Public Protector is Grandstanding Editorial, The New Age, Johannesburg, 5 August 2015 Being the public protector in South Africa was never going to be an easy job. We are a young and robust democracy where conflict between competing interest groups often translates into battles that are waged across our public institutions. The official opposition takes the government to court at the drop of the proverbial hat, Parliament is brought to a standstill by braying, publicity-seeking members of a minor political party and any and every state agency is assailed by opportunists looking for sticks to beat the government of the day. The drama surrounding Nkandla has again come to the fore with the ad hoc parliamentary committee's visit to the president's home followed closely by the media junket that revealed in detail every aspect of the homestead and its surroundings. Since then we have seen a process unfold where the ad hoc committee, while wrapping up its work, has ostensibly offended the public prosecutor by not allowing her to have her day in Parliament. She was so upset by this that she called a special media briefing where she pretended to be addressing the speaker of Parliament and not just the media. A flair for the dramatic which is hinted at in the catchy little names her reports are appended with, like the snide "secure in comfort" soubriquet given to the Nkandla report, has now grown into the kind of theatrical performance we witnessed with the mock address to Parliament. The public protector needs to take a deep breath and allow the process to unfold, even to the highest courts. Thuli Madonsela is in fact undermining her own office by this grandstanding, a Hollywood-style media strategy and her adversarial approach to the government and the ruling party. From: http://tnaepaper.co.za/ -- -- You are subscribed. This footer can help you. Please POST your comments to [email protected] or reply to this message. You can visit the group WEB SITE at http://groups.google.com/group/yclsa-eom-forum for different delivery options, pages, files and membership. To UNSUBSCRIBE, please email [email protected] . You don't have to put anything in the "Subject:" field. You don't have to put anything in the message part. All you have to do is to send an e-mail to this address (repeat): [email protected] . --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "YCLSA Discussion Forum" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
