Issued by: Office of the Public Protector
No less than 18 Ombudsmen (called Public Protector in South Africa) from all over Africa and as far afield as Europe and Canada are converging on Pretoria this weekend. They are to attend a workshop from 26 - 29 August 1996, hosted by the International Ombudsman Institute in cooperation with the Public Protector of South Africa.
The names of the institutions (although all falling within the definition off an Ombudsman) visiting for the Workshop are as diverge as the countries they come from. In France and French speaking countries like Gabon and Senegal the Ombudsman is known as the "Mediateur". Argentina would provide the Spanish flavour to the Workshop and their Ombudsman is called the "Defensor del Pueblo". In Africa the institution also has different names, for example "Investigator-General" in Zambia and the "Permanent Commission of Enquiry" in Tanzania, but mostly Africa uses the name Ombudsman.
Our neighbouring countries Botswana and Mozambique have no Ombudsman as yet, but they are thinking of creating such offices. Both are sending a delegation of Members of Parliament to attend the Workshop. With all the Ombudsman and other dignitaries attending, the Workshop would prove to be a high profile one, with the President of South Africa opening the proceedings.
The theme of the Workshop would be "Strengthening the Ombudsman Office in Africa". The aim is to sharpen the skills of Ombudsman office investigators. The presenters come not only from Africa but also from, for example, New Zealand, Norway, Ontario (Canada) and the United Kingdom, South Africa would thus benefit from a vast pool of expertise assembled at the Workshop, and no doubt visiting delegates would also benefit from our own experience and expertise.
The President of the International Ombudsman Institute (also the National Ombudsman of the Netherlands), Mr Marten Oosting, as well as the Vice President (also Investigator-General of Zambia), Judge Florence Mumba, would be attending. One of the objectives of the International Ombudsman Institute is to promote the concept of Ombudsmanship, inter alia by arranging conferences like the present one. In view of the fact that the concept is relatively new in South Africa, it was thought fit to offer the opportunity to South Africa to have the Workshop in Pretoria. It is providing the Public Protector the perfect opportunity to forge international relations also in the field of Ombudsmanship.
Definition of the Office of Ombudsman, as complied by the International Bar Association:
An office provided for by the constitution or by action of the legislature or parliament ad headed by an independent, high level public official who is responsible to the legislature or parliament, who receives complaints from aggrieved persons against government agencies, officials and employees or who acts on his own motion, and who has the power to investigate, recommend corrective action, and issue reports.
The South African Office of Public Protector complies with this definition in all respects.
INQUIRIES: ANITA BASSON, SOUTH AFRICAN COMMUNICATION SERVICES TELEPHONE (012) 314-2169
22 August 1996