Committee 'ready' for one day decision on new Public Protector

10 August 2016

Cape Town - One day, 14 interviews, 16 hours.

The committee charged with finding a replacement for Public Protector Thuli Madonsela has the daunting task of interviewing all prospective candidates in one day.

But they are up to the task, committee chairperson Dr Makhosi Khoza said on Wednesday.

The committee will interview candidates including Judge Siraj Desai, Deputy National Director of Public Prosecutions Willie Hofmeyr and Deputy Public Protector Kevin Malunga from 07:45, with the last interview set for 23:00.

Khoza told News24 on Wednesday they would strive to be fair to all candidates during the interview process.

"We need to try to be consistent with our questions, otherwise it would be difficult to arrive at a decision," she said.

They were hoping this would be the first and last round of interviews, she said.

The committee has until August 31 to recommend a candidate to the National Assembly.

The committee will start by interviewing Advocate Mhlaliseni Mthembu at 07:45, and finish off with Advocate Nonkosi Princess Cetywayo at 23:00.

Khoza said there was no specific order to the interviews.

"We thought about putting the names in a hat and selecting from there but that might have been unfair to people who had to come from Durban and other provinces in the morning. So we just left it to the staff to work out the best possible order which would be fair to everyone," she said.

This article first appeared on News24, see here.