Public Protector Kholeka Gcaleka calls for cool heads amid explosive SAPS syndicate allegations
Gcaleka, who remains optimistic about the country's future emphasised the importance of ethics and integrity as a standard for the country, saying this will drive the country towards the fortunes its envisaged for itself.
'There needs to be a political will to ensure that those are the standards that are being upheld, and the political leadership needs to lead by example. But again, the political leadership is elected by our society, so as a country, as a society, as a community, as a family, we really need to get back to basics,' she said.
The advocate also shared her thoughts on the killing of an auditor in Ekurhuleni, Mpho Malefane who was gunned down, with the city's mayor suggesting the assassination was linked to an investigation into a R2 billion scandal, which saw the electricity bills of some businesses wiped clean.
'That's very sad, I must say, when I learned of that story, one cannot hold back but wonder what is happening in Ekurhuleni. But I mean, we've seen that in several incidences in our country,' she said.
In reflecting on a series of attacks on those seeking to investigate graft at state level, she said this is not an isolated incident, calling on the country to dig deeper in understanding what took place and following it up with the necessary action.
'We need to say what really happened here… there has been an audit, there's been this issue but what is the root cause, because if we don't get to the root cause, it's very difficult to address the issues on a case-by-case basis,' she explained.
When asked about the common challenges facing South Africans, that come through her doors, Gcaleka said there was a serious issue with non-compliance in the country.
'I think looking into these is that we tend to forget that we are dealing with people's lives. You know, for instance, overlooking due process and not granting somebody a grant that they're supposed to get… you deprive them, just by overlooking simple processes,' she said.
She also said there was a lack of systems, to assist in the implementation of the legislative framework, this sometimes is being seen in the provision of the grants, where there are no appeals processes in place, leaving people without recourse as and when they need it.
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