APPOINTMENT OF OMBUD FOR COMMUNITY SCHEMES

APPOINTMENT OF OMBUD FOR COMMUNITY SCHEMES

Category Newsletter: Lead Article

It has been reported in the Saturday Star (18 October 2014) that Mr Themba Mthethwa has been appointed as Chief Ombud of the Community Scheme Ombud Service.  Mr Mthethwa was the former Chief Executive of the Public Prosecutors Office.

This will enable owners of schemes to have a dispute resolution mechanism although at this stage, no information on the costs have been given for an individual dispute but the Act does indicate that the funds of this service will be –

1. money appropriated by Parliament;
2. levies collected from community schemes with the approval of the Minister;
3. fees for services rendered based on cost recovery.

From the aforegoing it does seem like all schemes are going to have to contribute by way of some sort of levy for the operation of this office. At this stage there has been no indication when this service will be up and running although we do anticipate that this is going to take some time as a  formal office has to be set up , staff employed etc. We will keep our clients updated on progress.

Author: Wakefields Property Management