It’s as if the biblical verse “she is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future”, had been written for her.
Madonsela has faced off with some of the country’s big guns and she takes no prisoners.
The former public protector’s state capture report - an exposé of the extent of the rot in the government and state-owned enterprises - which continues to denominate headlines is a case in point.
Madonsela has taken up a chair in social justice in the law faculty at Stellenbosch University. The role includes “teaching but ultimately it deals with inequality”.
“It is about legal and policy design, policy that does not perpetuate inequalities,” she said.
Her role was announced by the university in October.
Madonsela’s seven-year term as public protector ended in October 2016.
She handed the reins to Busisiwe Mkhwebane following one of her office’s biggest cases, Nkandla. According to Madonsela, the Nkandla corruption case was one of her “defining moments” as public protector.
The State of the Nation Address is on Thursday, and Madonsela said she hoped to hear a message of hope and a message that realises the injustices of the past rather than messages that encourage a racial divide.
Madonsela, 55, told Weekend Argus this week how hardships had “helped shape the person” she is today.
Madonsela grew up poor in Soweto and learnt from a young age to stand up for herself. She knew she wanted nothing more than to “help change the world we live in”.
She described her father as strict and strong-willed.
Madonsela’s path was built on her own adversities and social injustices experienced by those around her.
Her father was imprisoned and had to defend himself in court for illegal trading many times.
“We grew up poor. Back then living in a four-roomed house with small windows was considered poor.”
“But my father later built back rooms and a garage with his savings. If you extended your home and had big windows in Soweto, you were considered to be living in a big house,” she said.
Madonsela recalled how during her childhood neighbours had lost their homes.
“Black people were never allowed credit back then, but when bonds came, black people took up the bonds to extend their homes and when they couldn’t repay, the houses were repossessed.”
In 1986, after many years of watching her father walking in and out of jail, she experienced the pettiness of the apartheid-era police.
She was detained for three months.
“I was on my way home from work and I had been carrying the Freedom Charter, January 8 statement and other documents.
“Unfortunately for me, I was stopped and searched.”
For three months, Madonsela said, she had to answer “questions I did not have the answers to. I was a loner and I had been in Swaziland for so long, I did not have the information they were looking for”.
But those challenging times proved instrumental in her drive to fight against social injustice and inequality.
“My father wanted us to be educated, at least to a level where we could get jobs as clerks, nurses or teachers. Those were the popular jobs at the time, but my passion lay elsewhere.”
Though her father had no formal schooling, he was able to read and write. He was an electrician.
“He could fix everything electrical. My father was a labourer, he did not even go to Grade 1, he lived with his uncle and back then living with an uncle was like being Cinderella.
“They lived on a farm and the farmer did not allow the children to go to school.
“They had to work, but he could read and write, he mostly read the Bible.”
But because of illness, he ventured into informal trading and owned taxis.
“He was a pioneer in two businesses, spaza shops and the taxi industry.
“That is why it saddens me that the government is failing to regulate the informal trading industry because I know how people struggle to trade in that space.”
Her mother, an informal trader too, dropped out of school in Grade 8.
She worked as a domestic worker.
“She regretted that decision, she often told us she left school because she was adopted by missionaries who didn’t care much about clothes.
“She would often see domestic workers wearing beautiful clothes and she wanted to look like them and that is why she left school.”
To help support her family, Madonsela studied humanities for one year before she began teaching at Naledi High School. Shortly after that she became involved in the Struggle
“We would gather with people such as Teddy Mabe and Themba Khumalo forming groups of young people to hold political discussions.
Often we would meet at Ma Sisulu’s home with Teddy for the umrhabulo (political debates and strategy) sessions .
Madonsela made her parents proud when she graduated with a BA in law from the University of Swaziland.
But they were surprised when she choose to volunteer for a trade union.
“From as young as 18, I was more into liberation than money. I volunteered as an organiser,” she said.
Madonsela was part of the delegation which formed Cosatu.
Madonsela wants to use the opportunity at Stellenbosch to share her expertise and experiences with aspiring legal minds.
But she also wants to “assist in achieving the constitutional promise of an inclusive society”.
The soft-spoken advocate smiled when she spoke of her family. She will be a grandmother soon.
Her husband died when the children were young.
Though she wishes she could spend more time with her children in Johannesburg, her role at the Stellenbosch University will see her living in the Western Cape for the next five years.
Madonsela is optimistic that this will be a better year for the country as she has a “sense that things are going in the right direction that people’s potential will be recognised”.