Remuneration of CGE Commissioners; DWYPD BRRR

Meeting report

Opening comments
The Chairperson began by outlining the agenda for the meeting.

Report of the Portfolio Committee on Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities on the Draft Notice on the Determination of Remuneration of Independent Constitutional Institutions

After reading the report, Members agreed to the report and it was adopted.
Review and Recommendation Report of the Portfolio Committee on Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities
The Committee was then taken through the Budgetary Review Recommendation Report (BRRR) by Ms Kashiefa Abrahams, Committee Content Advisor, who read the entire BRRR and noted questions and comments along the way.

Ms N Sonti (EFF) commented on the long paid suspension of Commissioner Mbuyiselo Botha, Commissioner of the Commission for Gender Equality (CGE); why was the paid suspension so long? Usually, when a government official was placed on suspension, it was unpaid suspension. What made Commissioner Botha so special that he received paid suspension? He was suspended since August 2021 and has been receiving a full salary since, so much money was being wasted. Why was this allowed? How much money was he receiving? He was receiving a salary but not doing any work.

The Chairperson reminded all that Commissioner Botha appealed this case in court and this was the issue, then the court said he should return to work. The case was sent back and forth because due processes had to be done. It was unfair that he was still receiving a salary but was not doing any work due to suspension. The issue would continue to be prolonged because of the investigation process. This made it difficult for the Committee to plan anything. The Chairperson had already cried out that the Committee was being failed. She would ask the staff members to follow up on this issue. She reminded all of the questions she asked: why was Commissioner Botha representing CGE in an upcoming event when he was suspended?

Ms N Sharif (DA) commended the good report. She was grateful for the table which showed the reports which were completed and which still needed to be completed. She agreed that the suspension of Commissioner Botha was too long.

She commented with concern on the use of consultants. She compared the CGE with the Department; the former was able to reach all of its targets without any use of consultants while the latter made use of 116 consultants but achieved few targets. This did not make sense to her; people were not doing their work. This posed a danger to the Department, this was unacceptable and the Committee should put pressure to have this issue resolved.

The Chairperson noted that they never received a satisfactory answer on the high use of consultants from the Department. The Director-General of the Department was emotional at this point and her emotions did not give the Committee any answers. The Committee was still in the dark in this regard. Most of the work was done by the consultants. Perhaps the report could capture that the high use of consultants needed to be further investigated and the Minister should follow up on this?

Ms Sharif suggested that they include a skills audit to see what the Department workers were doing.

The Chairperson agreed on this. Why did they need 116 consultants?

Ms F Masiko (ANC) agreed they needed to make a comparison because the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) also reported using no consultants. This issue has been reflected in all the reports over the years. Some of the work done by consultants needed to be done by the Department employees. Members should be hard on the Department and not let them off the hook.

The Chairperson echoed the previous comments. With such a high number of consultants, there should be results produced, but this was not the case.

Ms Sharif suggested that they explicitly state in the report that most of the work was being done by the consultants.  

Ms Abrahams recalled a skills audit being conducted in 2019, but how was this skills audit being conducted? There should be less reliance on consultants. One applied for a job based on their skills. They should do another skills audit to avoid using consultants. She would write all this down in the report.

Consequence management continued to be a problem. Perhaps this had something to do with why they used so many consultants. What were the Department officials doing? She then asked Ms Tasneem Matthews, Committee Researcher, if there needed to be any more additions.

Ms Matthews said she did not think anything else could be added.

The Chairperson suggested that they write about the high use of consultants and that National Treasury should look into this.

Ms Sharif agreed to the aforementioned suggestion. It was a concern that people were being paid and receiving bonuses but not doing any work. Evidence-based reports and planning were important. There had been no results since 2019, and this was a huge issue.

The Chairperson added that all the promises that the Department made about legislation remained unfulfilled.

Ms Abrahams noted down all the Members’ aforementioned suggestions. She recalled that National Treasury actually advised against the use of consultants. She asked if they should add a timeframe? She noted the Committee’s resolution to write to National Treasury about this matter.

Ms Sharif suggested that they make note that the suspension of Commissioner Botha was longstanding and very costly. This was very frustrating; the Committee still had not received the completed handbook of the CGE.
They needed to find a way to hold Commissioners accountable when they did not perform their responsibilities.

Ms Abrahams mentioned that it was important to not include names in the BRRR, to avoid a lawsuit, but the nanes would be included in the meeting minutes.

Ms Sharif was sure that they asked the CGE to provide a report on this, but they failed to do this.

Ms Abrahams said she recalled someone named Tamara giving a report in the previous year on all the plenaries. This was already reported on.

The Chairperson added that the report should cover all the committees including sub-committees.

Ms Abrahams noted that the Committee requested information in the past but did not receive it. The CGE needed to exhaust all its internal processes and implement action, then report to the Committee. This was a cycle they could not get out of.

Ms Sharif suggested the Committee note that the CGE should provide all outstanding reports.

Ms B Marekwa (ANC) suggested they add that the reports should be written by the Commissioners who were all-knowing and all-understanding before being submitted to the Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA). She suspected that something was amiss with the CGE.

Although the NYDA had a good report, it was still important for them to take seriously the recommendations made to them by the Committee.

The Chairperson clarified that when they met with the CGE, the chairperson was discussing the issue of 100 hours work for part-time Commissioners. The AGSA found that they were not at fault, although they were blamed. The fault was within the CGE. The Committee could ask the CGE to resolve this matter within a given timeframe.
 
Ms Abrahams noted all of this.

The Chairperson noted that all their recommendations were clear. She was hopeful of the future with regard to the CGE. She requested Ms Abrahams to provide an update on Commissioner Botha once she received an update.

Ms Masiko complimented the research team for the good work they had done.

Thereafter, the BRRR was adopted with Ms Sharif reserving her right until the BRRR could be presented to her caucus.

Read adopted report here https://pmg.org.za/tabled-committee-report/5508/

Closing comments
The Chairperson thanked all for their time and participation. The work that the Committee did was important and necessary; it was all for a good cause and to ensure that oversight was done thoroughly. This was the Committee’s last BRRR. Their good work would assist the incoming Committee. She thanked the staff members for their efforts; they made the Committee shine and work with ease. She did not feel embarrassed by the staff members. She had been fighting for the staff members to receive bonuses; hopefully, this would happen soon.

Consideration of Committee minutes
Minutes dated 29 September 2023

The minutes were considered and adopted.

Minutes dated 10 October 2023

The minutes were considered and adopted.

Minutes dated 13 October 2023

The minutes were considered and adopted.

Minutes dated 17 October 2023

The minutes were considered and adopted.

The meeting was adjourned.