Thuli Madonsela believes the ANC leadership supports her work.
Parliament’s public protector ad hoc committee will on Thursday interview the 14 candidates vying to replace Thuli Madonsela once her term ends.
Interviews will take place during a 15-hour session at Parliament. Each candidate had been allocated an hour, including 10 to 15 minutes to make a presentation, followed by questions from the committee members.
The first interview was scheduled to start at 7.45am, and the last at 11pm.
Madonsela’s seven-year term ends mid-October, and the committee has until August 31 to recommend a candidate to the National Assembly. The initial list of candidates was whittled down from 73 to 59.
On Wednesday, Corruption Watch expressed concern at the long hours set aside for the interviews. It said other parliamentary interviews that had continued into the early hours of the morning disadvantaged those candidates who were last on the list.
This was due to their time often being cut short due to the understandable exhaustion of committee members.
“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.
Committee chairperson Makhosi Khoza said the interviews were in the interests of fairness. She said they hoped it would be the first and last round of interviews. – Reporting by News24