Madonsela fights back

10 July 2011 - 01:15 By SIBUSISO NGALWA and SOLLY MAPHUMULO
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Public protector Thuli Madonsela fears for her life, and though she insists that she is not "targeting" ANC leaders, she says she will not shy away from "clawing back" public funds spent irregularly.

On Friday night, Madonsela sought spiritual advice, holding a two-hour meeting with her pastor and SA Council of Churches secretary-general, Mautji Pataki.

She then sat down for an interview with the Sunday Times.

It has been her toughest week in the job, with allegations of fraud and corruption levelled against her, and the strain was evident.

She insisted that she would not back down in taking on the country's rich and powerful and giving a "voice to the voiceless".

She said she was unfazed by the attacks on her and her office, as her "integrity" and "professionalism" remained intact.

"I have had feedback that p eople feel that I am out to get them. They feel under attack. I heard that I am very harsh on the ruling party and that most of my cases are against people in the ruling party.

"What people don't understand is that complaints against the government will always be primarily against those that are governing. At national level, the key players would be from the ruling party, so it's not that I'm targeting them."

She said, for example, most of the complaints she received in the Western Cape were against the ruling Democratic Alliance.

She said she would not be pushed into leaving. "I think I would do this job even if I won the Lotto. There's nothing as joyful as when you unlock the life of an ordinary person."

She said the existence of her office was crucial in saving taxpayers' money and rooting out corruption.

"I actually think I have made a difference (in) people's lives. I believe I can make a difference in clawing back some of the resources that are being lost at the moment in the way that tenders are managed.

"I don't regret that. I think the government has made an undertaking to society, and I think I can add value. If people keep taking that money through little or no effort, there'll be no money to fund development."

She said the "poor management of tender systems" deprived the government of money needed to deliver on its development and anti-poverty promises.

She has approached the SA Police Service, which has been the subject of two probes by her office, for protection, but has not received any feedback on a security-risk assessment conducted in January last year.

Madonsela has been at loggerheads with SAPS boss General Bheki Cele since she began an investigation into two R1.6-billion police lease deals entered into with businessman Roux Shabangu, exposed by the Sunday Times last August.

Since then, her office has received an "unsolicited visit" by the police. Her provisional report slammed Cele's actions in both the Pretoria and Durban lease deals.

On Thursday, she wrote to Speaker of parliament Max Sisulu, asking him to follow up on her request for bodyguards. She also wants Sisulu to pressure Minister of Police Nathi Mthethwa to expedite the investigation into the source of allegations against her.

"I have asked (Sisulu) that he follow up on that request. I am saying there are concerns now about my security."

She said her predecessors, Selby Baqwa and Lawrence Mushwana, were given police protection. Although the SAPS told her she did not automatically qualify for VIP protection, she has asked Sisulu to consider making it compulsory to provide this service to any who hold the office of public protector.

Yesterday, Sisulu issued a statement saying he noted "with grave concern" the media reports about Madonsela and would meet with her and Mthethwa this week.

Madonsela said the meeting with her pastor had made her "feel better".

"When you are speaking to a pastor, it's like speaking to a psychologist, because you open up. I felt I needed to look at the spiritual dimension."

The Star this week reported that Madonsela was facing "imminent arrest". It alleged that her company had received work totalling R1.8-million from the Department of Justice while she was working for the SA Law Reform Commission.

It was further alleged that this "conflict of interest" had not been declared to the state.

Madonsela said that the Department of Justice was aware of her company and the work it carried out and that there was nothing untoward. This was confirmed by Minister of Justice Jeff Radebe.

This week, it was also suggested she was about to be impeached. "Someone raised an angle I had not looked at - that this was an attempt to impeach me. This is a Vusi Pikoli all over again." Pikoli, the former national director of public prosecutions, was suspended and later fired by then president Thabo Mbeki when he pursued criminal charges against former police commissioner Jackie Selebi.

"Whether the impeachment process succeeds or doesn't, it wouldn't matter because I would have been out of action for some time, maybe for the next two years," she explained.

She is due to release her latest report on the police leases later this week.

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