Efficient public protector is starved

DEAR SIR — Has anyone cottoned on to the fact that the public protector’s recently approved R263m budget is on a par with the expenditure on security at Nkandla?

Thuli Madonsela would have liked an additional R30m, but I suppose beggars can’t be choosers!

We have been informed by the security cluster that additional expenditure is required to fortify Nkandla. This, of course, would have been spent without batting the proverbial eyelid. Hopefully not now. Looking at the excellent work the public protector’s office has done under Ms Madonsela, protecting us citizens and, most importantly, ferreting out the massive frauds perpetrated by many government departments, most of us would be quite happy if the grossly inflated budget of the Presidency was substantially reduced and some of this transferred to Ms Madonsela’s department. At least we would know it would be spent wisely.

Starving the public protector of funds obviously means fewer investigations can be carried out — a certainty government prefers.

The embarrassments are starting to cause damage.

The major concern for me is that Ms Madonsela’s term ends in a few months. President Jacob Zuma must be ruing the day he offered her the position. We know for sure that her replacement will be some African National Congress (ANC) bootlicker from the same mould as many other heads of watchdog organisations.

The Federal Bureau of Investigations-trained Scorpions were doing great work — very effective, until they were gutted by Mr Zuma.

The supposed replacement, the Hawks, are led by a specially chosen bootlicker. The result is a toothless, incompetent crowd running around in all directions.

The ANC won’t apologise to Ms Madonsela for its many derogatory, sometimes hurtful remarks. But many of us ordinary citizens say thank you for toughing it out and protecting us.

Howard Skeens Boksburg