A couple of weeks ago, the Mail & Guardian's Stefaans Brummer wrote a satirical piece that lampooned Public Protector Selby Baqwa's office as providing a cleansing service. He described how Baqwa's hot air manages to steam-clean any hint of scandal out of some ministers' biggest blapses.

Now Oom Krisjan notes that it's not only those at Sour Street who believe in being His Master's Voice.

City Press (in an "analytical" piece by Jimmy Seepe, boet of our own Sipho) asserts that "the public protector's office ... has been a thorn for politicians and government institutions who have tried religiously to avoid being the subject of its investigations" and that "it has become the most feared institution after the auditor general and the National Directorate of Public Prosecutions". Ha ha.

Seepe quotes Baqwa as saying: "It is malicious to suggest this office provided a free cleansing service. Such suggestions are totally unfounded and nonsensical. I reject the notion that I'm a cleanser with the contempt it deserves."

A free cleansing service for the free cleanser?

With acknowledgements to Krisjan Lemmer and Mail & Guardian.