The newly appointed Public Protector says there is not much she can do about the controversial arms deal.

"Going back to the arms deal, I don't know how much I could possibly contribute," Thuli Madonsela told reporters at the National Press Club in Pretoria on Thursday.

"I could contribute to what should have happened, but at what cost?"

Madonsela, who took over the post from advocate Lawrence Mushwana two weeks ago, was being questioned on Mushwana's decision not to investigate an element of the deal.

She said the protector's office had a prescription period of two years which made it difficult to probe old elements of the deal.

"I'm not saying that we shouldn't investigate the arms deal, but I think from our side we would like to go forward and investigate the new things coming to us.

"If it is a new area in the arms deal that hasn't been prescribed then we would do that," she said.

Madonsela said the protector's job was to make sure that state conduct was accountable.

But more importantly it was to "ensure that whatever has been taken away through the improper conduct by the state is restored".

A "pre-investigation" into hotel stays by Police Minister Nathi Mthethwa was underway.

"This is still a pre-investigation. We don't have  a case regarding the minister," Madonsela said.

The preliminary probe would look into whether Mthethwa's conduct was in line with rules in the executive handbook.

"We have to at least see whether what happened can be turned into a fully fledged investigation," she said.

This process had to be finalised within a month.

Madonsela said in her brief time in her position she had found that the top five complaints received by the office were about local government, home affairs, grants, the government pension fund, and about the unemployment insurance fund and workers' compensation.

The office had also received many complaints about police conduct, which she would refer to the Independent Complaints Directorate as it was better positioned to deal with them.

Madonsela justified the "golden handshake" of R7 million received by Mushwana, saying it was provided for in a 2002 Government Gazette.

With acknowledgements to Sapa.