Madonsela in nationwide road show

Monday, July 11, 2011

Pretoria - Public Protector Adv Thuli Madonsela will this week kick-off a nationwide road show aimed at giving feedback on her work and enhancing relations with key stakeholders, including organs of state, civil society and political parties.

In a two-month programme, the Public Protector will hold one-on-one and mass meetings with identified stakeholders, with dialogue focusing mainly on remedial action and administrative justice.

The stakeholder consultative forums will be launched tomorrow at the Sheraton Hotel in Pretoria during a panel discussion session to be attended by academics, heads of Chapter 9 institutions, civil society leaders and commentators, among others.

This will be followed by a tour of all provinces, where the Public Protector will spend two days in each province conversing with interest groups and the general public.

Other stakeholders to be targeted as part of this process include Parliament and Cabinet.

According to the Office of the Public Protector, concerns about the remedial action have often been raised, but ignored by some organs of state, who dispute the findings of investigations, leaving complainants in a state of despair.

Among other things, it has been established that those who disregard the Public Protector's remedial action do so is as a result of lack of proper understanding of the institution's constitutional mandate.

"This process will therefore seek to highlight the plight of complainants whose livelihoods are negatively affected by such actions that deal a blow to their rights to just administrative action," the office said in a statement.