Address by Deputy Public Protector
Adv Mamiki Shai during the commemoration of Youth Month in
Port Shepstone, KwaZulu-Natal on Friday, June 24, 2011.
Programme Director, Mr. Mlandeli Nkosi;
Mayor of Ugu District Municipality, Cllr NH Gumede;
Mayor of Hibiscus Local Municipality, Cllr NCP Mqwebu;
Chairperson of Traditional Leaders in Ugu District, Nkosi
Ndwalane;
Chairperson of Ugu District Youth Development Council, Mr
Mlungisi Ngcobo;
Chief Executive Officer of the Public Protector SA, Mr
Themba Mthethwa;
IEC District Manager, Mr S Yeni;
The Public Protector team;
Ladies and gentlemen;
I wish to start by extending my sincerest greetings to all
of you this morning.
I also wish to seize this opportunity to express my
gratitude to you for taking time off from you daily
activities and gracing this occasion with your presence.
We have paid you a visit as part of the Public Protector
South Africa’s nationwide drive to extend services closer to
communities. This is in line with our constitutional mandate
to be accessible to all persons and communities.
I am very hopeful that by the time we leave, you would have
grasped as much information as you can about this important
constitutional institution not only for yourself but also to
share with many others who could not be here with us.
Today marks just six days after the commemoration of the
National Youth Day on June 16, a momentous chapter indeed in
the story of South Africa’s struggle against the policies of
the erstwhile apartheid regime.
As you would know, on that day 35 years ago thousands of
young people swelled the streets of Soweto in Gauteng in a
protest against the introduction of Afrikaans as a medium of
instruction in local schools.
What started as a peaceful march that fateful morning saw as
many as 176 people losing their lives as the then
government’s security forces opened fire, mowing down
protestors in a tragedy that got the world up in arms.
Those young people who paid with their lives, among them
12-year-old Hector Pieterson, were very brave to take on
that kind of government to address their challenges.
Concerned about their future, they decided to do something
about the situation, unfortunately it ended badly.
More than three decades later things have changed for the
better. South Africa is a democratic state with one of the
most progressive constitutions in the world.
Among other things, this constitution enshrines the Bill of
Rights, which highlights the Human Rights that all people in
the country are entitled to enjoy.
The reason I am mentioning this history is because our visit
here should be seen within the context of Youth Month
commemorations as we join the country to pay homage the
youth of yesteryear.
Today’s youth is, however, facing a different struggle.
There is the scourge of HIV and AIDS, high levels of
unemployment, limited opportunities within the sphere of
higher learning and drugs and alcohol abuse, to mention but
a few.
In emulation of the heroes and heroines of the 1976 Soweto
Uprisings, the youth of today need to take the lead in the
fight to against these challenges with the same resilience
displayed by their counterparts from yesteryear.
Programme Director;
While we are here to commemorate Youth Month, we are also
here to share information on what role the Public Protector
can play in ensuring that young people manage to triumph
against the challenges the face.
Last year the Public Protector was approached by a young
person, who complained that he had lost out on a scholarship
because the Department of Education had failed to produce
his matric results.
At first the complainant, who is now in his mid-twenties,
thought he had failed but got alarmed when the Department
could not produce his results statement.
Upon a closer look, the Public Protector learned that they
Department had cancelled the complainant’s exam registration
without informing him after discovering that he shared an ID
number with somebody else.
Five years after battling to sort out the problem himself
the complainant turned to us and upon our intervention he
immediately got a new ID. The only thing outstanding now is
the issue of his matric results, which the department can’t
produce or reconstruct because the records have been
destroyed.
Looking at this complainant’s ordeal, you will realise that
he does not have a senior certificate; he will not be able
to register with an institution of higher learning; he has
lost out on a scholarship to study for free at a university
and that; he will struggle to get a proper job.
As we speak, he is sitting at home looking helplessly as his
peers, some of whom he went to school with, are furthering
their studies at tertiary and earning their own money.
What is more saddening is the fact that none of the problems
he is grappling with are of his own making. Organs of state
involved are all to blame for the challenges he is battling
with. Not only has the actions of state actors infringed on
his right to education, it has also prevented him from
accessing economic opportunities.
Many other young people have knocked on our doors,
complaining about a host of challenges including failure by
government to process applications for low cost housing and
social grants that are discontinued without even being
notified of such decisions.
As the Public Protector South Africa, we strongly believe in
the protection of the Human Rights of young people and other
sectors of our society. When these rights are trampled upon
by organs of state or where competent organs of state
neglect their duty to prevent or redress the violation of
these rights, the Public Protector has a constitutional
responsibility to act.
This brings me to important questions that might be
springing to the minds of some of you. Who is this Public
Protector and what does she/he do? What powers does the
Public Protector have and when and how does she/he get
involved? How can the Public Protector be accessed?
Let us start with the constitutional mandate. The Public
Protector is a constitutional officer appointed under
Chapter 9 of the Constitution to support and strengthen
constitutional democracy by exacting accountability from
those involved in state affairs.
Section 182(1) of the Constitution specifically places a
responsibility on the Public Protector to investigate any
conduct in state affairs or the public administration that
is alleged to be improper or prejudicial, to report on that
conduct and to take appropriate remedial action. The scope
covers all three spheres of government and state entities
such as ESKOM, SABC, TELKOM and Water Boards.
The only matters in state affairs that are excluded from the
Public Protector’s scrutiny are court decisions. Section 182
further enjoins the Public Protector to be accessible to all
persons and communities. The Constitution further creates
space for additional powers that may be conferred by
legislation.
The Public Protector has six key mandate areas that can be
discerned from 16 key pieces of legislation that provide
further powers or regulate the office’s work in pursuit of
section 182(2) of the Constitution.
The first key mandate area is the power to redress
maladministration within state affairs and the public
administration. However, the Public Protector Act 23 of
1994, which regulates this mandate goes beyond service
failure and requires the public protector to deal with
conduct failure, including abuse of power and abuse of state
resources. The powers under the Public Protector Act include
the authority to resolve disputes or grievances against the
state through mediation, conciliation, negotiation or any
other means.
The second key mandate area is that of being the sole
oversight agency on executive ethics as regulated by the
Executive Members’ Ethic Act of 1998 and the Ethic Code. In
terms of these, the Public Protector is empowered to
investigate the conduct of the Executive. This includes the
President, Ministers, Deputy Ministers, Premiers and MECs.
Unlike the Public Protector Act, this Act makes provision
for complaints to be lodged only by the President, Premiers,
Members of Parliament and Members of Provincial
Legislatures.
The third and shared key mandate area involves acting as an
anti corruption enforcement agency under the Prevention and
Combating of Corrupt Activities Act 12 of 2004.
The fourth key mandate area positions the Public Protector
as one of two key agencies to receive protected disclosures
from whistle-blowers under the Protected Disclosures Act 26
of 2000. This mandate complements the mandate under the
Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act.
The fifth mandate, which is another shared mandate, involves
the power to resolve disputes regarding information requests
under the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA).
The sixth mandate area involves the power to review the
decisions of the Home Builders Registration Council as
envisaged in section 22(4) of the Housing Protection
Measures Act 95 of 1998.
Other than in cases under the Executive Member’s Ethics Act,
anyone can lodge a complaint with the Public Protector
against any organ of state. The complainant need not be a
victim of the alleged improper conduct or maladministration.
Complaints can be lodged at any of our 20 walk-in offices
across the country; in writing; telephonically (Toll free
line: 0800 11 20 40); online (www.publicprotector.org); or
at any of our mobile or outreach clinics that are held
regularly at identified spots across the country. It is also
important to note that to investigate, we need not
necessarily receive a complaint.
We have a double-pronged approach to investigations. We
promptly resolve each specific complaint, ensuring redress
where appropriate while investing efforts in fixing the
systemic deficiencies within the state with a view to curb a
recurrence. Where there is service failure, our systemic
solutions also incorporate correcting complaints handling
arrangements of organs of state involved.
In taking appropriate remedial action, we are informed by
the view that it is not enough for organs of state to simply
provide the service that was delayed or denied before my
office stepped in. Our view is that remedial action should
bring the complainant as close as possible to where they
would have been had the state acted properly. One of the
ways to achieve this is financial compensation. At times a
simple apology suffices.
Also worth noting is the fact that our services are free and
the Public Protector is constitutionally obliged to
investigate matters without fear, favour or prejudice and
that she is independent and subject only to the Constitution
and the law.
We have made three promises to the people of South Africa.
These are:
- to be accessible to and trusted by all persons and
communities;
- to provide prompt remedial action; and
- to promote good governance in the conduct of all state
affairs.
Prompt remedial action is particularly important in “bread
and butter” matters. In fact, most of the complaints that
fall under this category are resolved from within hours to
three months through our Early Resolution mechanisms.
In dealing with your complaints, we have employed a set of
values, with which we seek to ensure customer satisfaction.
These include Independence and Impartiality, Human Dignity,
Equality, Ubuntu, Redress, Accountability, Integrity,
Responsiveness, Transparency, and Justice and Fairness.
Programme Director;
I would like to call on communities not to hesitate to
report any suspected disregard for human rights by organs of
state.
In the event, you do not get joy from these institutions;
our office will be there to assist you. Even right now, if
you have complaints about government services or conduct,
you can lodge it with my investigators at the back of this
marquee as soon as the programme has ended.
As I draw towards my conclusion, I would like to reiterate
the call on communities to report any complaints about
government services or conduct to the Public Protector. This
includes any suspected corrupt activities and other forms of
maladministration.
Of course our ultimate goal is to strengthen constitutional
democracy by promoting good governance, adherence to human
rights and respect for the rule of law. This will help us
realise our ideal of an accountable state that operates with
the highest level of integrity while being responsive to the
needs of its entire people, including the children.
I would like to extend an invitation to you as communities
and important institutions in society such as schools to
partner with us to raise awareness about the existence of
the Public Protector South Africa and the services it offers
It is important that people know where to find help and not
suffer in silence. We know that some of you cannot afford
attorneys to help you take the state to court and free
services such as the Public Protector are here for you.
We will continue working closely with stakeholders such as
traditional authorities, government, fellow Chapter 9
Institutions, NGOs and the media among others to raise
awareness about our existence so that we can reach and help
more people.
Thank you.
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