Public Protector: South Africa among most unequal societies

South Africa’s Public Protector Thuli Madonsela made a damning statement over the weekend saying that South Africa was one of the world’s most unequal societies – despite the numerous safeguards of its modern constitution, often hailed as one of the most progressive ones in the world.

Madonsela made the statements as part of a speech delivered at the University of Stellenbosch, as she addressed the remnants of the apartheid system still shaping large parts of South African society today.

“We may not be paragons of non-discrimination as that is impossible. We are products of a society where the hierarchisation of difference is entrenched through socialisation from birth. All we need to do is play our part in our respective spaces as earnestly as possible,” Madonsela said.

“Compounding the situation is that poverty and unemployment have worsened and also the fact that, that too follows the contours of racial, gender and other forms of structural inequality or discrimination.”

The Public Protector has been hitting the headlines this year not only with her indictment on President Jacob Zuma in her Nkandla report published in March, but also more recently by launching an investigation into unnamed cabinet ministers with suspected links to drug trafficking.

Thuli Madonsela also repeated that her office was a safe haven for all whistle-blowers.

“If people know what is happening in society they can become an enforcer and put pressure on state officials to instil justice.”