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The Military Ombud, Lt Gen (Ret) Temba Matanzima, and the Public Protector, Adv. Busisiwe Mkhwebane, today held a bilateral meeting in Centurion.

The meeting comes after the two institutions signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) early this year on modalities of co-operation and collaboration in the investigation of complaints of maladministration that fall within their concurrent jurisdiction.

Matanzima and Mkhwebane said the two institutions need to strengthen their working relationship in order to share best practices as organs of state.

“We do not operate in a vacuum that is why we make it a point that we communicate with each other and share ideas on best practices. Public Protector South Africa was very instrumental in dealing with complaints of soldiers before the establishment of the Office of the Military Ombud in 2012.

This relationship needs to be nurtured and through our interaction we can assist more people who need our services,” said Matanzima.

The establishment of the Office of the Military Ombud was partly at the suggestion of Public Protector in 2010 as the institution was inundated with complaints from both serving and former military personnel.

These complaints highlighted the need for a faster and specialised complaints’ mechanism with the necessary military knowledge to resolve such complaints expeditiously.

Part of the agreement is that “where a Party receives a complaint, which falls within purview of the other party’s mandate, the receiving Party shall refer the complaint to the other Party for consideration or may refer the complainant to the said Party for further assistance”.

The Public Protector said her office looked forward to strengthening cooperative relations with the Military Ombud.

Issued by Public Protector South Africa