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Newly appointed CSOS Chief Ombud, Adv. Boyce Mkhize, champions service excellence, industry intelligence and accountability in engagement with stakeholders

Centurion, 20 April 2021: The newly appointed Chief Ombud of the Community Schemes Ombud Service, Adv. Boyce Mkhize engaged with industry bodies and internal stakeholders on value adding initiatives to take the CSOS mandate to a modern, digitally responsive, customer service and excellence-oriented value proposition.

Appointed effectively on 01 April 2021, his message is that there needs to be accountability and action. “Shoulders to the wheel, it’s important to continue to partner on issues that affect the different types of community schemes, to learn from each other and to solve the myriad of challenges faced by property owners, executives, managers and agents alike. My commitment is to build a body of knowledge that serves the best interest of all,” says the new Chief Ombud.

Adv. Mkhize met with employees of the CSOS, representatives of the National Association of Managing Agents, the Association of Residential Communities, and the Residential Community Council.

Key amongst the discussions were the following issues:

• The need for continued and sustained mutual collaboration.
• A commitment to the pursuit of conciliation and adjudication processes underlined by reasonableness, fairness, objectivity, independence, and justice on the part of CSOS in carrying out its mandate.
• A renewed commitment to improving efficiencies and speedy, yet qualitative conciliation and adjudication services.
• The creation of a body of knowledge on emerging trends and lessons to be learnt from previous adjudication orders which must be aligned with the respective pieces of legislation. To this end the CSOS is aware that certain orders may have conflated jurisdictional issues in terms of applicable legislation and to this end, the CSOS has resolved to set a new path for quality assurance in respect of adjudication orders so that these are appropriately aligned with the applicable legislative and regulatory frameworks.
• The CSOS is also aware that there are concerns amongst industry players regarding the management of funds/levies that the CSOS organisation administers. As a schedule 3A public entity, the CSOS is subject to intense scrutiny in terms of the PFMA and the Office of the Auditor-General standards. Reporting documents on performance against annual targets and revenue management are freely available on the CSOS website www.csos.org.za or info@csos.org.za . These will reveal that other than the issue of under-collection of revenue, there are no significant control issues or irregularities.

Adv. Boyce Mkhize is an admitted Advocate of the High Court of South Africa. Prior to joining the CSOS, he served as CEO of various state-owned regulatory entities such as the Health Professions Council of South Africa, the National Nuclear Regulator of South Africa and Mpumalanga Economic Growth Agency. He also served in senior positions in Government driving transformation policy development initiatives. Adv. Mkhize has also served as a Forensic Investigation Specialist and a human rights lawyer.

For enquiries:
Doniah Motsoeneng doniah.motsoeneng@csos.org.za

About the CSOS
The CSOS was established in terms of the Community Schemes Service Act, 2011 (Act 9 of 2011) to regulate the conduct of parties within community schemes and to ensure their good governance. Community Schemes are defined in the CSOS Act as “living arrangements where there is shared use of and responsibility for land/buildings such as sectional title, homeowners ’associations, retirement housing schemes, share block companies and housing cooperatives.”

The CSOS came into operation with a mandate to:

• Provide a dispute resolution service;
• Provide training for conciliators, adjudicators, and other employees of the CSOS;
• Regulate, monitor and quality assure scheme governance documentation; and
• To take custody of, preserve and provide public access electronically or by other means to scheme governance documentation.

In terms of the CSOS Act, all community schemes must be registered with the CSOS. To find out more www.csos.org.za