Question NW561 to the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services

Reply:

a) The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development embarked on a process of reprioritizing vacant posts in line with the National a) Treasury Instruction No. 2 of 2016/17 issued on 30 September 2016 and Notice 3 of 2017/18 published on 15 May 2017 as a result of the Cost Containment Measures (reduction of wage bill). The overall vacancy rate, as at 31 March 2020, was at 14% which translates to 2 567 vacant posts. However, after the reprioritization process, the vacancy rate of critical posts stood at 6.6%, which translates to 1 118 critical vacant posts.

b) (i) Regarding the number of critical posts which are vacant, Human Resources Management indicates that there are 1 118 vacant critical posts on PERSAL.

(ii) There are 44 Senior Management Services (SMS) vacant positions, which translates to a 25% SMS vacancy rate.

(iii) The information regarding vacant Senior Management Services’ posts and where acting appointments have been made, is as follows:

• Acting Chief Master: Mrs T Bezuidenhout has been appointed until 30 June 2020;
• Acting Deputy Director-General: Corporate Services: Mr D Mpholo has been appointed until 30 June 2020;
• Acting Director: Human Resources Customer Management Centre: Ms N Jacobs until 30 June 2020;
• Acting Director: Employee Relations: Mr T Sadiki until 30 June 2020;
• Acting Director-General: Advocate JB Skosana was appointed until 31 July 2020 –
• Acting Chief State Law Advisor: Advocate SM Masapu has been appointed until 30 June 2020;
• Acting Head of Justice College: Advocate B Makhene-Gadini has been appointed until 30 June 2020;
• Acting Regional Head: Western Cape: Mr R Isaacs has been appointed until 30 June 2020;
• Acting Regional Head: Mpumalanga: Mr P M Mthimunye has been appointed until 30 June 2020;
• Acting Regional Head: North-West: Mr J Makutle has been appointed until 30 June 2020.

(iv) (aa) There are 151 vacant posts at Offices of the State Attorney, wherein 58 vacant posts have been reprioritized as critical, which translates to a 7.1% vacancy rate.

(bb) The numbers of vacancies at the Masters’ Office, are as follows:

There are currently 156 vacant posts in the Masters’ Office, 79 of which became vacant as from 1 April 2018. This translates to a vacancy rate of

12.1%.

Furthermore, the following SMS positions have been advertised for filling:

(i) Chief Master: Advertised on 29 November 2019 and re-advertised on 20 January 2020. Process to fill the post, has commenced.

(ii) Deputy Director-General: Corporate Services: Advertised on 29 November 2019. Process to fill the post, has commenced.

(iii) Director: Employee Relations: Advertised on 20 January 2020. The post has been filled by transfer from the Department of Correctional Services.

(iv) Director-General of the DoJ&CD: Advertised on 20 January 2020, and awaiting the Presidency’s permission to go ahead with the filling of the post.

(v) Chief State Law Advisor: Advertised on 23 March 2020.

I further wish to inform the Honourable Member that I regard the filling of these vacant senior management services’ posts as crucial. The Acting Director-General has appointed a designated official in his office to accelerate the filling of these posts and co-ordinate the process of reviewing the organizational structure of the Department, in consultation with my office, the relevant Managers of the Branches concerned, and the Human Resources Management unit. The advertising and filling of vacant posts will be done in compliance with the Department of Public Service and Administration Circular No. 19 of 2020, dated 14 May 2020.