JOHANNESBURG: Time magazine named South Africa’s hard-hitting ombudsman as one of the world’s 100 most influential people on Thursday, providing high-profile recognition of her work investigating President Jacob Zuma as he fights for re-election.

Thuli Madonsela in March found that some of the $23 million of taxpayers’ money spent on “security upgrades” to Zuma’s private home were “unlawful” and she ordered the president to repay part of the sum.

Madonsela’s findings have been at the centre of the political debate as South Africans prepare to vote in general elections on May 7, when Zuma will seek a second five-year term. Time magazine honoured her “extraordinary courage and patriotism” in confronting corruption.

“Thuli Madonsela is an inspirational example of what African public officers need to be,” Nigeria’s former central bank governor Lamido Sanusi wrote in the magazine’s commendation.

“With her ability to speak truth to power and to address corruption in high places, Madonsela has been outstanding. “The soft-spoken human rights lawyer joins other powerful and influential world figures like US President Barack Obama, Chilean leader Michelle Bachelet, Pope Francis and whistleblower Edward Snowden on the list.—AFP