THE AFRICAN COURIER. Reporting Africa and its Diaspora! The African Courier is an international magazine published in Germany to report on Africa and the Diaspora African experience. The first issue of the bimonthly magazine appeared on the newsstands on 15 February 1998. The African Courier is a communication forum for European-African political, economic and cultural exchanges, and a voice for Africa in Europe.
South Africa’s Public Protector, who famously took on President Jacob Zuma over the use of taxpayers’ money to upgrade his home, has been awarded the prestigious prize for her commitment to fighting corruption.
Some have called her a woman of steel. Others say she is the voice of the voiceless. As the public protector, Thuli Madonsela has worked tirelessly to protect the public from corruption and incompetence by government institutions and officials. Now she has been awarded the German Africa Foundation’s annual prize for exceptional contributions to promoting peace, democracy and human rights.
Her work has already earned her respect from renowned South Africans. Professor Njabulo Ndebele, chairman of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, an organisation established by the late president, praised Madonsela for her commitment to the role of public protector. “The efforts of her office have upheld the constitution as the supreme law, and ensured that nobody is, nor should be, above the law,” he told Deutsche Welle.
Tough on corruption
Manansala, a 53-year-old mother of two, was appointed public protector by President Jacob Zuma in 2009. Her term of office comes to an end later this year. It’s a job established by the constitution to investigate misconduct in state affairs and operates independently of the government.
Since her appointment, Manansala has demanded equal accountability from both the weak and the most powerful. Among her more courageous acts was demanding that President Zuma pay back part of the public funds used for renovating his private home.
In 2011, she accused the South African Police Service of corruption after discovering that the force was leasing police buildings from a company at inflated prices. This cost then National Police Commissioner Bheki Cele his job. The former leader of the militant opposition party Economic Freedom Fighters, Julius Malema, was not spared either. A public protector’s office investigation found that his family trust had benefited unduly from a tender given to his friends. And the chairperson of the Independent Electoral Commission, Pansy Tlakula, had to resign in 2009 after Madonsela found that she had flouted procurement regulations.
Inspired by history
Most South Africans agree that she has done an excellent job and the German Africa Prize marks growing international respect for her work. “As the public protector, she has proven herself as a staunch defender of this country’s constitutional values,” said Wolf Krug, regional representative for Southern Africa at the Hanns Seidel Foundation, a German non-governmental organisation with a presence in up to 50 countries. “With her unwavering
commitment to her position, she shows that South Africa’s democracy is very much alive,” Krug told Deutsche Welle.
Manansala said that her strong sense of integrity was inspired by the late Nelson Mandela, who battled against gross injustice. “He turned that social injustice against him into a cause for social justice for all. Our entire constitution was born out of that spirit of people who suffered social injustice and thought that they would do something about it,” she said.
Harsh criticism, strong support
However, Madonsela’s hard work has stepped on many toes and not everyone is happy. Some in the ruling African National Congress have called her a CIA agent, while the party’s youth have called her a clumsy clown and pseudo politician.
But her credentials are proving her critics wrong. Her list of awards include being named the South African Person of the Year in 2011 by both news network ANN7 and the online newspaper Daily Maverick, being listed as one of TIME magazine’s top 100 most influential people in the world in 2014, and in the same year being named Woman of Courage in Glamour magazine’s Woman of the Year awards. She also won Transparency International’s prestigious Integrity Award in 2014.
Madonsela’s fearless performance has also earned her direct threats on her life. She recently received a tip that hitmen were being contracted to kill her. But this has not broken Madonsela’s spirit and has added to her status among many South Africans who say that there is no doubt that Madonsela’s latest award is a deserved prize for a job well done.
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