Public Protector Kholeka Gcaleka at 2023 SONA
The newly appointed Public Protector, Kholeka Gcaleka, has said that her office’s inability to protect whistle-blowers is a major issue that should be addressed.
Gcaleka was addressing the Cape Town Press Club on Tuesday afternoon, where she touched on whistle-blowing, the DA’s Glynnis Breytenbach’s comments about her career, her predecessor Busisiwe Mkhwebane, and finance issues her office faces.
The Protective Disclosures Act gives the office of the public protector the power to investigate protected disclosures, but Gcaleka said it was not sufficient.
“We don’t have the power to protect or call for protection or to direct or call for legal assistance for whistle-blowers, and that has been a major issue within whistle-blowing,” she said.
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Whistle-blowers who died after exposing looting include Babita Deokaran and Eric Phenya.
“Whistle-blowers in our country go on without a wage, without the power to protect themselves, without the power to obtain proper legal representation. That is paramount. How do you fight big institutions without having the necessary resources to do so?”
She said her office should have the power to protect whistle-blowers.
During the Parliamentary vote on Gcaleka’s appointment last month, Breytenbach implied that Gcaleka’s advancement in the corporate ladder was facilitated by an “inappropriate relationship” with her former boss, Menzi Simelane.
The South African Women Lawyers Association criticised Breytenbach for her remarks, saying it was disheartening that a female attorney had made such a misogynistic remark about another female attorney.
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Gcaleka said Breytenbach’s comments were unfortunate, especially almost 30 years into South Africa’s democracy.
“In order for me to discharge the office’s constitutional duties, I have to remove my personal feelings and know that I’ve got an institution that I need to lead, and not just for me [but] for the people of South Africa,” she said.
“My CV, my career, and my experience speak for itself.”
Speaking on how different she will be from her predecessor and if she should be trusted, Gcaleka said history would be the judge.
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“Let’s look at the work that we’ve done as the public protector in the past 16 months when I’ve been acting, and we haven’t just been proposing reform; we’ve actually put them into effect. We’ve already submitted amendments, so it shouldn’t take more than two years to have these amendments effective,” the public protector said.
On the issue of trust, she said it would depend on the quality and integrity of the work the office produces.
“I believe that we have started that task,” she said.
The public protector said most of the questions she receives from the media and community members are in relation to capacity and resources. She said it was critical to have specialists who transfer skills and training.
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“The project of training, learning, and skills transfer is at the apex of our lists in our institution because you cannot have an institution if you do not have the required skills to make the institution fruitful,” she said.
Gcaleka added that the office was looking at partnering with other institutions to build capacity.
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