The office of the Ombudsman for the City of Johannesburg was established in terms of the Office of the Ombudsman By-law. This By-law was developed in response to the Gauteng Development Strategy 2040 goals of creating a responsive accountable, efficient and productive City. We are an office of last instance. This means that residents may approach our office, only after they have exhausted all official channels of the City to resolve disputes.

Our purpose is to contribute towards accelerating service delivery and promoting human rights by investigating complaints and maladministration to improve confidence and accountability in the City of Johannesburg that works for its citizens. Part of our mandate as the Office of the Ombudsman is to promote Human Rights within the City.
This Involves:

• Educating our residents on their rights
• Addressing and reporting on human rights violations
• Raising awareness and vocalising any unacceptable treatment of residents, to curb such practices within communities

The objective of the Office of the Ombudsman is to ensure that all complaints relating to alleged acts of maladministration or where members of the public are alleged to have suffered an injustice as a result of such maladministration are investigated and dealt with in a proper manner. Further objectives are to ensure that the City provides efficient and courteous service to the public and treats people with dignity, honesty and integrity at all times. The Office of the Ombudsman will assist in preserving and promoting compliance with all resolutions, policies and by-laws which govern the municipality and which detail directly or indirectly the services rendered to the public, thereby ensuring the rights of the public are protected. The Office of the Ombudsman will be instrumental in developing awareness of human rights among the residents of the city, engage in studies on human rights and make recommendations to the City Manager and Executive Mayor to enhance the promotion of human rights in the city.

• Complaint Form,
• And Copy Of ID (of the complainant who is the registered property owner),
• And Power of Attorney, (if complainant is a representative and NOT the property owner),
• And Utility Bills / Statements,
• And any correspondence between yourself and the referred city department in resolving the matter. (Reference numbers, officials names, etc.)