Echoes of Madonsela in successor
But she’ll need to find her own moral compass
WILL serve my country with all my might.” That’s how public protector-in-waiting Busisiwe Mkhwebane chose to finish her interview for the job.
She has served her country with distinction thus far – a fact none of the political parties on the ad hoc committee on the public protector disputed when it came to making their final pick.
Having graduated from the University of the North with a law degree, Mkhwebane obtained a diploma in corporate law from the then-Rand Afrikaans University in 1997, before signing up as a senior researcher at the SA Human Rights Commission, where she helped compile a report on the state of human rights in the country.
Concern for the vulnerable appears to have informed her next move – to the Gauteng office of the public protector, which she joined as a senior investigator and which she was destined to lead.
One thing stands out from her CV: she wasted little time rising through the ranks and by the time she left, six years later, she was the acting director of the Gauteng office, where she was responsible for setting up a team of investigators.
A move to the Department of Home Affairs saw her overseeing the treatment of refugees as a director, before she became the acting chief director of asylum seekers’ management offices in four provinces.
She was required to formulate a government strategy for the integration of asylum seekers into society, against the backdrop of a growing tide of xenophobia.
As head of the refugee backlog project, she demonstrated a talent for streamlining bureau- cracy, managing a budget of R60 million as a thirtysomething, up-and-coming public servant.
In 2010, she left for China, where she served in the embassy as counsellor for immigration and civic services, notching up a merit award in 2012 for exceptional service.
Back at Home Affairs in 2014, she became director of country information and co- operation management until her recent move to the State Security Agency as an analyst.
This – apart from a rumour that she had been hand-picked by President Jacob Zuma for the job – was the main reason for opposition misgivings about her, chiefly in the DA. It was a concern that she had chosen to leave her senior position at Home Affairs for an apparently junior role at the security agency, the DA said, when the public image of the security services was so dubiously tainted by reports of politicisation.
On top of her distinguished CV, Mkhwebane gave a polished performance in her inter- view. She was unflappable in the face of a grilling about her apparent business interests – which she said were non-existent – and thoughtful in her responses to questions, showing an understanding of what the protector’s office was there for that was matched by few other candidates.
Its role was, she said, to give those “without a voice” a say in the running of public services.
Tellingly, she said if the government could learn to listen and respond better to citizens, there would be fewer grievances and fewer protests.
Perhaps most reassuring, given the strain it has been put under during the term of Thuli Madonsela, Mkhwebane said it was by strengthening constitutional democracy that poverty would ultimately be addressed.
Mkhwebane has been handed what has become one of the most public – yet lonely – roles in government and the nation’s eyes will be on her from day one.
She will need, as the chairwoman of the ad hoc committee, Makhosi Khoza, put it, to “find her own moral compass”.