Durban - Two hundred and three thousand South Africans have told Public Protector Thuli Madonsela that they support her and the work she is doing.
They took part in a social media online “march” to show their support, while others involved in another campaign took “selfies” of themselves holding up messages of support.
Some of the selfie messages were compiled into a book and presented to Madonsela at the Durban ICC on Thursday night, where hundreds of Rotarians feted her and gave her a standing ovation.
The social media online march was organised by Di Smith and Nikita Stanley of Awesome South Africa, a non-profit organisation.
“We thought in view of the amount of criticism and difficulties facing the public protector, it would be wonderful to show her that ordinary South Africans supported her,” Smith explained.
The campaign, run on Facebook and Twitter, invited people to send the same message.
And there was more praise for Madonsela at the ICC when the hosts, the Rotary Club of Durban North, bestowed the lifetime Paul Harris Fellowship award on her for championing ethics. Named after the founder, the Paul Harris Fellowship is the highest honour the international service organisation can bestow.
Madonsela said while she was the “face” of the public protector’s office, there were about 400 staff in 20 offices around the country who went beyond the call of duty and investigated every case as it if involved their own grandmother.
“Often, we are asked if we are not being used to settle political scores,” she told her audience.
“Our answer is always the same and it is that it does not matter who lodged the complaint because we look at whether there is anything to investigate at all.
“We follow a simple formula. We ask what happened and what should have happened: is there a discrepancy between what happened and what should have happened? If there is, can we call it maladministration? If so, how do we rectify it.”
She said it might come as a surprise to many that the majority of public servants were good human beings. But the ones “who mess up, mess up so badly … and we tend to judge our institutions by these people,” she said.
Daily News