Question NW2502 to the Minister of Public Service and Administration

Reply:

1. Subsequent to the reply to question 152 on 7 April 2021, a Circular HRD031 was sent to all Heads of Departments requesting them to verify the qualifications of their Senior Management Service (SMS) members and to update information on the PERSAL system. Verification of this information is done by departments.

As a results of information relayed in the Circular, the number of SMS members who do not have the requisite qualifications for the position they currently occupy, went down from 35% to 27.29 % by July 2021, and further to 26% by 31 October 2021. This is because, as stated before, there might be SMS members who do possess proper qualifications but such are not reflected on the PERSAL system.

1. (a) & (b) Information received from departments pointed to the fact that Departments are not regularly information on PERSAL resulting in incomplete information. It was also revealed that some of the SMS members who were identified as not meeting minimum requirements became senior managers before the 2016 Public Service Regulations, as such they were complaint at the time of their joining the SMS.

The Circular to Heads of Departments to update PERSAL data has resulted in a steady improvement in capturing qualifications on the PERSAL system. At the moment there is no need identified to conduct any investigation into how the specified employees were recruited and employed at this stage.

The DPSA will continue to monitor the capturing of data on qualifications and such analysis will therefore inform a decision if any further investigations are warranted.

End