Public Protector Thuli Madonsela was announced as one of the top “five extraordinary women who are responding to leadership challenges of the 21st century”.
The Tällberg Foundation announced its 2016 list of five extraordinary women global leaders. The Foundation is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit education organisation that seeks to provoke people to think differently about global issues that are shaping their present and their future.
At a time of growing doubts about the efficacy of leadership in many countries, the five women selected demonstrate that individual leaders who are innovative, ethical, determined and willing to take great risks are capable of coping with the challenges of the 21st century.
The foundation applauded Madonsela for tackling tough questions on administrative law and justice, good governance and executive ethics. They hooured her for being one of the drafters of South Africa’s post-apartheid Constitution.
“Thuli has spoken truth to power under extraordinary conditions where the powerful apparatus of the State as well as the governing party have attempted to undermine the rule of law. Advocate Madonsela’s investigation into what is known as the Nkandla scandal won a groundbreaking victory in the Constitutional Court, which held the President accountable for paying back the taxpayer money he spent on upgrading his personal home.”
Reacting to the announcement on Wednesday Madonsela said:
“Words cannot express the depth of my gratitude at the news of being selected as one of the five Tällberg Global Leaders. It is an enormous privilege to receive such an honour”.
“I’m supremely grateful to the Tällberg Foundation for this remarkable honour. I’m also honoured to be associated with the foundation whose work with regard to engendering ethical global leadership I have witnessed in action.”
The other four women are:
Celina de Sola, the co-founder of Glasswing, a community-based education and public health initiative based in El Salvador that works throughout Central America.
Sunitha Krishnan, the co-founder of Prajwala, an anti-sex trafficking organisation in Hyderabad, India that has evolved pioneering, effective rehabilitation programmes for victims of sex crime and sex trafficking. She has also advocated for policy changes and legal reforms for the welfare of victims of sex trafficking.
Christiana Figueres, who served as executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change for the past six years where her innovative diplomacy helped to deliver the unprecedented climate change agreement last December.
Eleni Antoniadou, a researcher in Regenerative Medicine, Artificial Organ Bioengineering and Space Medicine, who focuses on the development of artificial organs from stem cells as an alternative therapeutic pathway for transplantations. She also serves as the President of the European Health Parliament in Brussels and is an advocate in raising awareness about illegal and immoral organ trafficking.
“They demonstrate that effective, courageous and innovative leadership that can overcome even the most seemingly intractable issues,” Tällberg Foundation Chairperson Alan Stoga said in a statement.
The five women were selected through secret ballot by an international jury from a pool of 270 nominations from 60 countries.
The nominees work in a wide range of fields and roles, including business, politics, arts and social activism and were nominated through a global, open online process conducted during the first half of the year, Madonsela’s office said.
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