https://www.miningweekly.com

Accountability comforted Mandela – Protector

6th December 2013

By: Sapa

  

Font size: - +

Former president Nelson Mandela drew comfort from the checks and balances afforded by constitutional democracy, Public Protector Thuli Madonsela's office said on Friday.

"We will always admire him for gladly submitting his administration to the scrutiny of checks and balances, such as the courts and institutions supporting democracy, when its actions came into question," spokesperson Kgalalelo Masibi said in a statement.

"He did this without treating such important accountability mechanisms as an irritation."

Just before midnight on Thursday, President Jacob Zuma announced that South Africa's first democratically elected president had died at his home in Houghton, Johannesburg.

Madonsela and her team saw Mandela as a leader whose actions spoke louder than his words.

"We will always be inspired by the lessons of selfless service to humanity, communicated primarily through deeds rather than words; his love for humanity and his persistent message of peace, equality, human solidarity and the pursuit of a just and inclusive world."

Masibi extended the Public Protector's office's condolences to Mandela's family, comrades, South Africans and the world.

Madonsela's office has recently been accused of leaking a provisional report on upgrades to Zuma's residence at Nkandla, in KwaZulu-Natal.

On Wednesday, she said that her office had had the Nkandla report since March, but that nothing had been leaked.

She said it did not make sense for her to leak the report as she would not benefit.

The Mail&Guardian reported last Friday that a leaked copy of Madonsela's provisional report revealed Zuma had received substantial personal benefits from the multi-million rand upgrade to Nkandla.

The African National Congress has accused Madonsela of leaking the report, and urged her to release the final version urgently, or be accused of playing politics if it emerged too close to next year's general elections.

On Wednesday, she said her office had consistently said the report would be released at the latest by mid-January.

Madonsela said that as Public Protector she had no role in politics and harboured no intentions of channelling voters in certain directions at next year's polls.

Edited by Sapa

Comments

The content you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.

If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.

If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.

For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION