Question NW4055 to the Minister of Public Service and Administration
02 January 2024 - NW4055
Gondwe, Dr M to ask the Minister of Public Service and Administration
(1)Whether the current Director-General (DG) of her department previously worked for Gauteng Provincial Government (GPG) before being appointed at her department; if so, who was the DG of her department at the time when the current DG was appointed as GPG Head of Department: Community Safety and Liaison; (2) whether a certain person (name and details furnished) had the relevant experience, knowledge or qualification in Human Resources to be appointed; (3) what has she found had been the performance of the Human Resources Management Department during the person’s tenure from 1 April 2022 to date; (4) whether the irregular appointment of the specified person was reported to the Public Service Commission; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details; (5) whether the irregular appointments were reported to the DG: Presidency; if not, why not; if so, what action has her department taken against these irregular appointments within the Office of the DG to date?
Reply:
(1) The current Director-General (DG) of the department previously worked for Gauteng Provincial Government (GPG) before being appointed at the department. The DG of the department at the time when the current DG was appointed as GPG Head of Department: Community Safety and Liaison was Professor Richard Levin.
(2) The person met the requirements as the person was appointed to act in terms of section 32 of the Public Service Act, which requires that the person so acting must have the knowledge, skills, behaviour and aptitude that the person can apply in the work environment, which indicates a person’s ability to meet the requirements for a specific post, to act in the post.
(3) The performance of the Branch had been suffering from limited capacity, organisational restructuring and a lack of leadership for some time.
This is demonstrated by the challenge to achieve a number of targets including a Jobs Competency Framework which has been due since 2018 and a Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) Policy for the Public Service which has been outstanding since the White Paper for Post -School Education and Training (WP PSET) was approved by Cabinet on 20 November 2013 which called for the "RPL to be prioritised” as well as the Directive on Mandatory in-service training for the public service which has also been outstanding since 2018. It should be noted that all the three targets that were not met, predated the appointment of the said acting person including the integrated HRM&D strategy and implementation plan which was due since 2019.
The attainment of 25% of Annual Performance Plan (APP) targets and 67% of their Annual Operational Plan (AOP) targets for the 2022/2023 performance cycle should be noted against this backdrop. Following the stabilization of the leadership of the HRMD Branch, as at the 2nd quarter of the 2023/2024 performance cycle, the Branch achieved 75% of the APP targets and 95% of the AOP targets.
(4) The specified person’s appointment was not irregular. The Department is aware that a complaint on the appointment of the specified person was reported to the Public Service Commission and is being investigated.
(5) The Department is not aware of any irregular appointment as no institution has pronounced on any illegality. Consequently, nothing has been reported to the DG: Presidency and no action was required or taken in this regard.
End