With her seven-year contract coming to an end in a few months, Thuli Madonsela is pleased with her achievements, although she says that a lot still needs to be done.
Madonsela’s term ends on October 15.
She was appointed by President Jacob Zuma in 2009, succeeding advocate Lawrence Mushwana.
One of the cases she has tackled includes investigating Zuma for the non-security upgrades at his Nkandla home.
Some accused Madonsela at the time of investigating her “employer” when she probed the Nkandla matter. She maintained that her office was independent.
During an interview with the Sunday Tribune this week, she said: “We have highlighted the issue of ethical governance because a lot of the decisions I have had to make have been about the executive complying with the executive ethics.”
In 1994, Madonsela was nominated in the first democratic cabinet of Nelson Mandela to stand as an ANC MP, but she declined.
“I’m not a politician I’m more of an activist than a politician. The one thing I have always done in my life, even if I had no title for it, has always been about helping people get justice,” she said with a smile.
Standing for the presidency was not part of her plans.
Madonsela was weighing her options as the end of her term drew closer.
“I could go back to civil society as a teacher or a lecturer at university, or as a lawyer practicing as an advocate at the bar, or even just as an activist on issues of social justice, administrative justice and issues around disability,” she mused.
Before the Nkandla investigation, Madonsela took on the then police commissioner Bheki Cele for his role in the leasing of police headquarters, in Pretoria.
She found that Cele had acted “improperly and unlawfully” when he signed the deal.
Following her findings, Cele was suspended.
She insisted this week that no one was above the law. One of her highlights over the years was, “bringing the office of the public protector closer to every house.”
In the process of bringing her office to people, the dignity of ordinary citizens was restored, she said.
Madonsela said her office placed, as a priority, those who “lived from hand to mouth”, who she described as gogo Dlaminis - a term she used to label those who were vulnerable and destitute.
“Every gogo Dlamini, wherever they are, knows that if they feel that they have been wronged by the government, they can come to us as quickly as possible before there’s too much damage”.
The mother-of-two said it been difficult juggling between her energy-sapping job and her family.
“It’s really just trying to find a balance, but I always say it’s strategic ball dropping. It’s like you can’t carry all the load at the same time like a real juggler. I don’t think anybody finds balance,” she said.
She urged South Africans to play a role in the nomination process of the public protector, by nominating people who they deemed as suitable candidates.
Despite saying she had the best time of her life as the public protector, Madonsela said she wouldn’t reapply even if her contract was renewable. “I don’t think any reasonable person would want to reapply to be a public protector. Part of the public protector’s work is investigating high-profile people and no person would want to do that for the rest of their life,” she said.
She admitted that her mission of “bringing the office of the public protector closer to people” wouldn’t be a possibility without the role played by her predecessors.
She sang the praises of advocate Selby Baqwa, who was the first public protector, and Mushwana.
“Selby Baqwa had to build this office from scratch,” she said, adding that Mushwana had been the first person to talk about remedial action.
Over the past 20 years, Madonsela said all three public protectors, herself included, had taken the public protector’s office from one level to another. “I don’t see myself as having done greater than my predecessors,” she said.
Madonsela said she hoped the person who would replace her would take the office to greater heights.
She warned against appointing a high-profile politician as public protector, claiming that it would be difficult for them to divorce themselves from party political interest and be fully impartial.
“Even though they may be a good person, it wouldn’t be easy. A professional person would be a better candidate than a politician,” she said.
On Wednesday Madonsela addressed law students at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Pietermaritzburg.
Sunday Tribune