Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane takes roadshow to Harry Gwala District Municipality, 20 Sept

Public Protector roadshow targets stakeholders in the Harry Gwala District Municipality

Senior government officials, public representatives and learners within the Harry Gwala District Municipality are among the stakeholders in KwaZulu-Natal that Public Protector Adv. Mkhwebane will interface with as she visits the area on Thursday.

She is visiting the province this week to hold talks with public sector decision makers and other interested parties on the importance of addressing service delivery complaints internally before the grievances could be escalated to her office.

Adv. Mkhwebane is calling on the organs of state to establish in-house complaints resolution units, customer service units or sectoral ombudsman institutions, and to develop Service Standards and Service Delivery Charters.  

The visit is part of the nationwide roadshow which has already been to Mpumalanga, Limpopo, North West, Eastern Cape and the Free State. It seeks to give effect to Pillar 7 of the Public Protector Vision 2023 – a detailed plan which is essentially about taking the institution’s services to the grassroots. Pillar 7 encourages organs of state to establish effective internal complaints resolution units, customer service units or sectoral ombudsman offices.

While it is true that the Public Protector’s mandate is broad, covering any and every administrative action within state affairs to the exclusion of court decisions, it is also correct that not every case must necessarily be brought to the attention of the Public Protector.

“This is precisely why it is critical for organs of state to establish effective complaints resolution units, customer service units or sector-specific ombudsman institutions in the mould of the Health, Tax and Military Ombudsman,” Adv. Mkhwebane said.

That way individual cases that would ordinarily clog her office’s system would be handled by such institutions, allowing her team of investigators to focus on systemic and own-initiative matters.

The meeting with public sector decision makers will take place as follows:
Date: Thursday, 20 September 2018
Time: 12h00
Venue: Soweto Hall, Ubuhlebezwe Local Municipality, Ixopo

The engagement with learners will take place as follows:
Date: Thursday, 20 September 2018
Time: 10h00
Venue: Ixopo High School, Ixopo

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