Thuli Madonsela was named Forbes Africa's person of the year for 2016. The publication awards the honor to “the individual who, for better or worse, has had the most influence on business on the year gone by.”
Madonsela is the former public protector of South Africa. According to the magazine, as the country's anti-corruption chief, the human rights lawyer "faced death threats in her quest to bring inconsistencies to the fore."
Africa News reports:
Madonsela was appointed by president Jacob Zuma in 2009 for non renewable seven year tenure. But the president has been at the receiving end of her heroic investigations even till her last day in office.
It took a court ruling to block her from releasing her report into allegations that the wealthy Gupta family influenced the appointment of ministers last year in what has been dubbed “State of Capture”. Another court ordered the report to be released about two weeks ago by her successor.
She investigated and demanded the country’s embattled president pays back part of the 16 million US dollars of state funds used to upgrade his private residence.
In the award's sixth year, Madonsela is the first woman to be recognized. Fellow nominees for the Person of the Year award included Tanzanian President John Pombe Magufuli‚ Mauritian President Ameenah Gurib‚ fellow South African and founder of Capitec Bank Michiel le Roux‚ and the people of Rwanda.
