A committee consisting of eleven Members of Parliament from various political parties is faced with electing a new Public Protector to replace Busisiwe Mkhwebane, whose term ends in October. Four candidates have so far made the cut and undergone interviews for the top job and will know their fate in a month's time. The interviews were conducted on Wednesday and concluded yesterday.

If approved by President Cyril Ramaphosa, the successful candidate will become the country's fifth Public Protector since the dawn of democracy and serve a non-renewable seven-year term. The first of the four candidates that faced a panel of Parliamentarians on Wednesday and Thursday are former Human Rights Commission CEO Tseliso Thipanyane, advocates Kwena Ntsewa, Oliver Josie, Lynnette Marais, and acting Public Protector Kholeka Gcaleka. All the candidates passed the vetting process and all their qualifications were verified. The Committee's chairperson, Cyril Xaba, said each candidate was interviewed for 90 minutes by the 11 Members of Parliament

The successful candidate will succeed Mkhwebane, whose seven-year term ends on October 14. Mkhwebane who was appointed Public Protector in 2016 is the subject of a section 194 Parliamentary inquiry into her fitness to hold office. She was suspended by Ramaphosa last year in June following a string of judgments against her. Xaba said section 194 is recommending that the National Assembly remove Mkhwebane for incompetence and misconduct. She challenged her suspension in the high court where the suspension was found to be unlawful because it was tainted by bias. In July this year, the Constitutional Court upheld Ramaphosa's appeal against the high court ruling. Xaba added that the National Assembly has set a deadline of 31 August for the ad hoc committee to present its report to the House. At least 60% of MPs must support the proposed Public Protector candidate, according to section 193(5)(b)(i) of the Constitution, for the name to be forwarded to the President for ratification.