Parliament’s Justice Committee Chairperson Bulelani Magwanishe has requested assurances that information and documents at the Office of the Public Protector are well secured. This came after the CEO of the Office of the Public Protector revealed that there are not sufficient security personnel at many of its offices across the country – except at the head office. Magwanishe hinted that the matter could be discussed off the virtual platform.
“In line with the Concourt Judgment, the Nkandla judgment you might not have security in the form of warm bodies. Maybe you might not want to respond to the question on a virtual platform or publicly. But are you satisfied with the security of documents? If you would want to respond in writing it would be fine,” says Magwanishe.
Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane gave the assurance that information and documents are safe but would brief the committee offline in detail.
“We will respond in writing chairperson but we are at a very advanced stage on that process. We have got a senior manager (of) security who’s working with the State Security Agency on the issue of how we comply to meet the minimum security standards for documents. So we will provide the portfolio committee with the processes within the institution on how we secure any information and documents relevant to our work,” says Mkhwebane.
