Concern over long day for public protector interviews

10 August 2016

Cape Town - Corruption Watch has expressed concern over the long day set aside to interview prospective public protector candidates, saying it will be taxing on both candidates and committee members.

The committee will sit from 07:00 until 00:00 on Thursday to interview the 14 candidates vying to fill Public Protector Thuli Madonsela's shoes.

"Corruption Watch is also deeply concerned that the length of time set aside for the public interviews on 11 August will be particularly taxing on the ad hoc committee members, and particularly the candidates who will be interviewed towards the end of the day," the anti-corruption NGO said in a statement.

It said previous parliamentary interview processes that continued into the early hours of the morning had shown that candidates who were last on the list were at a disadvantage.

This was due to their time often being cut short because of the understandable exhaustion of committee members at the end of a long day of interviews.

"Corruption Watch has urged the ad hoc committee to reconsider the time frames set aside to ensure that all candidates are treated fairly by receiving equal attention during the public interview process," they said.

All shortlisted candidates will be interviewed on the same day, to avoid them watching the interviews live on TV.

This was a decision taken during the shortlisting process.

Shortlisted candidates include Judge Siraj Desai, Deputy National Director of Public Prosecutions Willie Hofmeyr and Deputy Public Protector Kevin Malunga.

Other shortlisted candidates:

- Judge Sharise Weiner

- Professor Bongani Majola

- Advocate MT Goodman

- Professor Narnia Bohler-Muller

- Mushing Lukhaimane

- Busisiwe Mkhwebane

- Advocate Chris Madibeng Mokoditwa

- Advocate Nonkosi Princess Cetywayo

- Advocate Mhlaliseni Mthembu

- Jill Oliphant

- Kaajal Ramjathan-Keogh

This article first appeared on News24, see here.