The Gauteng High Court in Pretoria has set aside former Public Protector, Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s bid to have her successor, Advocate Kholeka Gcaleka, held in contempt of court and sentenced to 15-months imprisonment.
This comes after the Court heard an interlocutory application brought by Public Protector Gcaleka which asked the court to set aside the new cause of action Mkhwebane introduced through an amended notice of motion in her main gratuity case.
Mkhwebane was also ordered to pay the costs of the application, including the costs of two counsel.
Mkhwebane invoked Rule 53(4) of the Uniform Rules of Court which prescribes that an applicant may, within 10 days after the registrar has made the record available to him or her, by delivery of a notice and accompanying affidavit, amend, add to or vary the terms of his or her notice of motion and supplement the supporting affidavit.
However, Gcaleka’s legal counsel argued that the amendment served only to harrass her.
The Judge agreed that this step would prejudice Gcaleka and the Office, ruled that it was irregular and set it aside after finding that the Rule does not allow for new causes of action to be introduced for grounds other than those in the review.
The court offered Mkhwebane 10 days, from Friday, to amend the notice of motion and supplementary affidavit that comply with Rule 53(4).
