Leadership Appointments

CAMP AIGNS LEADERSHIP APPOINTMENTS

The objectives of our work involve advocating for candidates to be appointed in a transparent manner.

Why it matters

OUR INTERVENTIONS

Since 2016, Corruption Watch has actively focused on campaigning around appointment processes of leaders to institutions in our criminal justice system, state-owned enterprises, and institutions established under Chapter 9 of the Constitution of South Africa.

The objectives of our work involve advocating for candidates to be appointed in a transparent manner, ensuring that individuals are assessed against clear, merit-based criteria, and creating avenues for public participation in the process.

Independent and robust institutions that act in the public interest, and who operate without fear, favour or prejudice, are imperative to safeguarding South Africa’s constitutional democracy. The collapse of these institutions gives rise to a state where there are no adequate checks and balances, where impunity prevails, and where the public is made vulnerable to the abuse of our constitutional rights. Whilst the process to appoint the Ipid executive director was flawed and lacked merit, and selection of the NLC chairperson is still underway (at the time of writing this report), our involvement in the process to appoint the AG resulted in a highly skilled and qualified candidate assuming o ice as the first female AG in South Africa.

Aside from the five submissions made on the above-mentioned appointments to various parliamentary committees, Corruption Watch made a submission to the Judicial Commission of Inquiry into State Capture, which highlighted the National Assembly’s role in the appointment of leadership positions to key oversight institutions.

Our submission made five recommendations that range from a review of the necessary legislation and establishing multi-stakeholder appointment structures, to integrity testing, transparency and public participation.

In 2020, we focused on three key appointments:

1. 2. 3.

The executive director of the Independent Policing Investigative Directorate (Ipid),

The auditor-general (AG) of South Africa

We argued that this capacity should be strengthened to prevent compromised individuals from assuming positions in organisations that are meant to protect and defend our democracy.

SNAPSHOT

In July 2020, the parliamentary Ad Hoc Committee on the Appointment of the Auditor-General considered the proposals submitted by Corruption Watch and sought a legal opinion. The legal opinion confirmed that Corruption Watch’s submission was in line with the constitutional obligation for fair and transparent appointment processes, and as a result, the Ad Hoc Committee amended its schedule for the selection process. Following a rigorous vetting, interviewing and deliberations process, Parliament recommended that Tsakane Maluleke be appointed as the auditor-general, stepping into the esteemed shoes of the late Kimi Makwethu. In November 2020, President Ramaphosa confirmed this appointment. This process undertaken by the Ad Hoc Committee sets a positive precedent for future parliamentary appointments