Public Protector
The Parliamentary Ad Hoc Committee tasked with finding a new Public Protector has endorsed Advocate Kholeka Gcaleka as its preferred candidate.
The nomination of Gcaleka followed a series of interviews recently concluded, and also comes in the wake of the suspension of the Advocate Busisiwe Mkhwebane and the pending end of her tenure.
The ANC and IFP supported Gcaleka’s nomination, while the DA, EFF and Freedom Front Plus opposed her possible appointment.
DA MP, Glynnis Breytenbach, explains why they're not supporting Gcaleka.
"I found Advocate Gcaleka to be wholly unsuitable for the post. She has a burden of baggage that I don't think can be properly dealt with. I don't think that she answered questions entirely frankly, and I don't think that she has demonstrated, in her position as acting Public Protector that she has sufficient experience to take over the top job."
The DA did not support any of the other candidates either and called for the search for a new Public Protector to start again.
EFF MP, Omphile Maotwe, said Gcaleka's recent decision on the Phala Phala matter involving President Cyril Ramaphosa, could suggest some "quid-pro-quo" may come into play.
In June, Gcaleka cleared President Ramaphosa of any wrongdoing in her final report on the theft of foreign currency from his Limpopo farm.
"She takes responsibility of overseeing an investigation into Phala Phala farm when she knows the primary person of interest in that case is the President of the Republic. So, if I find this person that he has not done wrong, it's a favour I'm doing, in return he must then do me a favour by appointing me. That is what has been created out there," Maotwe said.
ANC MP, Bulelani Magwanishe, said the Committee would be implementing a "proper succession plan," given the intention of the legislature in creating the post of Deputy Public Protector.
He said part of the role would be to assist the Public Protector, and in his or her absence, the Deputy Public Protector would then become the acting PP.
"We have a person who has grown organically within the institution. And, if you couple that with her performance in the interviews she performed very well. All of us would have mistakes here and there, but were are not here to elect saints, or to appoint saints," he said.
President Cyril Ramaphosa will still make the final call on Gcalake's possible appointment as the next Public Protector.
