Cape Town - “I will serve my country with all my might.”
That’s how public protector-in-waiting Busisiwe Mkhwebane ended her interview for the job.
She has served with distinction so far - a fact none of the political parties on the ad hoc committee on the public protector disputed when members made their final selection.
She graduated from the University of the North with a law degree, received a diploma in corporate law from the then Rand Afrikaans University in 1997, before signing up as a senior researcher at the SA Human Rights Commission.
Concern for the vulnerable appears to have informed her next move as a senior investigator with the Gauteng office of the public protector.
One thing stands out from her CV - she wastes little time in rising through the ranks. By the time she left, six years later, she was the acting director of the Gauteng provincial office.
A move to Home Affairs saw her overseeing the treatment of refugees as a director, before she became the acting chief director of asylum seekers management offices in four provinces, where she had to formulate a government strategy for the integration of asylum seekers into society, against the backdrop of a growing tide of xenophobia.
She showed a talent for streamlining bureaucracy as head of the refugee backlog project, managing a budget of R60 million when just in her thirties.
In 2010 she served in the SA embassy in China as councillor for immigration and civic service, winning a merit award in 2012 for exceptional service.
Back at Home Affairs in 2014, she became director for country information and co-operation management before a recent move to the State Security Agency as an analyst.
This - apart from a rumour that she was handpicked by President Jacob Zuma for the job of public protector - was the main reason for opposition misgivings about her, chiefly in the DA.
It was a worry that she had chosen a seemingly junior role at the agency over her very senior position at Home Affairs, the DA said.
But Mkhwebane gave a polished performance in her interview.
She was unflappable in the face of a grilling over what she called her non-existent business interests and thoughtful in her responses to questions.
The public protector's role was, she said, to give those “without a voice” a say in the running of public services.
She said if the government could listen and respond better to its citizens, there would be fewer grievances, hence fewer protests.
Mkhwebane said it was by strengthening constitutional democracy that poverty would ultimately be addressed.
She’s been handed what has become one of the most public - yet lonely - roles in government, and the nation’s eyes will be on her from day one.
Political Bureau