Mkhwebane was set on protecting South Africa’s state plunderers from the start

The constitutional court had difficulty certifying the Constitution back in September 1996. Newly established and led by Arthur Chaskalson, a renowned human rights lawyer, the court found the wording of the interim constitution on the public protector woefully inadequate. 

Considering the nature of the public protector’s job – investigating officials and politicians to hold them accountable for their misdeeds – the court did not think the interim constitution offered the occupant of that office sufficient guarantees to do their job diligently and courageously. The interim constitution stipulated that only a simple majority was required to remove the public protector. The constitutional court disagreed and insisted on a higher threshold of a two-thirds majority.