04 Sep 2016

Outgoing South African Public Protector says the appointment process of the Public Protector/ Ombudsman should be transparent and inclusive as much as possible.

Speaking at a courtesy call on her Botswana counterpart, Advocate Thulisile Madonsela said the office of the public protector should be fully independent so that it delivers on its mandate without fail.

Advocate Madonsela indicated that people needed to understand that the purpose of the office of the Ombudsman is to assist rather than destroy.

She said it was important for the public protector’s office to be accountable, transparent and trustworthy for people to have faith in it and embrace the work it does.

“The fact that our office in South Africa is entrenched in our constitution and can hold everyone accountable including the President of the Republic is commendable,” she said.

She felt that the scope of work for the Botswana Ombudsman should be increased to include investigating cases of corruption and ethics.

“Even though you may have other bodies responsible for that, an increased scope of work for the Ombudsman would go a long way in helping the country move forward,” she said.

She further indicated that calls for the independence of the Ombudsman always tended to ruffle feathers unnecessarily.

“The role of the Ombudsman is to help with governance and not settle scores or even target certain individuals,” she pointed out, adding that dialogue between the Ombudsman and stakeholders was extremely important.

Botswana’s Ombudsman Mr Augustine Makgonatsotlhe said his office was mainly responsible for facilitating cases of maladministration.

“Since I took over four months ago, I have advocated for our office to have an increased scope of work to include investigating ethical behaviour and governance,” he said.

He said it was important for them to introspect on how the office is serving its purpose as a key institution that needs to be made relevant and effective in its mandate.

“It is commendable for us that we have opened up two more offices in the country; one in Francistown and the other in Maun,” he said, adding that they had a public education unit to help people understand what the Ombudsman is all about because the perception out there is that the institution is inactive.

On some of the challenges they come across, Mr Makgonatsotlhe said they were worried about the timely and adequate responses they usually got from concerned parties.

“We are also challenged when it comes to resources which has a bearing on us concluding our investigations on time,” he said.

He commended Advocate Madonsela on her work in South Africa and how it has been inspirational to a lot of people in Africa and the world over. ENDS