Amid the drag of 20 hours of continued public protector candidate interviews on Thursday, one woman stood out - and she was not even a candidate. ANC MP Makhosi Khoza's spark, intelligence and humour from the chair drew positive responses all round, especially early in the day, as she passed her parliamentary baptism of fire without much criticism. Khoza is the chairwoman of the parliamentary committee tasked to nominate a replacement for public protector Thuli Madonsela.But as the long hours took their toll she became rattier and even at times raised her voice against the opposition .She started the day in good humour and sympathetic to candidate Jill Oliphant, who admitted that she was surprised to have been shortlisted.Khoza even on occasion intervened in the interests of making opposition MPs heard - an all-too-rare event from often-partisan ANC chairs in the current parliament.story_article_left1Later in the long day, she slipped somewhat as she allowed veteran ANC heavyweight Amos Masondo to bully candidate Kaajal Ramjathan-Keogh.Masondo claimed without proof that Ramjathan-Keogh's NGO was foreign-funded, and he was allowed to keep browbeating her on the issue - not that she was intimidated.Khoza's worst altercation of the day came late at night, when she clashed with opposition members Floyd Shivambu (EFF), Phumzile van Damme (DA) and Steve Swart (ACDP). During candidate Nonkosi Cetywayo's interview, Shivambu had to ask several times whether Cetywayo was an ANC member. At long last Cetywayo saidshe was; Khoza argued from the chair that there was nothing wrong with it and asked a wilting Cetywayo whether Madonsela had not also been associated with the ANC."It's not a crime being an ANC member," said Khoza.Shivambu asked her not to ask leading questions, upon which she raised her voice, causing Shivambu to ask her not to become emotional.During candidate Kevin Malunga's interview, ANC members, including Khoza, made much of Malunga not having top-secret security clearance.When Swart and Van Damme said it was irrelevant, Khoza overruled them by shouting them down, and then refused to allow them to confirm the legislative content with the state law adviser, causing Van Damme to question her chairing ability.Khoza is quite new to parliament, having been elected in 2014 after a stint as ANC chief whip in the lively KwaZulu-Natal legislature.She is a former chairwoman of the standing committee on public accounts in KwaZulu-Natal and has more than 20 years' experience at public and private sector institutions.She holds a PhD in administration and a master's degree in social science, and is a fellow at the Aspen Global Leadership Network...