Cape Town - Thuli Madonsela is expected to be the name put forward in the National Assembly next week to replace Lawrence Mushwana as the country's Public Protector.
Mushwana's seven-year term will come to an end on 15 October and is not renewable.
An Ad Hoc Committee, set up to appoint a new Public Protector, has completed the nomination and interviewing process with all parties unanimously voting to appoint Madonsela, who is the current Commissioner of the South African Law Reform Commission.
Committee Chairperson, Advocate Tshililo Masutha, told BuaNews on Thursday the shortlisting, interviewing and nomination process had gone well and that all candidates had been highly competent and competitive.
"The committee was faced with a tough decision, however, all political parties agreed unanimously to submit the name of the nominee to be submitted to the House for recommendation to the President," he said.
According to Masutha, the nomination of Madonsela as South Africa's new Public Protector is expected to be tabled and endorsed by Parliament next week Tuesday. It will then be up to President Jacob Zuma to sign off on the appointment.
He said Madonsela was the most suitable candidate. He further believed that in executing her duties as the country's first female Public Protector, she would be impartial and independent.
Madonsela was a public interest lawyer, researcher, policy analyst and a constitutional and equality expert who was one of the eleven technical experts who were appointed to assist the National Assembly in drafting the post apartheid South African Constitution.
Madonsela is a legal drafter who is the co-architect of several laws, including the Employment Equity Act, Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act and the Local Government Transition Act.
She regularly advices on policy and provides legal opinions, with key opinions having included the Repeal of the Black Administration Act, Judicial Independence, and the reform of Customary Law of Succession, Maintenance Law and the Domestic Violence Act.
Madonsela also writes prolifically on human rights, gender, race and various justice reform matters. She is the co-architect of the South Africa Bench Book for Equality Courts and has authored several books and reports on law, gender and human rights.
She receives her BALLB, Human Rights and Constitutional Law from the University of Witwatersrand 1987 and again her LLB in 1990 with the same institution.
