UCT Ombud
Portfolio: Zetu Makamandela-Mguqulwa
A university Ombud is a designated neutral or impartial dispute resolution practitioner whose major function is to provide confidential and informal assistance to members of the university community, including students and staff. The role of the Ombud has a long and honourable tradition as a safeguard against abuse, bias and other improper treatment or unfairness. The Ombud deliberately assumes a neutral position with respect to the individual as well as the university.
The Ombud operates independently of the university's authority structures and is accountable to the university Council and reports to the Chair of Council. The Ombud also provides the Vice-Chancellor with regular reports, but these will be based on anonymous aggregate data to maintain confidentiality.
In this position, Zetu Makamandela-Mguqulwa will be an advocate for fairness, acting as a source of information and referral; aiding in answering an individual's questions; and assisting in the resolution of concerns and critical situations. She will be available to receive and attempt to resolve individual complaints and grievances of members of the university community; and to recommend procedural changes within the university in response to experience acquired in dealing with individual cases.
In considering any given issue or concern, the rights of all parties that might be involved are taken into account. The office of the Ombud supplements, but does not replace, the university's existing resources for conflict resolution.
Profile
Before taking office at UCT on 1 January 2011, Makamandela-Mguqulwa was a Change Management Specialist at PetroSA - the oil company created through the merger of Mossgas, Soekor and the Strategic Fuel Fund. Since 2007 she led projects and influenced policies to help unite the workforce from these three companies into a single entity. She also provided counsel on transformation and change at all levels, including the executive level of PetroSA.
Makamandela-Mguqulwa earned a Bachelor of Social Sciences (Hons) and a Masters in Social Sciences at UCT and she served as Transformation Co-ordinator at the Faculty of Health Sciences between 2003 and 2006. In this capacity she also acted as Ombud for staff and students.
She also has experience in managing cultural diversity, counselling and team leadership at Intech, where she was a Distant Learning Guide and Lecturer. She was the Founder and Principal Consultant at Mindshift, where she led interventions and activities to help organisations such as BP-SA and Cape Peninsula University of Technology to bring their respective staff members through times of cultural change.
Contact
Physical address:
Old Staff Cottages
Lovers Walk
Lower Campus (directly opposite the School of Dance)
Rondebosch
Zetu Makamandela-Mguqulwa
Tel: 021 650 4805
Link
Monday Paper article
14 March 2011