Interim Management Team on Eastern Cape: briefing

Meeting report

PUBLIC SERVICE AND ADMINISTRATION PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE
14 August 2003
INTERIM MANAGEMENT TEAM ON EASTERN CAPE: BRIEFING

Chairperson: Mr P J Gomomo (ANC)

Documents handed out
Interim Management Team Report

SUMMARY
The Interim Management Team presented the report on its work in the Eastern Cape. The Committee heard that unions continued to have undue influence over managers and their decisions. There were very high cases of corruption in the province. The Interim team reported the existence of a culture of ill-discipline and acceptance of poor work ethics manifest in such behaviour as absenteeism and demanding overtime for work that should be done in office hours, accentuated by lack of vigorous management responses. The committee commended the work of the task team but expressed deep concern over the sustainability of the reform agenda once the team's mandate expired.

MINUTES
Interim Management Team
The Interim Management Team consisted of the Director General, Department of Public Service Administration; Director General, (Office of Public Service Commission) OPSC, Director General, Eastern Cape and Head of Department of Provinicial Treasury, in partnership with National Prosecuting Authority and other law enforcement agencies.

Mr Mpumelo Sikhosana , Director-General Public Service Administration, reported that the overall goal of the Interim Management Team (IMT) was to ensure that any service delivery backlogs were addressed and to establish sound management and leadership in Education, Health, Roads and Public Works and Social Developments. The Eastern Cape region - especially the eastern part of the region had suffered from a history of neglect noting that there was an over supply of planning activities that were not matched by implementation capacity. The study of the budgets did not indicate an immediate funding problem although a case could be made for historical backlogs. The region had a high dependency on government for socio-economic development. IMT's assessment was that a change in behavioural patterns was lacking and changes were critical for turn-around of the departments in this region.

Mr Sikhosana lamented that unions continued to have undue influence over managers and their decisions, especially in Education, but that the IMT had recognised that a fear factor was prevalent in some of these decisions. He said that very high levels of corruption were reported but with limited follow through action. He added that the culture of ill-discipline and acceptance of poor work ethics manifest in such behaviour as absenteeism and demanding overtime for work that should be done in office hours, accentuated by lack of vigorous management responses. He decried the prevalence of a culture of entitlement as epitomised by claims to overtime performance awards and backlog human resource payments. He reported that managers had a significant reliance on outsiders for work that was normal business and that the authority and power of the Tender Board far outweighed its level of accountability.

Discussion
Mr Sikakane (ANC) remarked that he was not surprised by the existence of corruption in the Eastern Cape government noting that a there was a fertile environment for the vice to flourish.

Mr Robinson Ramaite - Director General Public Works - concurred with Mr Sikakane that indeed weak systems led to corrupt practices noting that the task team's focus was on the administrative and disciplinary aspect of governance whilst the anti-corruption unit handled the criminal side.

Mr Kgwele (ANC) pointed out that corruption posed a huge challenge for the government.
He enquired if the task team had formed any partnership with the private sector to advance its objects. He noted that the involvement of SAMDI in skills development in the region appeared to be minimal.

Mr Ramaite explained that the task team was in the process of profiling competency structures before it could invite SAMDI to participate. The province was severely under-managed and that part of the problem was that the region was unable to attract skilled people. He noted that compared to other provinces the Eastern Cape had very few new entrants in its top management ranks and that in fact the few that were there were ageing fast.

Mr Kwele expressed concern that no follow-up structures were in place to monitor and ensure the implementation of the task team's work.

Mr Ramaite reported that indeed a lot of cynicism had already gripped the region and that people felt that all these efforts would come to naught once the teams' mandate ran out.. Some follow-up structures were necessary to sustain the pace of reform.

Mr Kgwele referred to the incidence of poor work ethics and the culture of impunity in the Eastern Cape and wondered whether the task team had learned any lessons in order to pick up early warning signs for decisive intervention in the future.

Mr Ramaite acknowledged the difficulty the government would face in sustaining the pace of reform in the province noting that at present about 5,000 people did not receive their grants in the province. The team was looking at ways and means to get things moving faster.

Mr Kgwele noted the presence of an anti-corruption unit in the task team and pointed out that it was important to set up a permanent structure. It had been reported that more than 6,000 educators had not been paid to-date. What was the situtation like with the task team on the ground.

Mr Ramaite dispelled rumours that more than 6,000 educators had not been paid noting that this rumour came about due to poor record keeping. Most claims were based on opportunism and explained that there were delays in releasing payments for teachers but that this issue had since been resolved.

Ms Mentor (ANC) suggested that the public service should be integrated in order to ensure a common approach to issue resolution.

Mr Ramaite revealed that the process of integrating the public service was at an advanced stage and that a report on the same would be released soon.

Ms Mentor asked if there was a buy-in of the task teams' work by the people on the ground.

Mr Ramaite replied that most people were supportive of the task teams' work save that those with disciplinary cases would do anything to sabotage the work of the team.

Ms Mentor asked to what extent the structure of the task team was gender balanced and if not what was being done to correct this imbalance.

Mr Ramaite acknowledged the importance of gender balance in the team's work and pointed out that women were driving health programs.

Ms Mentor said that it was important to have indicators both qualitative and quantitative for purposes of seeking quick resolutions to the governance issues in the province.

Mr Sikhosana pointed out that the task team had put together a detailed project plan which sets out outputs and that the same would be made available to members for scrutiny.

Ms Mentor asked if there were any politics involved in the task teams' work in the province, noting that it was important that the team did not omit certain areas for political reasons.

Mr Ramaite preferred to reserve his comments on this particular inquiry.

Dr. Roopnarain (IFP) asked how many disciplinary cases the task team had to handle so far.

Mr Ramite said that the team has so far handled 350 of the 400 pending disciplinary cases but shocked members when he said that a new backlog of 375 cases has been registered to-date.

Mr Ntuli (ANC) expressed concern at the sustainability of the teams' work once it vacates the province. What benchmarks had the task team set for its final exit?

Mr Ramaite explained that the work of the task team was based on the original mandate and that depending on the report it would submit to the executive, it would be decided whether or not it was necessary to extend this mandate to a further term. The team was trying to integrate these plans into the provincial programs for continuity purposes.

Mr Mkhaliphi (ANC) wanted a specification on the level of the reported absenteeism and whether this involved only the support staff or even doctors and nurses.

Mr Ramaite replied that the list on absenteeism was based on the study of one health institution and that he was not sure which category of health providers were involved.

Ms Kgoali (ANC) congratulated the team for an excellent report, which the team had managed to compile in a short space of time noting that the discovery was a clear indication of the government's commitment to redress the myriad problems in the province. She however reiterated concerns which members had expressed regarding the question of sustainability. She felt that trade unions were a problem when they worked together and advised the task team to engage them individually. She noted that the Department of housing had been left out of the equation and yet there were problems of delivery of houses in the province.

Mr Ramaite pointed out that the Department of Housing had been taken aboard save that it had not been covered in all the projects.

Ms Kgoali expressed concern that consultants were using up most of the provincial budget to the extent that no money was left for actual service delivery.

Mr Sikhosana said that the issue of use of consultants had been an ongoing debate only that it became too emotional thereby obscuring the underlying issues. The province had a very low investment in skills and that therefore it was forced to heavily rely on the input by consultants. He pointed out that some projects were for a very short space of time, which did not warrant setting up of permanent structures. The real issue was the capacity of departments to manage the services provided by consultants.

The Chair enquired about the budget implications of the task team's work. Who was funding the whole exercise?

Mr Sikhosana reported that the task team was holding meetings to tackle the question of budget.

The Chair pointed out that the task team was carrying out a very sensitive exercise. Had appropriate measures been put in place to guarantee their security?

Mr Ramaite said that the task team was working closely with various security apparatus and that they had been assured that the issue of their personal security had been addressed.

The Chair suggested that the task team indicate in their report the good lessons they had learned through this exercise. He pointed out that it was important to take this work to other provinces besides incorporating more departments that had similar operational problems.

Mr Sikhosana agreed that the management of departments remained a challenge but that appropriate measures were being put in place to address this particular challenge.

Mr Sikakane reiterated his earlier remarks to the effect that proper systems should be put in place to discourage and thereby eradicate the culture of corruption.

The meeting was adjourned.