‘I can be friends with government‚’ says public protector candidate who took it to court over Al-Bashir

12 August 2016 - 09:28 By Bianca Capazorio

In scenes reminiscent of Public Protector Thuli Madonsela's running battles with Parliament‚ one of the candidates vying for the post‚ Kajaal Ramjathan-Keogh on Thursday night fought back against on African National Congress (ANC) MPs who took her to task for her role in the Omar Al-Bashir matter. Ramjathan-Keogh‚ one of 14 candidates interviewed‚ is currently the head of the Southern African Legal Centre (SALC)‚ the NGO which last year took government to court for its failure to arrest Sudanese leader President Al-Bashir while he was in South Africa.The matter is currently set to be heard in the Constitutional Court but formed the basis for the Democratic Alliance (DA) in Parliament to attempt to remove President Jacob Zuma from office.Ramjathan-Keogh went head to head with ANC MPs who drilled her about the SALC's objectives and funding‚ and implied that it was foreign-controlled and said that the case had impacted on national unity.In her written responses to the committee‚ she said she believed that her work in human rights and civil litigation would probably be seen as "unpalatable" by government. Explaining this statement in the interview‚ she said that her job involved “challenging the state to deliver on commitments” which would not always be well received.Senior ANC MP Amos Masondo had questioned what it had cost SALC to take the Omar Al-Bashir matter to court and who had paid for it. He also wanted to know who funded the organisation and what work it did‚ saying that while it operated in 10 countries‚ little was heard about it.Also‚ mishearing her‚ Masondo demanded to know whether when she said “change the state” she had been referring to “regime change”.Ramjathan-Keogh said that SALC had worked on high-profile cases such as the forced sterilisations of HIV-positive women in Namibia and had defended sexual minorities and freedom of expression cases.She said they were funded by‚ among others‚ the Open Society Foundation and the US State Department‚ which funded their work on sexual minorities.The original Omar Al-Bashir case had not cost them a cent as they had drawn up the affadavits themselves and had fee-free counsel‚ she explained.The government's subsequent appeals to the Supreme Court of Appeals and the Constitutional Court had‚ however‚ forced them to defend the matter at a cost.“The funds came from the Raith Foundation‚ which is based in South Africa‚ so it is South African rands funding this case. It receives its money from high net-worth individuals in rands.”Angrily responding to claims of foreign control‚ she said: "I take deep offence. SALC is not foreign-controlled. I will repeat that: SALC is not foreign-controlled."She defended the litigation saying that South Africa had failed in its obligations and that government had been forewarned before Al-Bashir even arrived in the country that his visit would result in a legal challenge.Opposition MPs from the DA and the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) attempted to shield Ramjathan-Keogh from the line of questioning‚ but were unsuccessful.DA MP Phumzile van Damme asked how‚ if she her interview was successful‚ Ramjathan-Keogh would handle the “antagonistic” relationship with government.“Clearly some members in this committee are already touched by you‚” she said.But Ramjathan-Keogh said the relationship need not be adversarial.“I can be friends with government‚” she said.The ACDP's Steve Swart said that the response of the committee was similar to that seen in the Nkandla matter.He later argued that some of Masondo's comments be withdrawn because “no other candidate here today has been treated this way”.Swart also asked how much it had cost government to challenge the matter.Ramjathan-Keogh said she did not know‚ but‚ because government had used expensive senior counsel and had to pay SALC's costs when they were unsuccessful‚ this could easily run into hundreds of thousands of rands.“Hundreds of thousands of rands of taxpayers' money for an application that cost us zero rands to put together‚” she said. TMG Digital/Parliament..

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