Parliament - Outgoing Public Protector Thuli Madonsela has left a key message for her successor Busisiwe Mkhwebane: to fill her big shoes and take the office to the next level.
This is the message Madonsela has left in her last report and financials in Parliament as Mkhwebane was affirmed by the majority of MPs.
Mkhwebane’s appointment was muscled through by a majority of 263 votes in the National Assembly against 79 from the DA.
The DA on Wednesday night opposed the appointment of Mkhwebane on allegations that she was a spy for the State Security Agency.
But the ANC and other parties accused the party of political grandstanding and urged it to produce evidence.
Parties told the DA that it committed the same error when Madonsela was appointed to the position in 2009.
The ANC and other parties urged the DA to give Mkhwebane the benefit of the doubt.
They reminded Mmusi Maimane’s party that when Madonsela and Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng were appointed, the DA did not support them, arguing they were aligned to the ruling party and President Jacob Zuma.
But a few years down the line, both Justice Mogoeng and Madonsela had proved themselves and delivered damning judgments and findings against the same party and leader they were said to be close to.
In her message in the annual report tabled in Parliament, Madonsela said her successor would need all the support she needed.
“The impact of Public Protector investigations was also to highlight and begin to address systematic maladministration, governance failure and ethical lapses in the management of state-owned enterprises,” said Madonsela.
“Areas that emerged as needing attention include corporate governance at the level of boards; improper appointment, promotion, remuneration and dismissal of employees, including undue golden handshakes; and procurement irregularities, including corrupt award of contracts and payments against such contracts, as well as unmanaged time and cost of overruns for infrastructure projects,” she said.
Tough battles lie ahead for Mkhwebane, whose first order of business will be to probe some controversial contracts.
The chairwoman of the ad hoc committee on the appointment of the public protector, Makhosi Khoza, described Mkhwebane as the consensus candidate.
Mkhwebane was backed by other parties, who said she was the best candidate for the job and was close to what they wanted.
But Glynnis Breytenbach of the DA said they remained unconvinced she was a better candidate than Judge Sharise Weiner of the high court in Joburg or former magistrate Professor Bongani Majola.
The Star