SA Management Development Institute on Service Delivery Projects; HIV/AIDS; Human Resource Development Policy: briefing

Meeting report

PUBLIC SERVICE AND ADMINISTRATION PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE
12 June 2002
SOUTH AFRICAN MANAGEMENT DEVELOPMENT INSTITUTE ON SERVICE DELIVERY PROJECTS; HIV/AIDS; HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT POLICY: BRIEFING

Chairperson: Mr PJ Gomomo

Relevant Documents
South African Development Management Institute
Mitigating the Impact of HIV/AIDS on the Public Service

SUMMARY
South African Management Training Institute briefed the Committee on Service Delivery Projects and training of trainers. SAMDI discussed its HIV/Aids policy and Human Resource Development policy for public service. SAMDI informed the committee of progress it had made in the Department of Education in Limpopo province which included problems faced, strategies applied to each problem, challenges problems posed and achievements.

MINUTES
Director General, Mr J Mogroro, led delegation from South African Management Training Institute (SAMDI) which included Ohara Deseko (Human Resource Development), Tshidi Masutha (Change Management & Leadership Development), Jan Strydom (Provisioning Administration Training) and Corrie Smit (Employment Practice and Career Management)

Ms Ohora Diseko briefed the Committee on Individual Performances.Ms Tshidi Masutha presented Change Management & Leadership Development. Mr Jan Strydom briefed the committee on Provisioning Administration Training. Mr C Smit presented on mitigating the impact of HIV/AIDS on the Public Service.

Please refer to attached slide presentations.

Discussion
Mr L Kgwele (ANC) noted that the provincial government was less prepared to implement policies on HIV/AIDS. What was being done about this? He recalled recently a reported case in Kwazulu Natal where a teacher, after disclosing her HIV/AIDS status got fired by the school principal. What was being done to rectify the inability of middle manager to interpret policies. He noted the intervention in the department of education in the Limpopo Province had registered progress. Was there progress in other provinces also?

Mr B Douglas (IFP) asked Corrie Smit when the report on the impact of HIV/AIDS in the public service was going to be released? He noted that when Mr Smit was making his presentation, he neglected to mention the issue of medical aid to public servants. How would staff be motivated to find out their HIV/AIDS status if they were not going to get medication?

On the issue of losing skills to the private sector, he suggested minimising bargaining powers of unions and allowing skilled staff to bargain directly with management.

On the issue of HIV/AIDS he said the province was eager to be on board in implementing these policies and this has resulted in great progress in the province.

Mr Smit said it should be noted that not all the HIV/AIDS interventions pilot projects were driven by the department of Public Service and Administration, the department of Health led some of these projects. The Health department had already identified other provincial departments such as the Eastern Cape. Other projects were dependent on the good goodwill of the private sector.

Mr Smit replied to the question of HIV/AIDS report being released by saying their focus was on what should be done with the problem now and not to concentrate on projections.
The department was involved in a fact finding process on HIV/AIDS in the departments.

On the issue of access to medication he said there was an intention from the department to broaden access to medication for all public servants. Currently there are medical aid packages available to public servants. He also informed that members of negotiations taking place between the department and unions on setting up a fund for people infected and those affected with the pandemic.

On the issues of scarce skills leaving the public sector for the private sector Ohora Diseko said the Department was embarking on a holistic approach in trying to keep these skills from being snatched. She said these included looking at salaries, qualifications, willingness to serve, benefits.

On the issue of the progress in Limpopo province Mr Strydom said that managers in that province attended the courses provided by the Public Services Administration department and these were correctly implemented to the staff.

Mr Douglas raised a concern that his question on the release of the HIV/AIDS report was not addressed.

Mr Smit said he had answered Mr Douglas question, when he gave a holistic answer on how the department was dealing with the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the various departments.

Mr B Mthembu (ANC) asked the delegation how success in the service delivery was going to be achieved if there was a not clear delineation of staff duties. How were the strategies on HIV/AIDS and other problems were going to be achieved?

Mr Makgolo said it should be noted that all the departments have problems of people assigned to duties they do not qualify to perform and being 'mismatched'.

Mrs Diseko stated that service delivery correlated with the increase in service delivery courses requested by the various departments. Due to major constraints in terms of the time she was given to make the presentation she was unable to deal effectively with this issue.
One of the major means in achieving success in these strategies is the Skills Development Program, Learnerships, Internships, and the PSETA work place skills plans.

She said, as one of the indicators determining the success of their strategies would be an increase in demand of their delivery course from the various departments. If a particular department requested for more courses SAMDI would ask for feed back indicator.

Mr Strydom said SAMDI conducted a survey on individual performance in department education in the Limpopo province and found that in many cases there was simply no career path and this resulted in the moral of the workforce being low. However after introducing a clear policy plan on individual development to the workforce the staff had shown greater commitment to service delivery. This was not unique to the department of education in Limpopo but was the case in 99% of the entire departments that they worked with nation-wide.

The Chairperson of the committee invited SAMDI to make another presentation, in particular on how they were dealing with the question of HIV/AIDS in the public service.

The meeting was adjourned.