‘We’re going to make it‚’ says confident Madonsela

With “a Constitution that is built to last”‚ Public Protector Thuli Madonsela said she is confident that the country is “going to make it”.

Rather than escaping recent political events‚ Madonsela was all smiles as countless people approached and thanked her for her hard work when she appeared at designer Gert-Johan Coetzee’s opening night SA Fashion Week.

Dressed in a high-waisted‚ full-flared green skirt with a lace bodice embellished with beads and Swarovski crystals by Coetzee‚ Madonsela said that the office of the public protector was vindicated after the Constitutional Court last week ruled that President Jacob Zuma had failed to “uphold‚ defend and respect the Constitution”.

“I have never been as proud as listening to the chief justice reading that judgment‚” she said. “It was a vindication of the views we hold as the public protector’s office.”

Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng’s ruling stemmed from her damning report on the excess expenditure of public money used on his private Nkandla homestead.

It led to the Democratic Alliance launching a motion of impeachment against Zuma‚ which on Tuesday was defeated when 143 members of parliament voted for him to be removed from office while 233 members voted against it.

Speaking about the future of South Africa‚ Madonsela iterated that the country is on the cusp of major change.

“The Chinese talk about a crisis that can be seen as a dangerous situation or an opportunity. I think that we are in that same place in South Africa‚” she said.

“I am certain that with the constitutional design that we have‚ a Constitution that is built to last with multiple points of strength‚ we are going to make it.”

In between fashion shows and following the events in the National Assembly on Tuesday‚ Madonsela took to her Twitter account - ‏@ThuliMadonsela3 - to opine on the traits of a good leader: “We cannot lead others if we cannot lead ourselves. The hallmark of self-leadership is responsibility.”