Question NW861 to the Minister of Higher Education and Training
11 April 2018 - NW861
Van der Westhuizen, Mr AP to ask the Minister of Higher Education and Training
(1)What were the details of the decisions by the board of the National Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences that detemined (a) their remuneration and/or allowances, (b) claims for expenditure incurred and (c) any other specified benefits and support enjoyed by board members over the previous three financial years; (2) were any benefits and/or support given to members that were not covered by board decisions, such as office space and support with travel arrangements; if so, what was the (a) nature and (b) extent of the benefits?
Reply:
The National Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences (NIHSS) has provided the following responses.
1. (a) The Board was appointed on 27 March 2014. At that stage, the NIHSS was a new organisation and did not have policies and procedures in place. The remuneration of the Board members was therefore aligned to the “2014 Remuneration of Board Members” circular, Category A, Sub-category A2, which indicates that a daily rate of R3 648 shall be paid to the Chairperson and R2 880 to ordinary members. These rates were lowered to R3 500 for the Chairperson and R2 500 for ordinary members.
(b) Claims for expenditure for board members are reimbursed provided it was incurred for the business purposes related to the NIHSS.
(c) There were no specific benefits that accrued to board members, other than
re-imbursement of travel/subsistence or expenditure incurred while carrying out the duties of the NIHSS.
2. Yes.
(a) Office space was provided for meetings held by board members on the NIHSS premises. This was for carrying out the duties of the NIHSS.
(b) This was limited to instances for carrying out the duties of the NIHSS.