A group of business operators and entrepreneurs has undertaken to assist the Public Protector, Busi Mkhwebane with resources to ensure that she reaches most if not all South Africans, especially in rural areas.
The Progressive Professionals Forum met with Mkhwebane at her offices in Pretoria on Thursday. This is part of Mkhwebane’s programme of meeting various stakeholders, institutions and organisations.
Recently Mkhwebane told Parliament that her office was unable to fulfill its mandate due to inadequate funding. She also said lack of cooperation from state organs was another obstacle and her budget of just over R300 million was not enough.
Some of her challenges may be a thing of the past. The Progressive Professionals Forum (PPF) says it is to make sure that more people get to know and understand the mandate of the office of the Public Protector.
The PPF says those that will benefit the most are South Africans in rural areas.
“Most South Africans don’t understand how to use the Chapter 9 institutions such as the PP (Public Protector) to their best interest, and once we can demystify and unpack what the PP can do for ordinary South Africans living in rural village somewhere in the North West or Eastern Cape and they know how to access the PP; how easy it is to use the facilities of the PP then we would have achieved the objective. We are going to use this and we’ve offered our membership and our offices through the 9 provinces to assist the PP in going on a road show and doing that,” says PPF deputy president Kashif Wicomb.
Mkhwebane says this will empower people.
“My intention is to share Vision 2023 with the PPF and make sure that they help the institution to also inform and be our ambassadors in a way to explain to the public the mandate of the PP, to encourage the public to be their own liberators, make sure that if they have challenges of service delivery in their areas they can be able to raise those challenges with their municipalities.”
