Military Ombud 2023/24 mid-term review and feedback on outreach programme (with Minister)

Meeting report

The Chairperson welcomed the Military Ombud and his team and registered the apology of the Deputy Minister.

Military Ombud presentation
Lt Genl (Retired) Vusi Masondo, Military Ombudsman, presented the 2023/24 mid-term review in respect of the first six months of the financial year, i.e. 1 April 2023 to 30 September 2023. The review included engagements during SANDF deployment. The caseload for the period under review was 199 complaints, consisting of 73 carried over from the 2022/23 financial year and 126 received in the current financial year. As of 30 September 2023, 99 or 49% of the complaints had been resolved, thereby exceeding the mid-year target of 37.5%. The majority of the complaints received during the review period, i.e. 113 of 126 related to conditions of service, e.g. pension, medical and leave matters. In line with the historical trend, most of the complaints, i.e. 55 of 126 or 44% were lodged by the SA Army.

The Outreach Programme covered seven of the nine provinces during 52 community engagements. The Northern and Western Cape provinces would be covered later in the year. The programme involves:

Mission Readiness Induction
Engaging with soldiers on issues of service conditions and professional conduct in the public domain. The Office met with the Border Management Authority (BMA) to distribute promotional material at the border.

Public Activations
The Office creates awareness in communities through the media including radio interviews and through GCIS during presidential imbizos, public participation events, and other municipal community engagements. It is estimated that 1 463 members of the public have been reached through public activation.

Outreach Activations and Pop-up Offices
To date, 2 088 soldiers had been educated on the subject matter during the induction programme, excluding the general outreach to military bases.

Mid-year expenditure
The Office spent only R26 million of the allocated R64 million. R22 million of the R40 million earmarked for compensation of employees (COE) was paid. Only R3 million of the R24 million allocated for goods and services was used.

(See Presentation)

Discussion
Ms T Legwase (ANC) missed the first part of the presentation and sought clarity about the challenges of engaging the BMA.

The Chairperson said Ms Legwase is a member of the Home Affairs Committee and her question should be viewed from that perspective.

Mr M Shelembe (DA) wanted to know if members were aware of the timeframe within which claims could be lodged given the number of claims being dismissed.

Adv M Mothapo (ANC) commended the Office for a well-crafted report. She asked if the Office intended to expand the footprint to rural provinces where walk-ins were not possible.

Ms P Phetlhe (ANC) was concerned about the pattern of perpetual overspending. She enquired about plans to prevent overspending in the future.

The Chairperson agreed that the report was clear and concise. He asked how the Committee could help to solve the problem of chronic under-expenditure against goods and services. He understood that it was due to challenges in the procurement system and the reliance on the DOD for the service. He was concerned that the delay in solving the problem could negatively impact the work of the entity. He suggested that the entity should have its own procurement unit or that the responsibility should be devolved with specified delegation authorities. He was aware that this would require the appointment of staff to man the unit. He called on the Office to explain possible solutions. He noted that too many complaints had been dismissed for a lack of jurisdiction. This meant that the complaints remained unresolved and the objectives of the Act were not fulfilled. He asked the Office to propose a possible solution because the intention is to have all complaints satisfactorily resolved in order to ensure justice.

Lt Genl Masondo acknowledged the presence of the Minister of Defence on the platform.

The Chairperson thanked Lt Genl Masondo for bringing the matter to his attention.

Ms Thandi Modise, Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, apologised for logging in late.

The Chairperson welcomed the Minister and assured her that the team was doing very well. He advised her to listen to the responses to the concerns that Members had raised in the questions posed to the Office of the Military Ombud.

Lt Genl Masondo replied to Ms Legwase that there were no challenges with the BMA. The Office was trying to establish a working relationship with the BMA to enhance the work of the Office.

Ms Legwase asked if there had been difficulties in forging the relationship or if it was going smoothly. She wanted to know if the Office needed intervention in forging the relationship.

Lt Genl Masondo said there were no difficulties. To date, contact had been at lower levels but it would be ideal to meet with the BMA Commissioner to formalise the relationship with a Memorandum of Understanding. He was satisfied that his staff had established excellent relations with the BMA. He asked an official to deal with the timeframe for lodging complaints.

The Military Ombud said timeframes are stipulated in the section that deals with limitations in terms of jurisdiction. Section 7(2) of the Act provides the Ombud with certain discretionary powers to deal with complaints within a reasonable time. The detail as stipulated in Regulation 4, requires that a complaint be lodged within 180 days from the date on which the Grievance Board made their decision known, within 180 days by a former member when becoming aware of the issues that gave rise to the complaint, and within 90 days by a member of the public. Late submissions must follow a process of condonation for the late referral. The Ombud would consider the degree of the lateness, the prospects of success, and prejudice to parties before making his decision, which could be reviewed in a court of law.

Lt Genl Masondo said the matter of expanding the footprint was considered in the past but budget constraints and limited personnel made it difficult to open new offices. To close the gap, pop-up offices are being set-up during outreach engagements to allow members and former members to lodge complaints. The pop-up offices are manned by communication and operational personnel. He explained that a ceiling was placed in terms of COE but the allocated amount did not cover the number of employees in the Office. The issue of overspending had been raised with National Treasury (NT) and the Secretary of Defence. NT was forcing the hand of the DOD to reduce employee numbers and the Office got caught in the crossfire. Discussions with NT were ongoing. The under expenditure on goods and service was as a result of the dependency on the DOD procurement system. He thanked the Committee for the support in pursuing independence for the Office. NT had raised concerns about Chapter 9 institutions and Ombuds Offices and proposed a Shared Services option. Despite all the proposed instruments, the Office continues to be frustrated. He was hoping that NT would assist in formalising delegations on second level expenditure, depending on how the delegation would function within the PMFA. The Office had tried its best to solve the problem which proved to be intractable. He explained that complaints outside the jurisdiction of the Office such as Military Veterans benefits and GEPF pension benefits, are referred to the relevant institutions in terms of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU). He was however not sure if the arrangement was working and felt that the matter required intervention. The dismissal of claims was due to members not exhausting the grievance system. The Office would take on bread and butter issues promotions and related matters would be referred to the DOD for assistance.

The Chairperson called on the Minister to make her concluding remarks.

Minister’s closing remarks
Minister Modise said the BMA was still new but she was hopeful that the relationship between the Office of the Ombud and the SANDF would improve as they continue to work together. On the issue of financial delegations, she held the view that the problem could be solved as long as there is an understanding of structures and policies and the reporting lines are clear. She had been experiencing problems with holding heads of services financially responsible but within a few weeks after taking apart the structures and reporting lines, solutions were found. Even if the money was lacking, it would be possible to create a position for one warm body to be responsible for procurement. The structures on paper might appear good but levels of responsibility for decision-making with financial impact, without the financial reporting lines are problematic. Hopefully with the 2015 Defence Review and the financial plan which the President had requested, the correct reporting lines would be developed. She agreed with the Ombud that everyone gets penalised because of the high COE. The only way to deal with the matter was to relook the structures. She thanked the Ombud for representing the SANDF.

The Chairperson said some of issues could be resolved but the ceiling on the COE was a problem for the entity and the DOD. He would leave it to the Minister and the Department to resolve. The Office needed to be assisted in spending the operating budget. He urged that the matter be resolved urgently before it starts impacting on performance. He was satisfied that the report was speaking for itself in terms of the direction of the Office. He thanked the Minister for her leadership.

Minutes
The Committee adopted the minutes dated 22 February 2024 with an amendment to add the name of Ms Legwase to the attendance list.

Funeral arrangements
The Chairperson reflected on the funeral arrangements of the two fallen soldiers to be held on 2 March 2024 in Kimberley and Tshwane. He confirmed that the Committee would be represented by three Members at the funeral in Kimberley and two Members would attend the funeral in Tshwane. He asked the Committee Secretary to confirm the logistical arrangements for the funeral.

Ms Nandipha Maxhegwana, The Committee Secretary, said the application was approved subject to the Committee sourcing funds to pay the accommodation and travel arrangements. At the time of reporting, she had not received confirmation of funds being made available but expected feedback in this regard from the Finance Division on 1 March 2024.

The Chairperson thanked Members for attending the meeting.

The meeting was adjourned.