JPSA to campaign against attacks on Public Protector

The organisation is to campaign against attacks on the Public Protector and her office, following the repeated verbal and written attacks on the integrity of Madonsela and her office, the organisation said in a media statement.

The campaign was announced as Madonsela was being interviewed on a radio station on Wednesday morning, said JPSA national chairman Howard Dembovsky.

“Within minutes our tweet and variations of it tagging other Twitter handles had been retweeted far and wide,” says Dembovsky.

According to Dembovsky, the campaign had already received public support.

“We are very encouraged by the public support that is already being shown for our campaign.

“We feel that the Public Protector could do with some support for the essential work that she and her office does and sending the message out to her detractors to lay off is equally important.”

The organisation plans to hold a march to the offices of the Public Protector in Pretoria in April.

“This will not be a protest as such, but more of a public show of support.

“It should also be noted that this campaign is not only in response to the Nkandla Report, and there is a report on a complaint we lodged with the office of the Public Protector some time ago looming for publication in the very near future,” says Dembovsky.

Dembovsky states that the campaign is completely apolitical and that JPSA would not tolerate any participation by political parties in the campaign.

“We have noted that coincidentally, the Freedom Front Plus has also launched a campaign in support of the Public Protector.

“We wish to point out that we were completely unaware of their plans to do so and we distance ourselves from any political party events, no matter what they are for,” explains Dembovsky.

JPSA will make an announcement with respect to the planned date and time of their march in due course.

Madonsela’s Nkandla report, which was released on March 19, found President Jacob Zuma and his family unduly benefited from the upgrades made to his Nkandla home.

Madonsela had since faced criticisms from some members of the ANC for the report.