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Front view of the Public Protector’s Head Office building in Johannesburg.
Members of Parliament have lamented the long time the Parliamentary processes took to complete, adopt and make recommendation for the next deputy Public Protector (PP).
On Thursday, the National Assembly adopted the recommendation of the Justice and Constitutional Portfolio Committee for Advocate Dinkie Dube to occupy this position.
The office of the PP has been without a deputy for nearly two years, after the current Public Protector Advocate Kholeka Gcaleka was appointed to head the office.
The long gap was partly caused by a delayed Parliamentary process.
While the majority of the House supported the recommendation, MPs decried the long time it took to finalise this matter.
Democratic Alliance’s Damian Klopper says, “This serves as a stark reminder, delay in appointment is delay in accountability. South Africa deserves quicker more effective action from Parliament.”
Rise Mzansi MP, Makashule Gana says, “We need to speed up on some of these appointments, so we don’t leave a void in these Chapter 9 institutions.”
However, the Speaker of the National Assembly Thoko Didiza responded to the MPs who raised concerns about the protracted process of recommending a deputy Public Protector.
She says her office and that of the House chairperson regularly reminded the Justice Portfolio Committee of the long the process is taking.
“I just want to say for all members of that committee, we need to reflect why this process took us so long, especially in 7th administration.”
