CASAC concerned over interview schedule for Public Protector position

The interviews are scheduled to take place in Parliament on Thursday.

"CASAC notes with great concern that the schedule of interviews announced by Parliament's Ad Hoc Committee will see it sit from 07h00 until midnight. It is intended that all 14 shortlisted candidates will be interviewed tomorrow (11 August). This punishing schedule brings into question the effectiveness of the Ad Hoc Committee in executing its mandate - will Committee members be equally alert and vigilant at the end of the day as they are at the beginning? This will undoubtedly have an impact on the integrity of the process and on whether all candidates are treated fairly and equally," it said in a statement.

The Committee Chairperson, Dr Makhosi Khoza said the rationale behind the schedule, which aims to have all candidates interviewed in one day, is to ensure that candidates do not have unfair advantage over others, as these interviews will be broadcast live.

"If the intention was to dispose of all the interviews in one day the Committee ought to have shortlisted no more than 7 or 8 candidates."

Instead having initially agreed to shortlist 10 candidates the Committee has actually 'shortlisted' 14, and thereby created this crisis.

CASAC called on the Speaker of the National Assembly and the Chairperson of the Ad Hoc Committee to urgently review and revise the schedule to ensure that candidates can be properly questioned and scrutinised "to enable a fit and proper person to be identified to fill this critical position in our constitutional architecture".