During a recent monthly council meeting, it was said that the Municipal Ombudsman needs to be closer to the people who need his services the most.
According to councillors, the offices of the City of Johannesburg (CoJ) ombudsman, advocate Sduduzo Gumede, should be more independent, have more staff and be moved to an area nearer to those who are in need of his services.
The Chairperson of the Chair of Councils, councillor Alex Christians, commented on the first 2016–2017 quarterly report on the performance of the ombudsman’s office. “Although the office has done a sterling job so far, a lot still needs to be done to show its independence. For the office to have more credibility, it should be moved away from the ivory towers of Houghton and taken to an area closer to the people,” he said.
According to councillor Parks Tau, the work done by the ombudsman should be commended as it was critical to the city’s operations. “The location of the ombudsman’s office should not be regarded as a problem. We should rather concentrate on amending the bylaws governing the work of the ombudsman to help his office become solution orientated,” Tau said.
Between 1 July and 30 September of last year, the ombudsman’s office received a total of 88 new cases – equal to a monthly average of 29 new complaints. According to the quarterly report, a total of 1 231 complaints were lodged within the office’s first year, and 491 were resolved, mainly through settlements. This rate, according to the report, should be seen in the context of a new office with only two people handling all resident complaints.
According to the United Kingdom Local Government Website, a reasonable allocation of cases per investigator should be about 25 per month. The council report stated that if this is used as a yardstick, then the CoJ ombudsman’s caseload should be seen as excessive. The total of cases received per investigator per year is 615 – equaling around 51 per month.
But there is some good news as well, as the matter is being addressed by the city’s Capacitation Strategy office.
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