Public Service Commission 2002/03 Report; Interim Management Team Progress Report

Meeting report

PUBLIC SERVICE AND ADMINISTRATION PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE
30 January 2004
PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION 2002/03 REPORT; INTERIM MANAGEMENT TEAM PROGRESS REPORT

Chairperson: Mr P Gomomo (ANC)

Relevant Documents
Presentation on Annual Report of the Public Service Commission 2002/2003
Reflection on the work of the Interim Management Team in the Eastern Cape
Department of Public Service and Administration Anti-Corruption Unit information
For Dept of Public Service and Administration Annual Report 2002/3, go to www.dpsa.gov.za
For Public Service Commission Annual Report 2002/3, go to: www.psc.gov.za

Public Service Commission delegation:
Prof S Sangweni, Chairperson; Mr J Ernstzen, Deputy Chairperson; Mr M Sikhosana, Director General; Ms O Ramsingh, Deputy Director General and Prof R Levin, Deputy Director General

Department of Public Service and Administration delegation: Mr R Kitshoff, Manager: Public Services Anti-corruption Unit and Ms V Motalane, Interim Management Team Co-ordinator

SUMMARY
The Committee was briefed by the Public Service Commission on its Annual Report 2002/03. The Commission highlighted that it had been able to reduce the surplus on its budget expenditure from 2% in 2001/02 to 1% in 2002/03 plus the Auditor General's Report on the Commission for the year ended 31 March 2003 was unqualified.

Members raised concerns about public servants retiring due to ill-health and being re-employed elsewhere, disciplinary proceedings involving financial misconduct and the status of foreign affairs officers within the public service. In reply to a question, the Committee was informed that the minimum requirements for setting up anti-corruption units within departments must be implemented by 1 July 2004.

The Interim Management Team gave a briefing on the progress in its intervention in the Eastern Cape following allegations of misuse of government funds in some of the provincial departments. The intervention has cost the national department about R35 million.

MINUTES
Annual Report of the Public Service Commission 2002/2003
Mr M Sikhosana (Director General) pointed out that the three performance areas which the Commission traditionally carried would change on 1 April 2004 as a result of the passing of Resolution 7. Two new areas for the Commission would be a monitoring and evaluation programme and an investigation programme.

Prof R Levin (Deputy Director General) gave a presentation on both the Administration as well as Good Governance and Service Delivery programmes of the Commission. Points highlighted were:
- The Commission had been able to reduce the surplus on their budget expenditure from 2% in 2001/02 to 1% in 2002/03.
- The Auditor-General Report for year ended 31 March 2003 was unqualified.
As the result of its Good Governance and Service Delivery programme, the Commission has been able to promote professional ethics and risk management within the public service. Several special investigations were conducted and the necessary support given to ensure improvement on service delivery (see presentation for details).

Ms O Ramsingh (Deputy Director General) spoke on the Human Resource Management And Labour Relations programme. The aim of this programme is to ensure that public service structures are in compliance with constitutional principles. Part of the function of this programme is to ensure that government policies on transformation are adhered to see presentation for details).

Discussion
Mr M Kgwele (ANC) asked why women involvement in labour relations structures is minimal. His concern was that people should not be involved in senior management structure but be excluded from decision-making processes relating to those structures. He asked if the absence of performance management systems has any significant impact on the non-development of workers and if so, what can be done to ensure that they are put in place.

Ms Ramsingh replied that a report on this has been prepared and would be submitted to the Committee in due course. One of recommendations in the report is the need to improve senior management commitment since without that the public service would not prosper. The report also recommends that a policy for this be formulated and how it should be implemented and reviewed on a regular basis. She acknowledged that while efficiency indeed supplements discipline there is little record of inefficiency at this stage. They would have to increase their focus around efficiency and where necessary ensure that inefficiency proceedings are instituted.

Ms M Mentor (ANC) noted that while the report analyses the study by the Commission on the performance management system, it does not explicitly state what should be done thereafter.

Ms Ramsingh replied that in most of their reports on human resources, especially where management having fallen short, they always strongly recommend the senior management service handbook as the guideline. This handbook contains guidelines on how to deal with cases of inefficiency, incompetence and poor management in general.

Mr T Abrahams (ANC) noted that while it is appreciated that the middle managers - those occupying the deputy directorship in levels 11 and 12 - are well within the required qualification levels, however, one would like to know about their competency.

Ms Ramsingh acknowledged that there is a problem in the public service around the issues of performance management systems, hence they always recommended the Senior Management Service handbook to all Senior Management Service staff.

Mr R Mohlala (ANC) noted the challenges facing the Commission and proposed that legislation which would have the power to direct all public service entities to take the Commission's recommendations into account, be considered as a possibility.

Mr Sikhosana replied that 90% of the Commission's recommendations, which were implementable, were implemented by the departments. Those which were not implemented either fell outside that department's scope or were of a constitutional nature.

Mr Kgwele scorned those people who retired due to ill-health and then re-applied to be re-employed in the public service or work in the private sector and while so employed continued to milk the public money. Such actions are both morally and legally inexcusable. Something had to be done about this since this conflicts with the spirit of moral regeneration, which is the backbone of democracy.

Mr J Ernstzen (PSC: Deputy Chairperson) acknowledged that it is really improper to allow people to suck government coffers while being employed elsewhere. While he was not in a position to comment on the legal steps that should be taken against the perpetrators, however there were processes in place in order to curb this behaviour.

Mr Mohlala noted that certain entities such as the Water Boards, while having a public entities element, are excluded from the jurisdiction of the Public Enterprises Department. Even though these entities had their own enabling legislation, he felt that they should be held accountable to the general public like all other public entities.

Prof Sangweni replied that it is important that the term public entity parastatal be linked to the Constitution especially Chapter 10 which requires that all public administration should be governed by the democratic values enshrined in the Constitution as well as in its Section 40 on Cooperative Government. Since it is the responsibility of the Public Service Commission to ensure that these constitutional values are implemented by all public service entities then all parastatal entities are presupposed to fall under the Commission's jurisdiction.

Mr Mohlala made reference to the irregular functioning of the internal audit committee.

Ms M Mentor (ANC) expressed disappointment that the Commission's internal audit committee had met only once throughout the financial year, while the Commission on the other hand lamented about poor record-keeping in the public service. She objected to the proposal that the internal auditing function of the committee be outsourced noting that this proposal might not be in line with the Public Finance Management Act.

Prof Levin acknowledged that this is a crisis but assured the Committee that steps are being taken to ensure that the Audit Committee does in future meet on a regular basis. However he said that it is important that one should distinguish between the Audit Committee and the audit function. Then one would realise that it is only the internal audit function that has been outsourced and this has the support of the Auditor General since it increases the independence of the Audit Committee's function.

Ms Mentor requested the Commission to brief the Committee on this since she felt that outsourcing might result in the confidentiality of certain internal documents being compromised. She also proposed that the Commission should combine the gender and race statistics for personnel. She said it could be misleading showing statistics for women in general while it might in reality consist of women of only a particular race. She commended the Commission on its unqualified audit report. She raised concern about the cases of incompetence and said that incompetence is the worst form of misconduct which is often overlooked by the public service. She also referred to certain foreign affairs officials and asked the Commission to ensure that all public officials in the country are subject to one set of public service conditions of employment. She observed that few women and people with disability have been appointed to senior positions and asked for whom the mentoring and coaching programme was envisaged.

Ms Ramsingh replied that the reality is that coaching and mentoring are both non-existent in the public service. Hence the Commission is proposing that these be done, based on clear guidelines. In terms of those guidelines, the coaching and mentoring of both men and women should be based on the principle of equity.

Mr Abrahams noted that out of 434 reported cases of financial misconduct only 51% were sanctioned with dismissal and thus asked what had happened to the remaining 49%.

Mr Ernstzen replied that there was a variety of findings for the remaining 49% such as being found innocent, fined or warned. The Commission would give a detailed report to the Committee on this.

Mr Kgwele asked about the success of the Anti-Corruption Unit, especially its functioning within departments.

Mr R Kitshoff (Manager: Public Services Anti-corruption Unit) noted that there are minimum requirements that have been approved by Cabinet. All the departments are required to have implemented the requirements by 1 July 2004. Those departments which do not have the necessary capacity in place are in the process of doing so in order to meet the deadline. This level of readiness differs from department to department based on their size and infrastructure.

The Chair applauded the Commission on its well-prepared report. His comment about the challenges facing the Commission was that it was every member's responsibility to ensure that these challenges are overcome. An additional challenge that he would like included on the list is that certain people should be tasked with ensuring that all the recommendations made here are implemented.

The Chair apologised for having to depart at this stage. Mr Mohlala took over as chair.

Mr Ernstzen agreed with the Chair that the challenges facing the Commission should be treated as urgent as they have an impact on the service delivery within public service.

Prof S Sangweni (PSC: Chairperson) proposed that the concerns raised with regard to the Commission's findings on public servants retiring due to ill-health and being re-employed elsewhere, the disciplinary proceedings involving financial misconduct and the status of foreign affairs officers within the public service be referred to the relevant parliamentary committees and departments.

Reflection on the work of the Interim Management Team in the Eastern Cape
The Director General of the Department of Public Service and Administration, Mr Sikhosana, noted that a report had been presented in August 2003 . He called upon the manager of the DPSA Anti-Corruption Unit to brief the Committee on any new developments and the lessons learned by the Eastern Cape team.

Mr Kitshoff stated that the mandate given by Cabinet to the Interim Management Team deployed in the Eastern Cape was to ensure that sound management and leadership was provided in that province. There were about 55 people deployed by national government in the province, targeted especially in the Education, Health, Road and Public Works and Social Development departments. Much of the work has been completed by the Team and it is now in the last two phases of its programme. His presentation covered the IMT's turnaround strategy, looked at anti-corruption aspects, the progress of the departments, budget challenges, sustainability and the emerging lessons and themes (see document).

Discussion
Ms Mentor commented that from the report it seemed as if, out of these four departments, only the Health Department would be able to sustain itself after the team had left.

Mr Mohlala commented that the issues of logistical support and skills shortage must be addressed as these had an impact on service delivery. He asked how long the team would be in Eastern Cape.

The Director General replied that the team would remain in the province until Cabinet decides otherwise. The current agreement is that the team would be in Eastern Cape until the end of March. However they have compiled proposals on what should happen beyond March and one of these is to appoint an oversight body which would report regularly on the province.

Mr Kgwele noted that the Committee would have to be briefed by the team on its exit strategy and whether it is of the view that government can effectively manage Eastern Cape from the outside.

Ms Mentor asked if the IMT would consider its intervention successful and if so in which areas has service delivery improved since the intervention.

The Director General replied that the intervention in the Eastern Cape has not been a smooth one as it has been both emotionally and physically stressful for all those people involved in the process. There are many issues involved in service delivery such as recruitments, appointments, payment and other staff related matters, therefore it is not easy to identify improvements in service delivery. However there are pockets of improvement that could be clearly identified as the result of their intervention. Amongst these improvements are those relating to disciplinary cases, criminal prosecution, litigation costs, social development and pay-points and in other areas although one could not be sure that these improvements continue to run smoothly. The best thing would be for the Committee to invite the departments concerned to report to the Committee. The IMT had had total control over back office support, internal audit, financial delegations and other aspects were much improved. However when the responsibility for their implementation was shifted over to the provincial departments then the improvement lessened, especially in the Education Department.

Ms Mentor asked to what extent the ordinary people of Eastern Cape were involved in the formation and nature of the intervention, noting that they were there ones who were deprived services although it was due to them.

The Director General replied that as they were dealing with a crisis and the IMT was sent to sort it out and lay a foundation for the future. It was impossible for them to do the normal things that are done in the normal running of affairs. The intervention should be seen in the light of an emergency. A commander does not consult the forces when deploying forces in an emergency situation. Even if they were to consult and explain their good cause, it would not have made any difference as those affected would seek to save their own skins. This was evident from the call made by the Eastern Cape office of NEHAWU for its members to push the IMT out of the province.

Mr Kgwele noted that the team that was deployed in the Eastern Cape has to be commended for its sacrifice in the endeavor to improve service delivery. He referred to the problems people had to in the province to receive their social grants. Had the team attended to this problem and if so to what extent has the payment of social grants been improved. He asked what has been done to address the problem of inefficient managers. In a previous meeting he had raised a query about the non-payment of 6000 educators but this figure was denied by the team. He appealed for the team to be honest with the Committee since this figure had been confirmed by the MEC and later by a massive strike that had taken place in the province regarding the non-payment of teachers. He asked what the team has done to ensure that every public servant that goes to work is remunerated.

The Director General replied that there are mechanisms that have been put in place to arrest the backlog of claims for social grants that keep on coming every year. A forensic analysis has been done in the province's Social Development department and it was found that the service provider contract is very weak and as the result the department is unable to penalise the service provider. The department is not even in a position to meet its obligations under the contract. However the Head of Department has been charged and is under suspension for committing the State to a weak contract and going against the recommendations of the evaluation committee.

He continued that in the case of the Education Department, a study undertaken by Treasury shows that there are people who are paid more than once for the same claims. Some of these culprits are unionist members who are also vocal in marching against the department to resolve these claims. He called on the Committee to invite the Treasury to present this report since there is large scale fraud in these backlogs.

Mr Abrahams said that he believed that the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) system was a smooth one and asked what was meant about 'quick changes' in the system. The problem of shortage of senior management is not only affecting the Eastern Cape but the country as a whole and he asked for elaboration on the IMT's deployment strategies.

Mr Kitshoff noted that the team does not argue for a change in the MTEF but simply proposes that an intervention must be considered in the planning phase and budgeting phase. New mechanisms should also be considered to supplement those of the departments and thus afford the IMT an opportunity to do intervention where necessary without disturbing the normal functioning of departments

Mr Mohlala noted that since those national departments who have made deployments to the Eastern Cape would still be required to perform their ordinary duties at the end of the day then the Committee should be told about the financial implications of these deployments.

Mr Sikhosana said that the intervention has cost the national department about R35 million.

Mr Mohlala thanked both the PSC and the department for their insightful report and the meeting was adjourned.