Johannesburg - Public Protector Thuli Madonsela's report into alleged maladministration at the SA Post Office (Sapo) is being prepared, her office said on Thursday.
“At the moment, the investigation is complete and is at a report-writing stage,” her spokesman Oupa Segalwe said in a statement.
“We will expedite the process and advise interested parties as soon as the report is ready.”
He was commenting after the Communication Workers' Union (CWU) complained that the probe was still not complete, two years after it lodged a complaint.
Segalwe said investigators had, as promised, regularly updated the CWU on developments in the matter.
The CWU complained that Madonsela had failed to meet a September 2012 deadline.
However, Segalwe said it had taken longer than expected to obtain the information needed.
“Among other things, there was a change of guard at Sapo sometime last year, with the former chairperson leaving and a successor appointed.
“As a result of this, we got the information we needed only in November 2012.”
In an open letter to Madonsela, CWU spokesman Matankana Mothapo said it seemed she was cherry-picking cases which were under media scrutiny and winnable.
Segalwe denied this.
“She oversees a number of investigation teams that are dealing with many matters lodged by different political parties and individuals at a time.
“Some of these investigations are much older than the matter Mr Mothapo refers to.”
Segalwe said Madonsela relied on various pieces of legislation to conduct investigations.
“Matters relating to the ethical conduct of members of the executive, such as the president and ministers, are dealt with in terms of the Executive Members Ethics Act, which requires the Public Protector to conclude her investigations within a month.
“Even in such matters, the Public Protector hardly 1/8ever 3/8 meets the one month deadline due to various reasons, including capacity constraints, co-operation with investigations by concerned organs of state, and the complexity of cases,” he said. - Sapa