In yet another attempt to halt an impeachment process, public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane has approached the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, accusing SA of violating her right of access to independent courts by seeking her removal.

Her domestic litigation over the rules governing her impeachment reached the end of the road in February when the Constitutional Court cleared the path for an impeachment process in parliament. This is scheduled to begin in July. A decision by President Cyril Ramaphosa on whether she will be suspended is also imminent. 

But Mkhwebane insists the Constitutional Court judgment was wrong. In her papers to the African Commission, Mkhwebane, apparently cited in her individual capacity, referred to articles 7(1) and 26 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. These articles refer to the right of an individual to “have his cause heard” and a state’s duty to guarantee independent courts...