The Office of the Public Protector has been without a deputy for over a year. This position has been vacant since the then-deputy PP, Adv. Kholeka Gcaleka was appointed to the top job in November 2023.

The initial process of finding a suitable candidate to recommend for appointment to President Cyril Ramaphosa was abandoned last year, following a reasonable apprehension of bias.

The Office of the Public Protector is a very important Chapter Nine institution that aims to support and defend the country’s democracy.

But after nearly 16 months without a deputy, civil society organisations are cautiously raising the alarm about the extended vacancy.

The first attempt to finalise the selection of a new deputy Public Protector hit a snag in April last year. That’s when the impeached PP, turned Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) MP at the time, Adv. Busisiwe Mkhwebane was part of the interviewing process.

A legal opinion from Parliament recommended restarting the process because her presence indicated a reasonable apprehension of bias.

This, as the then EFF MP did not declare her relationship with two of the candidates. It was then up to the seventh democratic Parliament to restart the process.

Interviews were conducted with eight candidates in November last year. But the process has not moved beyond that.

Civil society groups are now urging Parliament to speed up the process.

Programme Head for Public Service Accountability Monitor at Rhodes University, Zukiswa Kota says, “Having noted the importance of an interviewing process that has integrity and that is safeguarded, it is also important that the portfolio committee for justice and constitutional development ensures that there is no further delay and that where the shortlist of candidates has been made, that that is presented to President who ultimately does appointment. It should not be a source of further delay. We call on NA to ensure no further delay of this important chapter nine leadership position.”

Corruption Watch’s Nkululeko Conco explains, “We, at Corruption Watch, believe the delay in this appointment is most certainly lamentable. It hampers the effectiveness of the office as the PP is without assistance and can not delegate to a deputy PP. There are elements of the pp office that require further support and are operating under capacity constraints. For example, there are matters where implementation can not be properly monitored. and this could be one of the areas where a deputy PP can assist.”

The Office of the Public Protector says it continues with its work.

“The Office of the PP continues to carry out its mandate to strengthen constitutional democracy by investigating, reporting on, and remedying improper conduct in state affairs, ensuring accountability and good governance,” says the spokesperson for Public Protector South Africa Khulu Phasiwe.

This week the Justice Committee postponed a meeting where this matter was on the agenda, due to the unavailability of members.