Page 19 - Service Delivery Review

National Development Plan and State Capacity Conference

The Public Prosecutor’s mandate performance statistics show that we reached more
Chapter 9 of the South African Constitution provides than 51 million people, up by more than 17 million
the legal framework for establishing democratic in- from the 2021 figure. Various platforms, including the
stitutions such as the Public Protector (PP). Section news media and our outreach activities, such as the
182(1) of the South African Constitution of 1996 em- annual Stakeholder Consultation Dialogue and Good
powers the Public Protector to investigate and re- Governance Week, enabled us to reach this mile-
port on the conduct of government and other bodies stone.
performing public functions, with the requirement of
taking appropriate corrective action where necessary. The Public Protector provides free access to com-
However, the Public Protector may not investigate plainants. This means that people don’t have to worry
decisions of a Court of Law and must be accessible about whether they can afford to adequately consid-
to all individuals and communities. er their complaints to get an independent perspec-
tive on what happened. Within legislative and other
Furthermore, the Constitution anticipates mandate constraints, complainants are provided with as many
expansion through legislation, and legislation passed ways to contact the Public Protector and refer their
since the Public Protector’s establishment 15 years complaints as possible. Most people can do so via
ago has resulted in the Public Protector being a mul- letter, e-mail, or phone.
tiple mandate agency with six key mandate areas.
With certain exceptions under the Executive Mem- Complaints investigations
bers’ Ethics Act, anyone may file a free complaint Under the above-mentioned Constitutional mandate
with the Public Protector against any organ of the and other additional mandates conferred on the Pub-
state. The complainant does not have to be a victim lic Protector by various legislation, the organisation
of the alleged wrongdoing or maladministration. The investigates approximately 9 000 cases annually, of
Public Protector may investigate its initiative without which 62% cases involve complaints about service
the need for a complaint. This office is independent failure, particularly at the local government level. The
and impartial, with only the Constitution and the rule PP conducts investigations in three categories: early
of law as constraints. The Public Protector is ap- resolution (ER), service delivery (SD), and good gov-
pointed for a seven-year term that is not renewable. ernance and integrity (GGI).
According to this interpretation, the Public Protector
oversees over 1 000 state organs, including National Typically, our communications and reports provide a
and Provincial Government Departments, all metro- synopsis of the facts that describe the outcome of the
politan, district and local municipalities, as well as investigation and, where appropriate, the reasons for
public institutions, statutory bodies and institutions decisions that have been made. Throughout the pro-
performing a public function. cess, the Public Protector seeks to identify the rea-
sons why complaints arose and were not resolved by
Accessibility for all the institution in question. This may highlight a flaw
Section 182 of the Constitution requires the Pub- in an organisation’s administrative or complaint-han-
lic Protector to be accessible to all individuals and dling processes, which can be brought to the atten-
communities. Evidence suggests that more and more tion of senior management, who are responsible for
people are becoming aware of the Public Protector’s making appropriate changes and improvements. Fur-
services. While we are reasonably pleased with this thermore, the Public Protector refers the complainant
accomplishment, the main concern is that some to any additional assistance that is available if the
communities in some parts of the country cannot communication received is not fully understood, or
physically access the Public Protector’s services. In there is dissatisfaction with the service or outcome.
the medium term, the organisation will increase phys- This includes how to make representations for an in-
ical access to its offices through mobile offices. We ternal decision review.
have 20 offices, including the National Office, nine
Provincial Offices, and 10 Regional Offices. “Bread and butter” cases
Complainants frequently approach the Public Pro-
To achieve our strategic goal of being accessible and tector because an internal complaint-handling proce-
trusted by all people and communities, the Public dure has failed to resolve their grievance or dispute.
Protector has launched a comprehensive outreach It is critical to incorporate opportunities for early res-
and advocacy programme that includes clinics, olution into the Public Protector’s process. These are
MOPP clinics, information sessions and radio. Our attempts to settle through mediation or conciliation

SERVICE DELIVERY REVIEW | Volume 15. No. 3 of 2023 19