THE drafters of the constitution probably did not realise when they wrote its ninth chapter the extent to which the watchdog institutions they created would bolster confidence in our young democracy.
For some it seemed almost to be a vote of no confidence that they agreed to establish six independent, state-funded institutions to ensure that the rest of the constitution is honoured in every detail.
The watchdog bodies they created, now referred to collectively as the Chapter Nine institutions, deal with electoral integrity, the proper use of state money, gender, cultural, religious and linguistic rights, human rights and public administration.
One of these, the office of the Public Protector, is headed by Thuli Madonsela, an advocate, former unionist and one-time temporary teacher, who has come because of her fearless implementation of her mandate, to be known as South Africa’s Iron Lady.
Her reputation is based largely on the way she has handled the high profile cases that keep her in the headlines – investigations concerning Julius Malema, Bheki Cele, several cabinet ministers and, currently, President Jacob Zuma’s pricey Nkandla compound.
Madonsela visited East London on Thursday to address a Dispatch Dialogue about the role of her organisation and to answer questions in a packed Guild Hall.
The message she brought put her often controversial work into a different perspective – one which serves to bolster confidence in our still young democracy despite the threats of corruption, complacency and incompetence that dominate the news. In the first three years of her non-renewable seven-year term, her office has handled 63000 complaints and has settled about two-thirds of them. Her office currently resolves around 50 cases every working day.
The comfort she offers is that the vast majority of these concern ordinary private citizens denied their rights to effective public administration. They don’t make the news and shouldn’t because they merely confirm the self-correcting nature of our state operating as it ought to do. But they have been life- changing for the people she and her office have been able to help. For example, the state’s failure to issue an ID book can have devastating consequences including the inability to get a job, a grant or a bank account.
Where her staff or Madonsela’s office cannot deliver a solution they try, she explained, to ensure that another state department does, even if it means backing an appeal against a court ruling.
Together, the Chapter Nine institutions offer specific relief to many and confidence to the rest of us that someone is on guard.
Stone pillars of democracy
For some it seemed almost to be a vote of no confidence that they agreed to establish six independent, state-funded institutions to ensure that the rest of the constitution is honoured in every detail.
The watchdog bodies they created, now referred to collectively as the Chapter Nine institutions, deal with electoral integrity, the proper use of state money, gender, cultural, religious and linguistic rights, human rights and public administration.
One of these, the office of the Public Protector, is headed by Thuli Madonsela, an advocate, former unionist and one-time temporary teacher, who has come because of her fearless implementation of her mandate, to be known as South Africa’s Iron Lady.
Her reputation is based largely on the way she has handled the high profile cases that keep her in the headlines – investigations concerning Julius Malema, Bheki Cele, several cabinet ministers and, currently, President Jacob Zuma’s pricey Nkandla compound.
Madonsela visited East London on Thursday to address a Dispatch Dialogue about the role of her organisation and to answer questions in a packed Guild Hall.
The message she brought put her often controversial work into a different perspective – one which serves to bolster confidence in our still young democracy despite the threats of corruption, complacency and incompetence that dominate the news. In the first three years of her non-renewable seven-year term, her office has handled 63000 complaints and has settled about two-thirds of them. Her office currently resolves around 50 cases every working day.
The comfort she offers is that the vast majority of these concern ordinary private citizens denied their rights to effective public administration. They don’t make the news and shouldn’t because they merely confirm the self-correcting nature of our state operating as it ought to do. But they have been life- changing for the people she and her office have been able to help. For example, the state’s failure to issue an ID book can have devastating consequences including the inability to get a job, a grant or a bank account.
Where her staff or Madonsela’s office cannot deliver a solution they try, she explained, to ensure that another state department does, even if it means backing an appeal against a court ruling.
Together, the Chapter Nine institutions offer specific relief to many and confidence to the rest of us that someone is on guard.
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