Thank you. 

On the ombuds office issue, I don't think the recommendations for maintaining the independence of ombuds are sufficient. I think the report equates independence and neutrality, but they are not the same thing and I don't see recommendations for maintaining neutrality. 

One of the recommendations is to have a 5-year fixed term contract with one year probation. I think this recommendation is inspired by  how judges receive remuneration (give them a life long contract), and the rationale behind it might be that by  giving ombuds a  fixed contract of five years, they are put in a vacuum isolated from any economic incentive to affect their decision. I don't think that can work here with the ombuds office. I believe the ombuds office should be an external office and should not consist of just one person to resolve disputes but there should be multiple ombuds available. The source of revenue of one person should not be reliant on the ombuds contract. Moreover, mingling and hanging out with the community members can certainly affect the neutrality of the ombuds, or it might appear to the community as such. I don't see any recommendations about how to avoid that in this document. 

I won't be in Johannesburg, so would be grateful if you could take my comments into consideration when discussing the ombuds office.