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The South African Military Ombud under the leadership of Lt General (Ret) Vusumuzi Masondo is visiting the military bases in Kimberley, De Aar and Jan Kempdorp to educate the soldiers about the operations of the Office.
Military Ombud Office was established in 2012 with an effort to assist current serving and former soldiers of the SANDF regarding their conditions of service like unfair dismissal, tools of trade, benefits and promotions amongst other as prescribed in the Defence Act.
Part of the Office mandate is also to investigate complaints brought by members of the public against SANDF personnel whilst on duty. Military Ombud Masondo said the outreach programmes are important for the members of the defence and public so that they could understand the mandate and existence of the Office. Furthermore, at these outreach engagements, the Office educates the Military personnel on the processes that needs to be followed when lodging a complaint with the Office after exhausting all internal processes within the SANDF.
“It is important for us as an Office to continuously educate those that we serve about our mandate and the processes they need to follow when approaching our Office. Our Office remains open to assist soldiers and members of the public when they are aggrieved,” said Masondo.
Masondo said the Office will also continue to maintain its independence by making sure that there is no unfairness when dealing with cases of SANDF personnel and members of the public.
“It is imperative that all cases reported at our Office are dealt with in a fair manner without any undue influence,” said Masondo.
In instances where the Military Ombud is unable to assist they will normally refer such complaints to other relevant statutory bodies who could assist like PPSA, Public Service Commission, Gender Commission, SAHRC and GEPF amongst other.
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