Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane says her office will need at least R1 billion

Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane

Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane says her office will need at least R1 billion in funding to ensure that it “stays afloat” and remains effective.

Mkwebane told Parliament’s justice committee that the R301 million allocations for the 2017/18 financial year and the R319 million allocations for the following year‚ were not enough to ensure that her office was fully operational. “It’s scary but it’s a reality” she said.

Mkwebane told the committee that currently only 50% of the required posts in the chapter nine institution were currently funded.

CEO Themba Dlamini told the committee that the R1 billion was a “conservative amount”.

He said that there was already a R626 million budget shortfall for the current staff complement over a three-year period. “If we add an additional 50% for the complete structure‚ that puts us at R1.2 billion‚” he said.

He said this did not include the cost of appointing subject specialists like actuarial scientists and engineers who would be able to assist in highly technical investigations.

Mkhwebane‚ who in her very first appearance before the committee last year‚ scrapped the use of donor funding‚ said she stuck by this agreement‚ despite it later emerging that the funding from the USA and Germany had been secured on a government-to-government level and not by her predecessor Thuli Madonsela directly.

She said that donor funded projects which were already underway would continue until completion.

She added‚ however‚ that donor funding would not solve their financial problems as this funding could not be used for operational costs – only specific projects.

The committee also heard that the public protector’s office was in dire need of a security overhaul. Read more here