The Constitution makers were wrong to believe the Public Protector’s office was going to be above partisan politics. Attitudes to the present protector and her predecessor depend on where you stand on the ANC’s factional divide. ‘For both sides, the protector’s job is not to protect the public but to support their favoured politicians,’ says the University of Johannesburg’s Professor Steven Friedman. He asks whether we want a Public Protector office whose role is to trigger a stream of court cases. ‘If it is left to courts to settle disputes, only those who can afford legal fees will be heard. Nor will we entrench the idea of an independent office protecting the public if the Public Protector’s rulings are respected only if they are seen to help particular politicians.’ In an analysis in Business Day, Friedman suggests that the Protector should be chosen by a ‘citizen panel’. ‘Citizens are chosen randomly, not elected, so we don’t know how representative they are. But – just as pollsters can use an accurate sample of the population to measure public opinion – a randomly selected citizen panel may well express what most citizens want. If leaving the choice of the Public Protector to randomly chosen citizens seems risky, they could be limited to recommending names.’ Friedman notes that government is moving towards a greater public role in key appointments – the head of the NPA was chosen by a committee in which the legal profession played a major role. Selecting a Public Protector is more difficult, he notes, as the person chosen should enjoy the support of the people, not a profession. Says Friedman: ‘A public say in the decision would not end controversy over the Public Protector, but whoever gets the job would be seen as, at least, partly the choice of the people, not politicians, which could enhance respect for the office across political boundaries.’