Hon Deputy Speaker, as the hon member mentioned, the Constitution requires the Public Service Commissioners, PSCs, to be fit and proper persons who will ensure that the Public Service Commission, execute its duties in ways about independence and impartial. The Public Service Commission Act further stipulates that
Commissioners shall not hold office in any political party or political organisation.
A legal interpretation submitted to the subcommittee tasked with making this recommendation, further defined a fit and proper person as someone who demonstrates integrity, reliability and honesty. Based on these criteria, it is hardly possible to come up with a worse and more inappropriate person to appoint to the PSC than Zanele Hlatshwayo whom the ANC nominated to fill this crucial position.
She exemplifies everything that the Public Service Commissioner should not be. Hlatshwayo is unfit; Hlatshwayo is improper; Hlatshwayo is a biased ANC cadre; Hlatshwayo has a demonstrated track record of lack in integrity, reliability and honesty. She was Mayor of Msunduzi from 2007 to 2010, where she allegedly spent millions of rands in taxpayer's funds on her pit projects, including an extravagant trip to attend Barack Obama's inauguration as President of the United States.
After only three years, even the ANC have had enough and fired her. The Kwazulu-Natal Provincial Government was also forced to place Msunduzi under administration. Under beloved comrade Mayor, the financial status of the municipality rapidly deteriorated. There was pervasive noncompliance with statutory obligations, as well as a lack of oversight by the council.
Hon Deputy Speaker, does the person who destroyed Pietermaritzburg sound like a fit and proper person who has demonstrated integrity, reliability and honesty? No, and it is not ethically defensible. But it gets worse, Deputy Speaker, Hlatshwayo was reportedly number 33 on the ANC's Kwazulu- Natal list to become a Member of Parliament. In a CV she boasts about being an active national working committee member of the ANC alliance, SA National Civic Organisation, SANCO.
During the interview process to fill the PSC vacancy, ANC members of the committee made a big show of asking the candidates, how do we build a merit- based public service? When I asked Hlatshwayo whether her appointment wouldn't undermine any talk about building a merit-based and a
political public service, she arrogantly responded, I quote: "I will never stop being political."
Hon Deputy Speaker, does this sound like someone who will be perceived by the public as independent and impartial? No, and it is not ethically defensible. Just as scandalous though, is the way in which the ANC actively undermine Kevin Malunga, the current Deputy Public Protector of the Republic who also applied for the PSC position. Malunga submitted a distinguished CV to the subcommittee, and he had by far the best interview.
Malunga is in fact fit and proper; Malunga is independent and impartial; Malunga has a demonstrated track record of integrity, reliability and honesty, which is precisely why the ANC, guided by its cadre deployment policy undermine Malunga at every turn. First, they tried to disqualify him on the basis that he was born in Zimbabwe, even though that he included a naturalisation certificate in his application, which showed that he became a South African citizen in 2010.
Next, the ANC said there was, I quote: "unwritten policy that Malunga's gender disqualified him from the post." When the DA objected to this flagrant xenophobia and sexism, the ANC tried to use a report from the State Security Agency, SSA, which supposedly implied that our current Deputy Public Protector may have a criminal record.
This was despite the fact that the SSA never even checked his finger prints. This entire process was a sham from the very start, in line with ANC's policy of cadre deployment ... [Interjections.]