Public Protector addresses provincial authorities, reaches out to Ermelo residents

Public Protector Adv. Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s nationwide stakeholder engagement roadshow heads off to Ermelo and Nelspruit in Mpumalanga this week. Adv. Mkhwebane will interface with Provincial Parliamentarians and later Mayors and heads of Departments at the Legislature on Thursday. She will then travel to Ermelo, where she will lend an ear to locals at the Ella de Bruin Hall on Friday.

Her visit to Mpumalanga comes hot on the heels of a similar exercise earlier in the week in Limpopo, where she held a meeting with the community of Thohoyandou and surrounding areas before proceeding to the Provincial Legislature on Monday and Tuesday, respectively.

These engagements form part of the four-month long tour of all the provinces, which kicked-off in Gauteng a week ago. At end of the exercise, the Public Protector hopes to have introduced herself to identified stakeholders, including government leaders, the legislatures, political parties and the general public. She further hopes to use the platforms to outline her vision for the institution over the next seven years of her term in office and solicit stakeholders’ comments on it.

“We have taken note of some of your concerns as expressed through various avenues, including social media, radio call-in programmes and the media in general. This is an opportunity for you to engage us in an unmediated fashion. It’s an opportunity not to be missed,” she said.

Adv. Mkhwebane added that members of the public will be given an opportunity during the engagements to lodge service and conduct failure complaints with her office for investigation. A team of investigators will accompany her for this purpose.

The engagements, held under the theme “Broadening Access: Taking the Public Protector to the grassroots”, will take place as follows:

Address to the Legislature

Meeting with Mayors and HODs

Meeting with Ermelo residents

Members of the media are invited to cover the events and are encouraged to RSVP for the event by contacting Mr Salvation Mokgatlhe on 084 543 2141 or by email salvationm@pprotect.org

For more information, contact:

Oupa Segalwe
Senior Manager: Communications
Public Protector South Africa
Cell: 072 264 3273
Tel: 012 366 7035
Email: salvationm@pprotect.org
@PublicProtector
Public Protector South Africa