Thuli Madonsela wears many hats. South Africa’s soft-spoken former public protector, currently holds the Law Trust Chair in Social Justice at Stellenbosch University, where she is also a law professor. Madonsela spoke to Jess Holing about the things that give her joy, her childhood, parenthood and her journey to the forgiveness of others, and herself.
“I may not be loud, but even things that I say softly, sometimes may contribute to the harm,” says Thuli Madonsela, South Africa’s soft-spoken former public protector. As an instrumental contributor to SA’s legal system, Madonsela acknowledges the importance of doing the best with what you have, and realising your impact on the people around you. GRAPHIC: Jess Holing
“They do say eventually we follow our names,” says Thulisile Nomkhosi Madonsela. Or Thuli, short for Thulisile. Her name means “she who makes things quiet”, says Madonsela.
When Madonsela speaks, time slows down. She speaks with purpose.
“At the age of four, my mom was arrested for trading without a license – selling sweets, apples and oranges at schools,” says Madonsela, South Africa’s former public protector and currently the Law Trust Chair in Social Justice and a law professor at Stellenbosch University (SU).
Both Madonsela’s mother, a domestic worker, and father, a local pioneer in the taxi industry, were arrested at different points in Madonsela’s childhood.
“But I never heard [my parents] complain about how difficult life is. Not once,” says Madonsela, who grew up in Apartheid South Africa, but remembers a happy, Christian childhood.
“My parents sent us to Swaziland when I was five years, four months.” There they lived with family, where the adult in the household was her older cousin.
“Nobody cooked there during the day because we all went to school,” she laughs. “So, we all ate the crust of pap and sugar water. No wonder we didn’t grow tall!”
Life is to be lived for a purpose, says Thuli Madonsela. She reminds herself of this in her daily life on a regular basis. “If I just think I was rude, I will be the one to pick up the phone or to sit down with you and say I’m sorry,” she says. GRAPHIC: Jess Holing
The power of the generosity of strangers
“Now, you go and study nursing,” Madonsela’s father told her when she was in grade 10, encouraging her to drop out of high school. When she told him this wasn’t her life’s dream, he kicked her out of home.
She finished school thanks to a bursary, and support from her mother and school principal. “I wouldn’t be sitting here if it wasn’t for the generosity of strangers,” she says.
Although neither of Madonsela’s parents supported her decision to study law after finishing school in Swaziland, she continues to walk in her parents’ footsteps when it comes to their life philosophies.
“My mom was always just laughing. I think I carry that. My kids found my sense of calmness and laughing difficult,” says Madonsela.
Thuli Madonsela addresses a crowd at the fourth Annual Social Justice lecture at Stellenbosch University earlier this year. “She’s got a certain innocence to her, which I love,” says Amanda Takis, a close friend of Madonsela who hiked Kilimanjaro with her. PHOTO: Jess Holing
One generation to the next
The Thuli Madonsela Foundation (Thuma), was started by Madonsela’s two children, Wenzile and Mbusowabantu.
She prefers to refer to it as the “Thuma Foundation”.
“I just can’t find myself saying ‘Thuli Madonsela says this’, when I’m not talking about me. Don’t you think it sounds weird?” she chuckles.
Madonsela has a great relationship with her children – they bring her great joy, she says.
When she is with her children, a throwaway comment, such as “Hmm, it’s a beautiful day today,” will be followed by two hours of debate on what makes a day beautiful, or what qualifies one to determine what makes a day beautiful. She laughs, again. Being a parent is probably the most difficult leadership job you’ll ever have, but it is the most joyful part of her life, Madonsela says.
Madonsela explains that she has worked through racial tensions in her young life that gave her the ability to treat people equally. It was a song Madonsela used to sing when she was younger that made the soft-spoken social justice hero believe that white people were not her enemy.
Thuli Madonsela formed a part of the legal team that drafted the Constitution of 1996 when she decided to stay in South Africa and fulfill her role as ‘South Africa’s conscience”, turning down a scholarship to Harvard University. PHOTO: Jess Holing
‘Our Father, forgive us’
She sings it. “All the colours of the rainbow…” are the lyrics she remembers.
She listens to music virtually every day – from the likes of Beethoven to Hillsong. As a Christian, Madonsela reflects on her faith journey and the comfort she finds in song.
“Our strength was always singing,” she says. ‘No Longer Slaves’ by Bethel Music is the song she will always go back to, she says.
Madonsela attended a spiritual retreat where she was faced with the realities of the unforgiveness she was holding on to.
“It’s not enough to say, ‘Our Father, forgive us, as we forgive those who have harmed us’. You need to meditate on that forgiveness,” says Madonsela. “Release it, almost like you make it a physical thing that you can see dissolving.”
“I just had reached a point where I was just angry with everyone,” she says. Along with the prestige of being public protector came death wishes, threats of necklacing and hate speech, which is sometimes the cost of standing up for truth, she says. But the power of forgiveness has allowed her to completely let go of hatred.
It was both the people who were harsh towards her, and the ones that were kind, that paved her path to becoming public protector of South Africa, says Madonsela. Her upbringing as a Christian taught her that “everything you do has consequences in terms of bringing people closer to godliness”.
“It’s not enough to say, ‘Our Father, forgive us, as we forgive those who have harmed us’. You need to meditate on that forgiveness,” says Madonsela. “Release it, almost like you make it a physical thing that you can see dissolving.”
Thuli Madonsela embraces Justice Albie Sachs, South African lawyer, activist and writer, at the fourth annual social justice lecture which took place at Stellenbosch University (SU) earlier this year. PHOTO: Jess Holing
The right side of truth
Madonsela makes a positive lesson out of all her feelings, says her close friend, Amanda Takis. But she also “likes to take people out of their comfort zones”, she added.
Although she is soft-spoken, Madonsela’s words have great impact, says Pauli van Wyk, an investigative journalist who reported on some of Madonsela’s cases while Madonsela was public protector.
“She takes the iron-hand-in-a-velvet-glove view of things.” Madonsela commands a room without being forceful, Van Wyk explains. Although she never raises her voice, everyone listens, she adds.
“She’s always on the right side of truth.”
Thuli Madonsela was challenged physically and mentally when she hiked Kilimanjaro with Amanda Takis, her close friend. Looking forward to the mountain ahead of her was overwhelming, she says. “Rather look back, because you will be inspired by how much you have already done,” was her advice. PHOTO: Supplied/Amanda Takis
High heels to hiking boots
Madonsela might be known as a legal expert, but she “loves designing clothes, too”. Every choice in clothing colour that she makes is directly dependent on the event or atmosphere she will enter.
“Different colors have different implications for people’s minds. So if I’m going to speak with people that need to trust me, I try to wear a little bit of purple, that brings in a sense of trust,” she says.
Her love for fashion also translates to graduation ceremonies, where she examines the different shoe styles of young people and students.
“Something people don’t know about her is that she’s summited Kilimanjaro – twice!” says Takis, who hiked with Madonsela as a part of the TrekforMandela initiative, and talks about the songs they sang there together after bonding over their mutual faith.
“She asked me if I would tie her necklace for her,” says Takis, remembering the day she met her now lifelong friend.
Takis shares a story, about a last minute phone call Madonsela had to take while they drove around in Kayamandi, donating books. “While she’s busy talking on live radio, I’m busy driving on a dust road trying to remember directions,” she says. “She’s very humble.”
“I’ve never heard her say a bad word about anyone,” she adds.
Amanda Takis, Thuli Madonsela’s close friend, ties her necklace on the day that the lifelong friends met for the first time. Takis says that she knew they quickly bonded over their mutual faith and now see each other as regularly as possible. PHOTO: Supplied/Amanda Takis
‘Amazing grace – the soundtrack to my life’
“I think my journey is summed up by what I regard as the soundtrack of my life,” says Madonsela. “Amazing Grace. There’s never a time when I can say to you my life was all torture. It’s always adversity, but also extreme grace.”
Another pause – she’s in no rush.
“So,” she says, cocking her head to the right.
“Tell me about your family?”