Hon Chairperson, members, as you have heard, the Military Ombud is meant to deal with complaints of former members and members of the Department of Defence and Military Veterans, lodged in writing. We are not creating an animal that will go out hunting for unfounded allegations heard of or read in the papers or in the media. With this Bill we intend to make sure that we expedite, examine fairly and investigate complaints that are lodged by these members. We also want to make sure that this office does not undermine the command and control of the Department of Defence and Military Veterans, because we must remember that the grievance procedure is part of the command and control of the Department of Defence and Military Veterans.
We are bringing in this office in order to make sure that it deals with grievances that people were not happy about and those that were not taken care of fairly within the command and control of the Department of Defence and Military Veterans.
We have listened to the DA flagging the independence of this office, trying to say that this office must be set up outside the department. Yet the chairperson, in his introduction, said that the defence environment is a unique one. Therefore what happens in the Defence Force must be within the environment of the department. Failure to do so is where the Military Ombud comes in. The ANC supports this Bill and we feel that the independence of this office is adequate for dealing with these issues. [Applause.]
The fact that the DA is flagging this issue suggests that they do not have confidence in the department and the executive. How, then, do you run a department if the Opposition is saying that the mandate of this office that they are part of is not enough? [Time expired.] [Applause.]
There was no debate.
Bill read a second time.