Former Public Protector Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane has been acquitted of the criminal perjury charges arising from her investigation into the Absa-Bankorp matter, bringing an end to a criminal case that had followed her for years.
What happened in the criminal case
The perjury charges stemmed from allegations concerning statements Mkhwebane made about meetings during her investigation into the apartheid-era Bankorp bailout involving Absa and the South African Reserve Bank.
The matter followed a 2019 Constitutional Court judgment concerning her Absa-Bankorp report and differing versions about a meeting involving former president Jacob Zuma.
Mkhwebane pleaded not guilty.
In August this year, the State withdrew the principal perjury charge. Her legal team subsequently applied for her discharge on the remaining charges.
On Wednesday, 30 September 2026, the Pretoria Magistrates’ Court granted the application, resulting in Mkhwebane being acquitted of the criminal charges.
The outcome means Mkhwebane is no longer facing the criminal prosecution on that particular perjury docket.
‘Standing for the truth cost me dearly’
Mkhwebane has previously spoken publicly about what she believes the years of controversy and litigation did to her reputation and family.
In an interview earlier this year, she said she remembered being ridiculed by the media during the various battles surrounding her tenure.
“I remembered how I was ridiculed by the media,” she said.
Reflecting on a series of judgments involving her battles, Mkhwebane said: “Standing for the truth cost me dearly.”
She also described the personal consequences as extending beyond her own career, saying: “It affected my family’s health until death.”
Following the latest criminal-court outcome, the Busisiwe Mkhwebane Foundation welcomed the acquittal, describing it as a significant moment in what it characterised as a long and difficult legal chapter.
The foundation said Mkhwebane had consistently maintained that she was acting in the interests of accountability and ordinary South Africans and remained committed to what it described as the fight for justice.
The question of the narrative around her career
The acquittal has ignited a debate about the way Mkhwebane was portrayed throughout her tenure as Public Protector.
Her supporters have argued that the investigations she pursued placed her in conflict with powerful political and economic interests and that the subsequent legal and political battles helped create a deeply negative public narrative around her.
That argument, however, is a political interpretation rather than a finding made by the court in the criminal case.
The criminal proceedings were specifically concerned with whether the State could sustain the perjury charges against her. The court’s decision does not automatically invalidate every criticism, judgment or finding concerning her time in office.
Parliament’s findings remain a separate matter
Mkhwebane was removed as Public Protector in 2023 following Parliament’s Section 194 process.
Parliament’s process dealt with allegations of misconduct and incompetence in the execution of her duties. Those proceedings were separate from the criminal perjury prosecution.
The Supreme Court of Appeal also previously dealt with litigation arising from the Section 194 process. In October 2024, the court struck Mkhwebane’s appeal from the roll and ordered her to pay costs.
More recently, the Legal Practice Council has pursued a separate application seeking to have Mkhwebane struck from the roll of legal practitioners. That matter is also distinct from the criminal case and has not been determined by the acquittal.
Wednesday’s result closes one significant criminal chapter, but it does not legally erase every finding made against Mkhwebane in other forums.
What the State’s case means
The prosecution’s decision to withdraw the main charge in August was already a major development in the case.
At the time, reporting noted that the withdrawal did not amount to a judicial finding that Mkhwebane was innocent of every allegation ever made against her. Instead, it meant that the prosecution was no longer pursuing the principal charge on which the case had been built.
The subsequent discharge of Mkhwebane on Wednesday brought the criminal proceedings to an end.
Her supporters are now asking a broader question: after years in which allegations of criminality and dishonesty featured prominently in public discussions about her, how much attention will be given to the fact that the criminal case ultimately did not result in a conviction?
‘What happens to all those negative articles?’
For Mkhwebane’s supporters, the issue is no longer simply whether she has been cleared in court.
They are asking whether media organisations and commentators will revisit the way allegations against her were reported when they were still unresolved.
That question goes beyond the legal outcome itself.
A criminal acquittal does not mean that every previous report about Mkhwebane was false, particularly where those reports accurately reported allegations, parliamentary proceedings or court findings at the time.
But the conclusion of the criminal case does provide new information that can legitimately be included in the historical record of those reports.
For Mkhwebane, who has repeatedly said that the battles damaged her reputation and family, the latest development represents an opportunity to put her own version of events back into the public conversation.
And the question now being raised by her supporters is whether the coverage that helped define her public image will give the same prominence to the fact that the criminal case has ended without a conviction.
A complicated legal legacy
Mkhwebane’s legacy therefore remains contested.
There are documented adverse findings from Parliament and the courts, alongside the latest criminal-court outcome in her favour. There are also ongoing legal proceedings concerning her professional status.
After years of being publicly associated with allegations of perjury, Mkhwebane has now been discharged in the criminal case arising from the Absa-Bankorp matter.
Her supporters see the outcome as vindication of her longstanding claim that she was unfairly targeted.
Mkhwebane herself has previously summed up how she views the years of controversy in stark terms: “Standing for the truth cost me dearly.”
