Public protector recuses herself in parliament secretary case

Public protector Kholeka Gcaleka has recused herself from any involvement in the handling of a complaint concerning the appointment, remuneration and benefits of the secretary to parliament, Xolile George, or in any decision arising from it. Gcaleka said she may reasonably be perceived to have a conflict between her private interests and her official duties in this matter. This emerged in a letter Gcaleka wrote to the DA, which the party shared, in response to a letter from DA chief whip George Michalakis, in which he said it had come to his attention that Gcaleka and George might be in a romantic relationship.

Michalakis said a person’s private matters were usually none of his concern, but where a possible conflict of interest existed, it became a matter of interest and concern. Michalakis asked Gcaleka to confirm whether such a relationship existed, “and where it does, you will distance yourself from this investigation and reassign it to another individual in your office”. In her response, Gcaleka said the perceived conflict was being actively managed in the statutory scheme to safeguard the independence, impartiality, and integrity of the process and of the public protector.

She said the public protector’s actions in this matter will be performed by the deputy public protector, Dinkie Dube. On Monday, Michalakis said the exact nature of the relationship between George and the public protector was none of his concern. “However, it is clearly of such a nature that the public protector saw it fit to recuse herself based on her ‘private interests’ in the matter related to him.

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“The question now is: did the secretary to parliament make a declaration to [the speaker and chairperson of the National Council of Provinces], declaring the same possible conflict of interest?” Michalakis said. This was important, as the public protector is the head of a Chapter 9 institution that may well in future be called on to investigate matters related to parliament, of which George is the accounting officer, and he therefore has an ethical obligation to disclose such a possible conflict. In response to the DA’s enquiry on the matter, the speaker declined to state whether this was done, saying that it “falls within the responsibility of the office of the public protector to respond to the DA”. “This is simply not true, since the effect of such a conflict would have an impact on George’s work as much as it would on that of the public protector,” Michalakis said.

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