Military ombud ‘a success’
“We have high level of satisfaction from complainants and in most cases people feel we are able to ensure we deliver justice to them.”
Both the public and soldiers are highly satisfied with the work the SA Military Omud is doing, his office said this week.
“We are not a court of law and we are independent. We get complaints either from the employer, employee or members of the public and we look into the grievances and make a ruling thereof,” said Ombudsman Temba Matanzima.
President Jacob Zuma set up the Ombud in 2012 to investigate grievances involving South African soldiers and the department of defence and military veterans.
Matanzima said the work his office had been doing since its inception four years ago had paid off.
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“We have high level of satisfaction from complainants and in most cases people feel we are able to ensure we deliver justice to them,” he said.
“There have been people who were owed money by the department and we were able to intervene and ensure they were paid their dues. We are not on the side of the soldier who may come with a complaint or the department we only side with the truth and apply rules as promulgated.”
In 2009, 1 000 soldiers staged an illegal march to the Union Buildings, which led to their suspension.
The ombudsman conceded his office could have helped avoid such a situation.
“I’m not really privy to the facts around the grievances that prompted the soldiers to go on a march but I suppose if this office existed then we could have been able to address some of the issues like we do now and avoid it.”
Matanzima said the work his office did was often misunderstood.
“We are appointed by the state president but we are not aligned to any department our mandate is mainly to be the middle man and ensure we are impartial at all time,” he said.
“Some of the unions said we were toothless but we have managed to resolve outstanding matters that couldn’t be resolved in the past. We also want to ensure that members of the public know about the work that we do so they can come forward when they feel aggrieved by soldiers.”
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