THE fight to appoint the next public protector will be fought to the end as the ANC will require a two-thirds majority to get a candidate of its choice.
At the moment, the ANC has a majority of 62.2 percent in the National Assembly, a few percentages short of the required two-thirds majority.
This means it needs an additional 18 votes in the House to get the nod of MPs to back the new public protector.
The ANC has 249 MPs and the appointment of the public protector needs a total of 267 MPs to meet the required two-thirds requirement. This is out of a total of 400 members in the National Assembly.
But the chairwoman of the ad-hoc committee Makhosi Khoza warned last week the candidate would have to get support from all the parties in the National Assembly.
She insisted she did not want a vote on the matter and a simple nod from all the MPs in the Chamber will do.
This was during the shortlisting of the candidates from 14 to the current five.
Judge Sharise Weiner of the high court in Joburg got the backing of all the parties.
She impressed with her extensive experience in the legal fraternity and the bench.
Western Cape High Court Judge Siraj Desai was endorsed by the ANC, but opposition parties said he would be better left in his current job.
The DA and the EFF said they did not support him.
They argued he was temperamental and the position of public protector required someone who was level-headed.
The race on Wednesday in the ad-hoc committee to pick the new public protector could even boil down to Pension Funds Adjudicator advocate Muvhango Lukhaimane.
She appeared to enjoy the support of all the parties.
The process to appoint the public protector has been subjected to intense public scrutiny, including new requirements to disclose any misconduct or criminal matters from the candidates’ past.
The only task remaining on Wednesday is for MPs to get one person who will assume the duties in October.