The world's most remarkable woman?

I'd like to stop and salute one of the world's most remarkable women.  She has championed the cause of justice.  She has stood up to powerful male bullies.  She has faced death threats and intimidation.  She has almost single-handedly fought to defend democracy and good governance and to combat corruption.  And yet, most Brits will never have heard of her.

Advocate Thuli Madonsela

Her name is Thuli Madonsela and at midnight, she ended her seven year term as South Africa's Public Protector, a sort of ombudsman into all areas of government and executive life.

When she was appointed in 2009, the Office of the Public Protector didn't have much of a profile, would not have been seen by those in office as a threat to their power and Madonsela was not regarded as anything special.  But that disregards her history...

In the early 1980s, she was a teacher in Swaziland then Soweto, and went on to work for the trade union movements fighting against apartheid, serving in both the ANC and the United Democratic Movement.  She completed legal studies at the University of Swaziland in 1987 and qualified as an advocate in 1990.  In 1994, she turned down the chance to become an ANC MP, believing politics would not allow her to make her "best contribution as a human being."  She became part of Nelson Mandela's team to draft South Africa's constitution, widely regarded as the most progressive and egalitarian in the world, and went on to serve on the South African Law Reform Society.

From her appointment as Public Protector, she has investigated South Africa's most powerful people, including the Chief of Police, the chair of the ANC Youth League, government ministers and leading businesspeople and has been a constant thorn in the side of an increasingly corrupt President Zuma.  She has ruthlessly investigated government excesses, incompetence and corruption and reported boldly with her own artistic flair. 

In the most publicised case, she found in 2014 that President Jacob Zuma had benefited unduly from R23million of public money spent on his private residence in Nkandla.  These so-called "security upgrades" included a swimming pool, an amphitheatre, a cattle kraal and a chicken coup.  She ordered that Zuma should pay back an appropriate sum to the public purse.  But Zuma, and the ANC in parliament, took every opportunity to dismiss her report and her powers.  She was publicly threatened by leading members of the party and accused of being "partisan" and "overstepping her office".

But Madonsela was unflinching.  She held press conference after press conference exposing the truth of what the President and his bully-boys were up to.  She tweeted with words so brave they bordered on foolish.  She took Zuma, Parliament and the Speaker of Parliament to the highest court in the land... and won.  The Constitutional Court found that the President, Speaker and Parliament had all "failed to uphold the constitution" in not carrying out Madonsela's remedial actions.  Last month, Zuma finally paid back some of the money.  The Goliath of the system was no match for Madonsela's David.

Even on her last day in the job, Madonsela was fighting to speak truth to power.  She announced she would release the report into her investigation into "state capture", prompted when Minister Jonas revealed he had been offered the position of Finance Minister by a wealth businessman.

At the last minute, Zuma and Minister Des van Rooyen launched legal proceedings to try and interdict her from reporting, clearly hoping to kick the issue into the long grass when the new Public Protector takes over.  The interdict hearing will be held on 1st November, but she has preserved her report, lodging a copy with the Speaker of Parliament so that it can be released in full once the proceedings are over even though she is no longer in office.

On Wednesday, she was announced as one of the Tällberg Foundation's Global Leaders - one of the five most important and influential women in the world.

Madonsela insists she just did her job, but without her, South Africa could have become another Zimbabwe with a leadership seeking only to enhance and entrench its own power.  Because of her courage and leadership, democracy and the rule of law remain intact. 

I encourage you to find out more about this remarkable woman.  Google "Thuli Madonsela".  Watch her interview with BBC Hardtalk on iPlayer.  Share her story far and wide as an important female role model.  And watch out... if she is prepared to break her self-imposed ban from politics, we could one day be looking at President Thuli Madonsela.