Former Public Protector Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane announced she would join the EFF on Monday. Picture: Armand Hough/African News Agency (ANA) Archives
Impeached Public Protector Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane has joined the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF),saying she was joining the red berets because she believed in its seven cardinal pillars and wished to continue to protect South Africans.
An overwhelming majority of parliamentarians voted to remove her from office last month, owing to a report by the Section 194 inquiry that recommended her removal on grounds of incompetence and misconduct.
On Monday, Mkhwebane was joined by other members of the EFF to make the announcement of her new political home.
Mkhwebane said the EFF was her first political home and clarified that she was never part of the African National Congress (ANC).
She said that while she was treated harshly by the ANC and the Democratic Alliance (DA), this was not a move fuelled by disgruntlement.
“I joined the EFF because I could relate to their seven cardinal pillars. Our people are landless, and the EFF is saying that they would expropriate land without compensation.
“I believe that the State should be creating and enabling an environment for the poor and marginalised, especially on issues of the economy,” she said.
Mkhwebane said she believed the State should own economic structures and education should be free.
“I could relate to the EFF. As Public Protector, I said I would protect the poor and marginalised, so with the EFF, I can continue to do that.
“I am not joining the EFF for positions. I was dealt harshly by the ANC and DA, and at the end of the day, I could stand this treatment to expose them for not being there for the poor and marginalised,” she said, while pledging to be a loyal, active, and disciplined member of the EFF.
She said she was confident she would make a massive contribution to the party.
kailene.pillay@inl.co.za
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