Local Ombudsman battles to emerge from Madonsela�s shadow
Lesedi Mkhutshwa | Thursday April 27, 2017 14:29
Until recently, Madonsela was the Public Protector in South Africa, who elevated the office from an obscure agency, to a formidable and widely known enforcer of the Constitution, through damaging exposes on various public rot. Madonsela and the office of the Public Protector are now generally known to Batswana who closely followed her campaigns to hold President Jacob Zuma to account for various acts of alleged and proven misgovernance.
The local Ombudsman, Augustine Makgonatsotlhe told Mmegi that Batswana had lost faith in his office, saying it was ineffective when compared to Madonsela’s former office.
Makgonatsotlhe, who was in Francistown for a stakeholder engagement on Best Administrative Practices, said the two organisations had different mandates.
“The public have reasons to believe and so as they compare the local Ombudsman to the Public Protector in SA without taking cognisance of the fact that the laws creating the two institutions are different,” he said.
“The Ombudsman is a single-mandate institution which is to deal with maladministration and on top of that it only gives recommendations.
“The Public Protector in SA has the authority to not only deal with maladministration, but also handle issues of corruption and ethical conduct of leadership.”
Makgonatsotlhe noted that the Public Protector is not limited to giving recommendations and has more powers than the local Ombudsman.
“The Public Protector is allowed to make decisions that are binding to the extent that if one does not comply or if one disagrees with the decision, they have to take it to Court to be reviewed,” he said.
“The mandate given to the Public Protector ensures that the institution is not taken for granted by the public.
“If we were given the same authority, with remedial actions that are binding, that would strengthen the power of the Ombudsman office.”
The former Defence, Justice and Security permanent secretary, said at present, the local Ombudsman’s office can only give “mere recommendations” which are not legally binding.
The department affected by the Ombudsman’s ruling has the option to comply or not, which Makgonatsotlhe said was his office’s biggest weakness.
He said the Ombudsman’s office was further weakened by its lack of financial and legal independence from central Government, which limited its ability to address certain issues.
“The Ombudsman should be an institution outside the public service or Government so that the office even has the power to hire and fire incompetent officers.
“The officers that we have are from the public service and even the corporate services consist of public servants, excluding the investigators.
“The office should be fully independent by being outside the Executive so that people can then have respect and confidence in it.”
The Office of the Ombudsman intends to ramp up its public education initiative to raise awareness on its duties, mandate and how Batswana can access the services.