A much-needed bright star

Stanley - Thursday

Last February, Michael wrote a blog about the then Public Protector in South Africa, Thuli Madonsela.  You can read the blog here.

Her term ended recently, so it's a good time to take another look at a bright star in the corrupt state of South Africa - a person who probably enjoys greater visibility and higher approval than anyone else in the land. If the system allowed it (that is a direct vote for President as in the USA, in contrast to the system in the UK and South Africa), she would run away with the vote.

Thuli Madonsela

Not only is she smart, but also is very tough, as Michael described.

To quote Marelise van der Merwe of the Daily Maverick:

Where shouting loudly can so easily form the dominant narrative, it’s refreshing and intriguing to watch Advocate Thuli Madonsela: that unwaveringly soft-spoken, even tone, which ended up thundering across South Africa and the rest of the globe. In the post-Mandela era, where disillusionment dominated, she became a new symbol of resistance for many.  

TIME magazine described her as displaying “extraordinary courage and patriotism” in her fight for “Constitutional reform, land reform and the struggle for the protection of human rights and equality”.

I think what Madonsela accomplished as Public Protector started the country on the path, albeit rocky and slow, to addressing the excesses and corruption of many government officials.  For example, just last week, a provincial high court banned a senior manager of the South African Broadcasting Corporation from playing any role in the organisation and, furthermore, ordered him to pay all court costs out of his personal pocket.  For government officials and others, not having the government pay for their court battles, wlil certainly slow the flood of appeals to the judiciary.

One of the appealing characteristics of Advocate Madonsela is that she has her feet firmly on the ground.  Despite her popularity, she has remained true to herself.

She is also known for saying things that are very quotable.

"Be the kind of leader who does not need a title.”  

Her actions as Public Protector fitted that very well.

She gave up a scholarship to Harvard to help draft South Africa's excellent Constitution and has always had in the forefront of her thinking the rights of every South African.  In some ways this is not surprising given her background as a civil rights lawyer and activist.

Throughout her tenure, she has faced enormous pressure and opposition from those in government who feared that they were in her sights. Her reaction?

“At times we have to stand alone with only hope as our companion. If you stand for the truth and do so long enough, hope does eventually pay.”

After she released the Nkandla report (see Michael's blog) in which she found that the President of the country had violated the Constitution and was personally responsible for paying back monies illegally used to enhance his private residence, she faced increased opposition and intimidation from the powerful in politics.  Her response:

"Just as the power of water often lies in the ability to bend around obstacles, sometimes the most powerful step you can take is a step back.”

So she let the report work it's way through the system, all the way to the Constitutional Court, which not only confirmed her findings, but also wrote into law that findings of the Public Protector were binding, not just advisory.

I have taken a number of quotes from Marelise van der Merwe's article in the Daily Maverick and have included them below.

"Sometimes we feel like and regret being oddballs, yet it is our uniqueness that makes each of us fit for our individual purpose in life."

"When stuck in a hole, the victim asks, “who can we blame for existence of the hole or getting us in it” while the leader asks how do we get out."

"If you consciously choose to be a positive influence in the world, you will always find opportunities to make a difference."

"It’s not the fear of failure that stops us from acting to achieve our goals, but the fear of disapproval, as by not acting we choose failure."

"We step out in hope that a better world is possible because of our love for peace and faith in humanity’s capacity to make better choices."

The next one should be branded on the forehead of every aspirant politician: 

"We need to recognise and enhance the culture of being a servant of citizens, and not a servant of government, as a prerequisite of the public service delivery programmes."

Some more quotable quotes:

"Through life I have learned that the most important critic whose judgement of my actions matters is my conscience."

"It seems that the firmness with which I make decisions was not expected from a woman."

When questioning Jacob Zuma, the President of South Africa:

"I am concerned, though, that President, you are the President of the Republic of South Africa and you are employee number one. Normally when we are dealing with people who are responsible for the State, we deal with them and the lawyers they come in where necessary, because it is you who is accountable, Sir. It is you who are employed by the State as its most important employee and then you employ the rest."

When Zuma said he needed to consult his lawyers about why he fired Minister of Finance Nhlanhla Nene:

"If we are starting with, for example, why did you remove Minister Nene, why do you need somebody to legally advise you? Because that is a decision you took yourself without legal advice. You took that decision, exercising your power as an Executive. Yes. No, but it is a decision you have already taken, so you don’t need to be advised why you took it."

Zapiro cartoon. The shower on Zuma's head comes from his statement that he prevented any possibility of AIDS by showering after sex.

Some more quotes: 

"Forgiveness does not mean you accept or ignore wrongdoing. It means tackling wrongdoing without hating the wrongdoer."

"I need to listen well so that I hear what is not said."

"As an African woman, I’ve learnt the importance of self-definition and living purposefully. It’s vital that every girl determines, as early as possible, who she is and what her contribution to humanity will be."

"I sleep like a baby. But I do worry about the costs of indifference and self-interest in the public sector. I have seen too much of the pain caused on ordinary people by indifference and selfishness."

"The best advice you will ever receive is from your own soul."

Finally, when she was advising her successor, Busisiwe Mkhwebane, about her role:

"The job is about protecting the public from improper conduct [whatever] quarter it may come from. So stick to that job."

When you see public servants like Thuli Madonsela, you wish devoutly that there were more like her.

We, in South Africa, have a lot to thank her for.  We, in the world, have a lot to learn from her.

Thuli Madonsela said No

Thulisile Madonsela

It's been a year of depressing news on all sorts of fronts – in fact make that twelve months since the year is still pretty young. Nevertheless, this month has witnessed what I believe to be a major turnaround in South Africa’s fortunes. I’m not talking about the economy or a change in direction of the government or any other sudden positive development. I’m talking about one woman who stood up and said no, and kept saying no despite being denigrated and threatened. And who kept on doing it until she won.

Thuli Madonsela started life as the daughter of immigrants from Swaziland to apartheid South Africa. They were ‘informal traders’ – people who sell things at street markets and make a small profit by buying in bulk from suppliers and splitting up the goods into packages that people can afford. She went to school in Soweto in the years of violence and friction with the South African police, and then studied at the University of Swaziland. She obtained a law degree from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg in 1990. After obtaining her degree, she worked with the trade union movement and the United Democratic Front – essentially the internal wing of the ANC in the last years of apartheid - and she is a long term member of the ANC. In 1996, she was part of the team that drafted the South African Constitution.

In 2014 she made Time magazine's list of the world's 100 most influential people in the Leadership category, and last year she was awarded two honorary doctorates by two of the country’s leading universities.  She carries a heavy workload and is a single mother of two; her husband died very young.

Before the first democratic elections, she was offered nomination for an ANC seat as a member of parliament.  She declined because she felt that she could contribute more actively. She has certainly done so.

In October 2009, President Jacob Zuma appointed her as Public Protector, a position established by the Constitution to strengthen constitutional democracy and good governance. It’s independent from the state and has the power to investigate and make recommendations on improper dealings within government, which hamper service-delivery, abuse taxpayers’ money and perpetuate poverty and inequality. No doubt Zuma expected her to be grateful, and restrict her activities to the day to day matters that came to her office.  Big mistake.

Nkandla upgraded

As he signed off on her appointment, Zuma’s mind was elsewhere. He was in the process of a major upgrade to his country home known as Nkandla. I mean a major upgrade – around $25 million at the time. And he didn’t have – or certainly didn’t mean to spend – the money. That was no problem. He was going to make the state pay for it i.e. the taxpayers.

Pretty soon Madonsela was involved in some pretty high profile matters.  She pointed out the corruption of the ANC Youth League leader – Julius Malema – and the fallout from that eventually drove him from the ANC to form his own radical party.  People in high places started to feel uncomfortable with their supposedly tame ANC-appointed Public Protector.

Inevitably, journalists discovered what was going on at Nkandla. Zuma shrugged it off, but questions started to be asked in parliament. Eventually the president explained that what had taken place was a “security upgrade.”  Because of his role as president, he needed additional security and areas for safe assembly and public gatherings. These included an arena as an “evacuation area” and a “fire pool” to store water in case of fire in the thatch-roofed complex.  Hmm.

'Fire' Pool

The 'safety arena'. Looks a lot like a retaining wall. Coincidence, surely!

The case was referred to Madonsela who took her time to do a fair and thorough investigation. Her findings in 2014 were that Zuma and his family had enriched themselves at the taxpayers’ expense and that he should pay back much of the money.  She was immediately vilified as having exceeded her authority, produced inaccurate conclusions, and she was even accused of being an agent for the CIA! (The last was withdrawn after she threatened to sue.) She was also told she had acted outside the constitution. Strange – after all she helped write it.

The president ignored her recommendations and provided his own report which cleared him of all wrong-doing. He has survived many scandals; this one too would pass.

But it didn’t. In a government and civil service fraught with corruption and inefficiency, few things stick in the public’s attention, but this was one of them. The opposition parties wouldn’t let it go away. And eventually, when they were blocked by the ANC majority in parliament, they – and Madonsela - took the matter to the Constitutional Court (South Africa’s equivalent to the Supreme Court).

The Constitutional Court - without Fire Pool

The Court heard the case last week. Judgment is reserved, but it’s all over. Zuma’s council admitted that he was wrong, that the Public Protector did have the authority she had claimed under the constitution, that the Zuma report had no status. 

Will this mark the end of corruption in South Africa? Certainly not. It does mark the end of a culture that the highest in the land are above the law. And it has shaken the government, still reeling from Zuma’s arbitrary firing of the finance minister at the start of the year.  It’s not the end of corruption, but it just may be the end of President Jacob Zuma.

Michael - Thursday