Johannesburg - Public Protector Thuli Madonsela's report
into alleged maladministration at the SA Post Office (Sapo) is being prepared,
her office said on Thursday.
"At the moment, the investigation is complete and is at
a report-writing stage," her spokesman Oupa Segalwe said in a statement.
"We will expedite the process and advise interested
parties as soon as the report is ready."
He was commenting after the Communication Workers' Union
(CWU) complained that the probe was still not complete, two years after it
lodged a complaint.
Segalwe said investigators had, as promised, regularly
updated the CWU on developments in the matter.
The CWU complained that Madonsela had failed to meet a
September 2012 deadline.
However, Segalwe said it had taken longer than expected to
obtain the information needed.
"Among other things, there was a change of guard at
Sapo sometime last year, with the former chairperson leaving and a successor
appointed.
"As a result of this, we got the information we needed
only in November 2012."
In an open letter to Madonsela, CWU spokesperson Matankana
Mothapo said it seemed she was cherry-picking cases which were under media
scrutiny and winnable.
Segalwe denied this.
"She oversees a number of investigation teams that are
dealing with many matters lodged by different political parties and individuals
at a time.
"Some of these investigations are much older than the
matter Mr Mothapo refers to."
Segalwe said Madonsela relied on various pieces of
legislation to conduct investigations.
"Matters relating to the ethical conduct of members of
the executive, such as the president and ministers, are dealt with in terms of
the Executive Members Ethics Act, which requires the Public Protector to
conclude her investigations within a month.
"Even in such matters, the Public Protector hardly
(ever) meets the one month deadline due to various reasons, including capacity
constraints, co-operation with investigations by concerned organs of state, and
the complexity of cases," he said.
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