The COO of the Office of the Public Protector (PPSA), Charles Mohalaba, has tendered his resignation from the Chapter 9 institution, giving 24 hours' notice of his departure this week.

Mohalaba confirmed his resignation to News24, saying "my time at the PPSA is a period I wish to quickly forget about in my whole professional career."

Pressed for more comment, he did not respond.

Mohalaba is the second COO to resign under Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane's tenure. Former COO Basani Baloyi left under a cloud of controversy in 2019, alleging "rot at the core" of Mkhwebane's office.

Baloyi approached the Constitutional Court in 2020 after her unsuccessful application to the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria to declare that Mkhwebane had failed in her duties as the Public Protector and in dismissing Baloyi the previous year, alleging Mkhwebane had acted in her own self-interest.

Mkhwebane embarked on a sweeping purge in 2019, firing Baloyi and suspending four senior officials and investigators: executive manager Pona Mogaladi, chief investigator Abongile Madiba, chief investigator Lesedi Sekele and senior investigator Tebogo Kekana.

Public Protector spokesperson Oupa Segwale did not reply to a request for comment by the time of publication.