Deputy Public Protector Kevin Malunga. Picture: Gallo Images
In an interview on eNCA on Monday night, Deputy Public Protector Kevin Malunga called the legal battles taking place over recent reports issued by his office, which found both President Cyril Ramaphosa and Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan guilty of misconduct, a “terrible distraction”.
According to Malunga, the cases taking up headlines, which involve state organs, were far less important than the work his office does to make sure “the most vulnerable in society are protected”.
“Any alleged impropriety by a state organ that results in unfairness or prejudice to a person we have a duty to investigate,” Malunga, but he added that “these high profile cases constitute less than 1% of the work the institution does”.
“I don’t lose sleep over politicians. I don’t lose sleep over Pravin Gordhan or Cyril Ramphosa,” he continued.
“But I do lose sleep over that gogo who says her pension hasn’t been paid seven years down the line, over that refugee whose permit is missing, over that tender that has led to a service delivery process, when I go to Kopela Village and the people tell me they have not had water for six months.
“That’s what we do 90% of the time.”
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He said, therefore, that the media attention and legal battles his office was undergoing were a “terrible distraction”, but added that they also offered a “welcome opportunity in terms of clarifying the law” and allowing people to understand where “the powers of the public protector” began or ended.
Malunga was responding to a question from host Vuyo Mvoko, who expressed concern over the language of the courts in recent scathing judgments against Mkhwebane and her office.
He said that while this “would concern any right-thinking constitutionalist,” the “bottom line is that the work continues”.
“This is a very big operation that involves hundreds of investigators and this is obviously an institution that respects the rule of law and respects the independence of the judiciary and I’m not one to cast aspersions on the judgement of officers of the court such as judges,” he said.
He added that he believed the office of the public protector had been doing what it had “always done”, and that the “mandate is as strong as ever in terms of section 181 and 182 of the constitution”.
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