The ruling African National Congress (ANC), with the support of six smaller parties, has secured the 60% of National Assembly members needed to forward the name of its MP Lawrence Mushwana to President Thabo Mbeki for appointment as the next public protector.

A furious battle has been raging between the official opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) and the ANC in the special ad hoc parliamentary committee set up to select a candidate to succeed incumbent public protector Selby Baqwa.

In the first round former ANC Limpopo MEC Seth Nthai withdrew from the process as a result of the controversy. Then in this latest round of nominations the New National Party (NNP) nominated Mushwana.

The constitution provides that the public protector should be "independent and subject only to the constitution and the law".

Yesterday after a rowdy debate in the National Assembly, during which speaker Frene Ginwala had to repeatedly call for order, the ANC was joined by the NNP, the Inkatha Freedom Party, the United Democratic Movement, United Christian Democratic Party, Pan Africanist Congress and the Minority Front in supporting Mushwana's nomination.

Only the Freedom Front (FF) and the Federal Alliance joined the Democratic Party (DP) in opposing the measure which was lost by 32 votes to 278.

Only 240 votes were needed to approve the measure. The African Christian Democratic Party abstained from the vote.

Motivating the ANC position Johannes Mahlangu said Mushwana had served as a court interpreter, a public prosecutor, a magistrate and as an attorney, and in all these professional positions he had demonstrated impartiality. "He understands the problems of the people of this country and speaks 10 of the 11 official languages," Mahlangu said.

DP MP Hendrik Schmidt said: "The DA reiterates its strongest opposition to the nomination. It is mind-boggling the ANC is trying to fill a position, which should be independent of party political influence and government, with an elected ANC representative.

"The ANC's antidemocratic desire to extend its control over independent institutions designed to protect citizens from abuse by the state clearly knows no bounds. It cannot be allowed to transform independent institutions into organs of the ANC's national executive committee, just to protect its hold on power."

The FF MP Corne Mulder said that the debate was missing the point.

With acknowledgements to Wyndham Hartley and Business Day.