Madonsela’s powers questioned

[caption id="attachment_22334" align="alignright" width="200"] Thuli Madonsela[/caption]

Deputy Justice Minister John Jeffrey has slammed what he described as an attempt to turn the office of public protector Thuli Madonsela into a quasi-judicial body with immense powers.

“Surely the public protector is not a quasi-judicial body?” Jeffrey said during a debate on Madonsela’s powers, hosted by the Law Society of South Africa at the University of Pretoria yesterday.

“Its powers are to investigate, make findings and recommendations, and put that into the public domain. It is in the public domain that the action must be taken.”

Jeffrey argued that the public protector would have enormous powers if her findings were to be binding.

“[Madonsela] is essentially an investigator, prosecutor and a judge all rolled into one. That is quite unheard of in our law,” he said.

-Sipho Masombuka and Dominic Skelton