New Public Protector Office opens door to Newcastle communities

09 Decemberr 2009

The office of the Public Protector has extended its services to communities of Amajuba District in KwaZulu-Natal with the opening of a new regional office in Newcastle.

Public Protector Adv Thulisile Madonsela, accompanied by Deputy Public Protector Adv Mamiki Shai and the Deputy Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Andries Nel, among others, officially opened the doors of the new office to locals.
 
The move to open an office in the area is in line with the Public Protector’s continued effort to bring services closer to communities, as required by the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa.
 
Speaking at the launch, which took place on the eve of the International Human Rights Day, Adv Madonsela urged communities to utilise the office to report state conduct that violates or undermines their human rights.

“You’ll agree with me that a lot of improper conduct by the state invariably violates or undermines human rights. For example, if your identity documents are not processed appropriately, various human rights are affected, the key ones being the right to citizenship and freedom of movement,” she said.
 
Urging communities to fully utilise the new office, Adv Madonsela said the Constitution gave her office powers to ensure that for all improper conduct or prejudicial treatment by the state, the Public Protector could provide appropriate remedial action.

“To ensure such remedial action, we investigate, conciliate, mediate, negotiate and take any other appropriate action to ensure justice. When we find that the state acted inappropriately, we say so,” she said, adding that her office is required by the Constitution to be independent and impartial.

Deputy Minister Nel said government was prepared to work with Chapter 9 institutions such as the Public Protector to support constitutional democracy without compromising the independence of such institutions.

“The office we are launching today will be meaningless if the people’s complaints are not dealt with effectively,” he said.

The Newcastle regional office brings the total number of such offices to eight across the country, complementing the nine provincial offices and National Office in Pretoria. For further accessibility to communities, the Public Protector has mobile offices in Limpopo, Mpumalanga and the Eastern Cape, reaching out to remote areas in those provinces.