Busisiwe Mkhwebane, the suspended Public Protector, has been impeached with a vote of 318 for, 43 against and one abstention in the National Assembly.

South Africa's unprecedented impeachment inquiry ended with the removal from office as Public Protector for misconduct and incompetence of Busisiwe Mkhwebane after a debate in the House.

The EFF, African Transformation Movement (ATM) and United Democratic Movement (UDM) had opposed the impeachment inquiry when it started in July 2022 after delays from a slew of legal challenges by Mkhwebane, and a cost of millions of rand to the taxpayer.

On Monday, the EFF, ATM and UDM were joined by the Pan-Africanist Congress (PAC), African Independent Congress (AIC) and Al Jama-ah to continue to oppose Mkhwebane's removal from office on grounds of misconduct and incompetence.

"The uninformed majority seeks to railroad all of us to impeach a person not liked by the establishment... We see Parliament being used to break the law to protect the powerful," was how EFF MP Omphile Maotwe put it, after describing the process as "grossly unfair" and "a witch hunt".

Citing Mkhwebane as "victim" continues the spin the Public Protector herself pursued through the recent past.

DA MP Annelie Lotriet on Monday said the Section 194 committee did its job, and described as "seminal" the over one-year impeachment inquiry despite the Public Protector's serial legal...