Outgoing Public Protector Lawrence Mushwana has warned that government departments dented the image of the country's democratic institutions by not even bothering to acknowledge receipt of his office's reports on them, much less act on them.
Mushwana, who steps down this week after his seven-year, non-renewable term in office, is tipped to head the SA Human Rights Commission. He said if the government ignored the recommendations of the institutions established in terms of chapter nine of the constitution, such as the public protector and the human rights commission, the public's trust in these institutions would be damaged.
"There needs to be an injunction ... so that when you receive these recommendations, this is what you are expected to do, because then people will have trust in us."
While he was happy with some government departments for implementing his recommendations, he warned that people would not approach the chapter nine bodies if they knew nothing would come of it.
Mushwana called on departments to make an example of lazy and corrupt civil servants by firing them, otherwise poor service would persist. Mushwana blamed "lazy and arrogant" public servants for making poor people poorer.
Many public servants and politicians who received government tenders did shoddy work on their contracts, kept the money and left poor people to suffer, he said.
He urged a review of government tender processes and a more hands-on approach by department heads to prevent such mismanagement. "There is some greasing of palms and it worries me. My view is that people who are guilty of tender (irregularities) should be removed because they are a danger to society," said Mushwana.
"Civil service itself means that you're there to serve the public and clearly if you're not doing that, then they (the government) must remove you." He lauded President Jacob Zuma's recently launched presidential hotline, saying it would help to get lazy public servants to work harder.
"There's a lot still to be done because civil servants who are serving the people behind the desk don't have the empathy towards people who are coming there to receive service delivery," he said.
The former ANC MP and struggle veteran laughed off suggestions that he was a puppet of the ANC-led government, saying ministers and premiers had fought with him throughout his tenure as public protector.
To ward off perceptions of bias, he established a think tank of advocates and managers in his office.
Former public service minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi, who failed to declare a birthday gift from a company, and former Eskom chairperson and ANC national executive committee member Valli Moosa, who failed to recuse himself from an Eskom tender process that involved the ANC, were two of the high-profile leaders he crossed swords with.
Mushwana brushed aside criticism of his handling of the Oilgate investigation over which he was defeated in court - a decision his office is appealing against.
He said the judge could not find any suggestion of bias towards the ANC, but Mushwana acknowledged that he as public protector could have made "a mistake of law".
Mushwana now hopes to get his hands dirty tackling socio-economic issues such as water, housing and service delivery, when he joins the SA Human Rights Commission next week.