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Public must help appoint new public protector - Corruption Watch

───   05:13 Tue, 09 Feb 2016

Public must help appoint new public protector - Corruption Watch | News Article
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Johannesburg - Corruption Watch wants more transparency and public participation in the appointment process of a new public protector in 2016.


The anti-corruption non-profit organisation on Monday launched a public awareness campaign called "Bua Mzansi" to highlight the public protector's role.

The campaign aims to develop and use technology that will enable the public to nominate and engage with potential candidates and ensure that they are properly scrutinised.

It also aims to make participation in the process easier through the use of a crowd-voting application that will seek to influence the president’s decision on the selection of the new public protector.

The current public protector, Thuli Madonsela's, term comes to an end on October 19.

"Madonsela has earned widespread respect for her commitment to tackling corruption, and to holding government accountable for the quality and performance of its administration, without fear or favour," Corruption Watch's Sandisiwe Gugushe said in a statement.

Corruption Watch Executive Director David Lewis said the campaign was about the appointment of leadership of Chapter Nine institutions.

Lewis said that they were concerned with the appointment of a replacement, as Madonsela was not always treated well during her term.

He also said public participation was needed and it was important for people to know that the public could nominate candidates for the role before the president makes the final appointment.

"We want the opinion of the public to play a role in the appointment."

He said there had been a lack of interest from the public in the past in nominating candidates for the position, however, he believed that 2016 might prove this different.

He added that the interviewing process should be screened live.

The announcement comes after Corruption Watch was granted leave to intervene as amicus curiae, or a friend of the court, in the EFF and DA's application to enforce the public protector's findings in the Nkandla report.

Corruption Watch said in a statement on Sunday that their involvement in this matter was focused on providing submissions to the court on the importance of the office of the public protector in the fight against corruption, and on ensuring that remedial action was implemented, subject only to the judicial review of such action.

-News24.com

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