Visit of the Public Independent Conciliator North West Region to the Office of the City Ombudsman of Cape Town, South Africa

The Public Independent Conciliator for the North West Region, Mr. TAMFU Simon FAI was on a working visit to the office of the City Ombudsman of Cape Town, South Africa from November 19 – 26, 2023 to meet with the City Ombudsman of Cape Town to explore benchmarking/networking and capacity building opportunities as well as experience/knowledge sharing between the offices of the Public Independent Conciliators of Cameroon and the office of the City Ombudsman of Cape Town.

The Public Independent Conciliators in Cameroon; Northwest and Southwest regions were both invited by the Executive Mayor of Cape Town, ALD Geordin Hill-Lewis for an official mission to the office of the City Ombudsman of Cape Town, Mr. Vusumwi Magwebu. A mission that had the entire workforce in the Office of the City Ombudsman mobilized for a two days’ work session.

About the office of the City Ombudsman of Cape Town

The first meeting was chaired by the City Ombudsman, Mr. Vusumwi Magwebu accompanied by a team of his close collaborators. During this session the Public Independent Conciliator for the North West Region – Cameroon, had the opportunity to present his office; the creation, mission and functioning of the office, Complaint Management procedures, accomplishment, challenges and perspectives.

The Office of the City Ombudsman gave an overview of its office and highlighted that it was created some 22 years ago and went through an evolutionary path of innovations till date. Received complaints in the City Ombudsman’s office are categorized into normal, investigative, escalatory and referrals.

The City Ombudsman office is concerned with normal and investigative complaints while escalatory complaints are treated by the hierarchy and others are referred to appropriate authorities. The complaints received at the office of the City Ombudsman of Cape Town concern mostly city utilities (water and electricity). Security and Transportation are other areas where the Ombudsman intervenes to solve problems amicably.

They cannot handle complaints in the domain of;

• Deliberations of the City Council
• Matters of Forensics and Ethics
• Matters of Financial Audits
• Irregular conduct of Elected Officials
• Tender Related matters and
• Administrative Appeals

The office of the City Ombudsman of Cape Town has positively transformed service delivery using its famous and popular standard core values of “People First” principle, comprising; Consultation, Service Standards, Access, Courtesy, Information, Openness and Transparency, Redress, Value for Money.

Presentations

On day two of their working visit, the full staff of the office of the City Ombudsman of Cape Town was in attendance and a series of detailed presentations were delivered in honor of the Cameroonian delegation;

• Regulatory Content and Consequence Management by Ayesha Logday
• Investigation and People First Principle for effective service delivery by Sergio Daniels
• Escalation Process Flow for difficult Complaints by Darren Carr
• Real Estate Issues by Gcobisa Mavuka
• Metering Systems to check fraud in utilities by Michelle Cleophas
• Creation of 5 Satellite Offices for proximity service by Michelle Cleophas
• Advocacy and Communication awareness by Clarisse Wiliams

Outcomes

Knowledge gained form this mission will enable the Cameroonian Public Independent Conciliators to;

• Continue to be catalyst of mutually accepted solutions between aggrieved parties and local administrations (Regional, City and Local Councils)
• Create an IT software to fast-track the treatment of complaints to meet regulatory timelines
• Continue to be the neutral, impartial, independent, confidential and objective problem solver for amicable solutions between the differences of service users and council administration
• Have the ability to track and monitor historical facts which are important to resolve certain issues and
• Identify the trends of complaints

At the end of the work session, the office of the City Ombudsman of Cape Town and the Public Independent Conciliators from the Northwest and Southwest regions Cameroon, agreed to;

• Establish a platform for cooperation
• Benefit from the experience of the office of the City Ombudsman of Cape Town
• Have the two offices of the Public Independent Conciliators in Cameroon join the international Ombudsman Institute
• Maintain and remain in constant contact for innovations in this domain which is undergoing rapid evolution