R11-million for offences related to money laundering.

This led to the closure of the Gupta network’s local bank accounts and the Baroda branches, shutting down the family and their accomplices’ entire criminal operation.

The CIEX report is one of the reasons Mkhwebane now finds herself sitting in the benches of committee room M46, alongside her legal representative, advocate Dali Mpofu, facing an impeachment vote.

Mpofu has earned about R13-million in the years he has done work for Mkhwebane. “Peanuts,” he has said.

Her personal attorneys, Seanego, were paid R55-million during her term while Mkhwebane has suffered 38 losses in the courts. The inquiry has also heard that 47 other reports were currently subject to legal challenge.

Mkhwebane has been at the centre of the State Capture project from the moment she was appointed in October 2016. One of her key targets has been Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan, on whose failed litigation she spent R15-million.

Picnic at Nkandla

The Section 194 inquiry, which kicked off in April, has faced several attempts by Mkhwebane’s legal team to derail the process. At the start, Mpofu promised that it would make Nkandla look like a picnic. Thunderbolts and lightning, very, very frightening.

Committee chair Qubudile Dyantyi has held a tight leash on the inquiry, which at times has threatened to bleed right into 2o23 when Mkhwebane’s contract ends.

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Mpofu’s conduct has been to treat each witness as hostile, cross-examining them through insult, insinuation and provocation with no apparent link to the damning evidence that has been put before the committee. After evidence leaders, advocates Nazreen Bawa and Ncumisa Mayosi, had concluded with their witnesses, it was time for Mpofu to bring on the fireworks.

Expectations that Mkhwebane would be first to take the stand were disappointed when Mpofu opted instead to call career roadie Freddie Nyathela. For two days, Nyathela provided painfully detailed testimony of his struggle, since the 1980s, to empower black South Africans with technical skills and help them secure work.

Nyathela was not there to challenge the serious maladministration that has been set out and had brought the Public Protector to this point, but to praise Mkhwebane for her help.

A case to answer

Orders and rulings by various judges, including those of the Constitutional Court, have found Mkhwebane seriously wanting. She has been found to be biased and to have lied to the courts. For this she faces charges of perjury.

Mkhwebane has also lived rent-free and illegally in a government house in the exclusive Bryntirion ministerial estate in Pretoria. It has cost taxpayers about R4-million.

The damage and waste that Mkhwebane and her co-conspirators have caused the Office of the Public Protector of South Africa have been immeasurable – and so has the circular contamination that has rippled outwards.

So much so that an independent panel found Mkhwebane had a case to answer.

It is in this context and in the wake of the revelations at the inquiry that Mkhwebane has come to occupy the top villain of 2022 spot. DM168

Read about our Person of the Year winner:

A champion of justice – for Andrea Johnson, it’s all about an intense belief in right and wrong

How we chose the People of the Year winners

In the past, Daily Maverick journalists decided who they thought warranted the title of Person of the Year, but for the second year running, we have asked readers to vote for their preferred choice, with the proviso that we still have the final say. Choosing the annual winners is a labour of love because that’s what it takes to get a bunch of DM editors to decide whether they agree or disagree with the choices of 13,000 readers.  Over the next few days, we shall republish online all the results in various categories. – Heather Robertson, DM168 editor

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R25.