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Freedom of the press, as part of the broader freedom of expression regime, provides for honest mirrors that help leaders in society to identify their mistakes, Public Protector Adv. Thuli Madonsela said last night.

Speaking at the 2016 Sunday Times Literary Awards held in Johannesburg, Adv. Madonsela said the mirrors also provided for a timely action on the part of the leaders to correct their mistakes in order to maintain the trust of their followers.

She likened this to a reported practice in ancient China, where rulers are said to have paid poets and musicians to produce social commentaries, alerting them to mistakes they were making. This helped the rulers mend their ways and maintain the people's confidence.

"In others words," explained the Public Protector, "these rulers did not want to walk around as the proverbial emperors without clothes, surrounded by praise singers showering them with false praise about their non-existent beautiful garments."

These ancient rules, she said, understood that without trust, entrusted power could not be exercised sustainably. The Public Protector added that the centrality of the type of trust that is anchored in accountability, through ongoing public dialogue, was of critical importance.

Paying tribute to author and anti-apartheid activist, Alan Paton, after whom one of the two premier literary prizes bestowed during the event is named, the Public Protector said Paton had the courage to make society see and question what it needed to through his writings.

This was despite the fact that his works caused the government of the day to make life difficult for Paton and others like him.

The Public Protector said, while in school in Swaziland, it was the works of authors such as Paton, Chinua Achebe, Alex Laguma, Andre Brink, Bessie Head, Charles Bosman, William Shakespeare and George Orwell that contributed to her own social awakening.

Likening today's writers to their counterparts of yesteryear, the Public Protector said the authors of today, too, have chosen to tell the stories and views they believe need to be told and expressed in order for society to progress.

She commended them for not only writing about their impressions of the society they lived in but for also proposing long-lasting solutions to society's shortcomings.

"In putting [your] work out there, even if it may not reflect popular views or views accepted by the powers that be," the Public Protector told the authors, "[you] have unwittingly given permission for others to follow [your] conscience."

Pumla Dineo Gqola's Rape: A South African Nightmare, and Nkosinathi Sithole's Hunger Eats a Man scooped the Alan Paton and Barry Ronge prizes respectively.

Issued by Public Protector South Africa