Questions and Replies

Reply:

(a)(b) Preparatory work towards the establishment of the Unit has started. Such work includes the appointment of an inter-disciplinary team, initiating a process to conduct a feasibility study which will include the development of a business model that provides for a service delivery model; funding arrangement for the Unit and the identification of relevant legislation that is likely to impact on the establishment of the Unit. All of this information will also inform the organisational form of the Unit.

Reply:

(1) and (2) The establishment and functioning of the Regulatory Institutions such as Technical Assistance Unit for Ethics, Integrity and Discipline Management, forms part of the implementation of the Public Administration Management Act (PAMA), 2014 of which the Department of Public Service and Administration is currently putting mechanisms in place, such as the Regulations to operationalize.

Preparatory work towards the establishment of the Unit has started. Such work includes the appointment of an inter-disciplinary team, initiating a process to conduct a feasibility study which will include the development of a business model that provides for a service delivery model; funding arrangement for the Unit and the identification of relevant legislation that is likely to impact on the establishment of the Unit. All of this information will also inform the organisational form of the Unit. Once established, the Unit will perform amongst others, the following functions:

• Provide technical assistance and support to institutions in all spheres of government regarding the management of ethics, integrity and disciplinary matters relating to misconduct in the public administration;

• Develop the norms and standards on integrity, ethics, conduct and discipline in the public administration;

• Build capacity within institutions to initiate and institute disciplinary proceedings into misconduct;

• Strengthen government oversight of ethics, integrity and discipline, and where necessary, in cases where systemic weaknesses are identified, to intervene;

• Promote and enhance good ethics and integrity within the public administration; and

• Cooperate with other institutions and organs of state to fulfil its functions.

Reply:

(a) Every five (5) years, the Department for Public Service and Administration conducts a Personnel Expenditure Review (PER) study to determine the status of remuneration matters in the Public Service.

(i) The last study was conducted in 2012.

(ii) The study found that employees on the lower salary levels, i.e. salary levels 1 to 10 compared favorably to the market median. However, employees remunerated on salary levels 11 to 16 compared below the acceptable range of the market median.

(iii) The Personnel Expenditure Review was distributed to all participatory stakeholders.

Reply:

(1) The Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) has not done studies comparing morale levels of staff in the public service with that of staff in the private sector.

However, the department is working with the Offices of the premier in all provinces and national departments in institutionalising the periodic assessments of employee morale/satisfaction in their respective provinces and sectors. The focus of the department currently is largely on building internal capacity within government departments by providing technical support, requisite tools and instruments for effective assessment of employee morale/satisfaction.

(2) Falls away.

Reply:

(1) The Minister for Public Service and Administration (MPSA) does not approve organisational structures of departments. The role of the MPSA during the consultation process is to monitor compliance by departments to the relevant organisational design prescripts. The relevant Executive Authorities (EAs) have the authority to approve the organisational structures of their departments after consultation with the MPSA.

The Northern Cape Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Education, submitted a consultation request on the proposed organisational structure to the MPSA on 21 February 2013. The MPSA, on 24 April 2014, concurred with the proposed organizational structure and requested the Department to correctly grade all newly created posts using the Equate Job Evaluation System and to ensure that sufficient funds are available over the medium term prior to commencing with the recruitment process.

(2) The Head of Department derives the necessary authority to approve appointments in his or her department in terms of the approved Delegations from the relevant Executive Authority (EA) to the Head of Department. The Delegations are issued in terms of the Public Service Act and Regulations.

The Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) supports departments in the development of their respective Delegations. However, for the period 2013 there was no obligation for departments to submit their approved set of Delegations to the DPSA, which maintain a register of departments’ Delegations.

(3) The Department of Public Service and Administration is not aware of the existence of the post of secretary general refer to in this question.

Reply:

(1) Where the employment is temporary in nature, the employee may be appointed under a special contract, on a casual basis or on a sessional basis.

In the Public Service, an employee is defined as a person contemplated in section 8 of the Public Service Act, 1994 (as amended). In terms of section 8(1) of the said Act, the Public Service shall consist of persons who are employed

(a) in posts on the establishment of departments; and

(b) additional to the establishment of departments.

Executive Authority (EA), in terms of section 9 of the Public Service Act, 1994, is vested with the powers to appoint any person in his or her Department in accordance with the Act and in such a manner and on such conditions as may be prescribed. In terms of the provisions of the Public Service Regulations 2001, an Executive Authority may appoint employees on a permanent or temporary basis, either full time or part time.

(a), (b) and (c) Persons appointed in terms of the aforesaid provisions of the Public Service Act, 1994 are employees irrespective of how their remuneration is structured.

It should be noted that the Public Service Act, 1994 is not the only legislative provision whereby departments can obtain the services of persons. In certain cases, other legislation also mandates departments to utilise/employ persons for specific needs, as may be prescribed. Whether persons not employed in terms of the Public Service Act, 1994 are employees or not will have to be derived from either the provisions of the specific legislation that mandates their employment or if no such specific legislation exists, from section 200A of the Labour Relations Act, 1995. (The latter contains general criteria whereby persons are to be deemed employees). Therefore individual departments will be best placed to answer the question pertaining to the utilisation/employment of a specific category of persons/employees in terms of the context outlined in this question.

(d) In terms of the provisions of the Public Service Regulations, an Executive Authority have the powers to determine the grade of a post and as far as possible the salary of a part-time, sessional or temporary employee should be set proportional to the salary of an equally graded full-time equivalent. Where the remuneration is determined on a basis other than job evaluation, the relevant department will be best placed to advise on the basis used to calculate the stipend.

(2) The Public Service Act, 1994, Chapter 2, section 3(5)(a) provides for departments to approach the Minister for a determination regarding the conditions of service of employees generally or categories of employees subject to the Labour Relations Act, 1995 and Collective Agreements.

Reply:

Yes. The National School of Government has developed and reviewed 27 training programmes that are unique to the needs of the public service.

(i) Relevant details of the specified training programmes are as follows:

(a) 2013-14

• Finance Management and Budgeting,
• Mentoring Support for Supervisors
• Support for the Transfer of Learning
• Re-orientation Programme, and
• Citizen Centred Service Delivery
• Review of CIP Module 4

(b) 2014-15

• Anti-corruption L4
• Anti-corruption L5
• Breaking Barriers to Entry into Public Service
• Compulsory Induction Programme for Levels 13-14
• Developing HRD Implementation Plans for the Public Service
• Disability management for Public Service
• Diversity Management
• Ethics
• Excellent Customer Care for Front Line Staff
• Executive Development Programme
• Gender Mainstreaming
• Grievance and Disciplinary Action Procedures
• Human Resource Monitoring and Evaluation
• Induction to Human Resource Management in the Public Service
• Investigating and presiding skills
• Lead Facilitator Development Programme for Citizen Centred Service Delivery
• Lead Facilitator Development Programme for Reorientation
• PAJA
• Recruitment and Selection in the Public Service Strategic HR Planning for the Achievement of Organisational Results.
• SCOA
• Training of Trainers Programme for the Public Service
• Use of Human Resource Management Information

ii) Number of public servants who have successfully completed the specified training programmes is 30358 in the financial year 2013/14, whilst 38307 public servants have completed their specified training programmes in the financial year 2014/15.

Reply:

1. The National School of Government anticipates that the backlog will be eliminated in 2018.
2. The National School of Government, in cooperation with the Department of Public Service and Administration and the National Treasury, ensured removal of PERSAL restriction to allow PERSAL controllers to confirm public servants’ probation should they successfully meet with their workplace requirements. New recruits who were appointed in July 2012 receive confirmation of their pay progression from 01 April 2016. Officials are therefore not negatively affected in terms of their careers. Professional development in line with personal development and work place skills plans of departments are actioned as normal.

Reply:

(1) (a)(b) No. The Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC) has therefore appointed a service provider to conduct the review on outsourcing and agentisation. The International Labour Organisation has agreed to assist the PSCBC with the development of the decent work agenda. Both proposals will be ready for engagement between parties at the PSCBC during 2016.

(2) The PSCBC parties will decide on whether the outcomes of the reviews should be made public or not

Reply:

(a)(b) The responsibility of budget for the compensation of employees of national departments, entities of national departments, organs of state and provincial departments rests with the National Treasury.

Reply:

(1)(a) The PSC’s workplan for the 2015-16 financial year contains the following own accord investigations:

• Assess the effective, efficient and economic functioning of the Office of the State Attorney
• Assess the effective, efficient and economic functioning of the Office of the Chief State Law Advisor
• Skills and competency audit of human resource and financial management of senior managers in the Western Cape
• An assessment of the effects of organisational restructuring on service delivery in Gauteng
• An assessment of the management of service terminations and pension payouts in the Public Service
• Factsheet on irregular appointments in the Public Service
• Audit on the recruitment and selection processes in the Gauteng Department of Finance
• An assessment of the handling of disciplinary cases in the Public Service
• Report on the nature and extent of the protection of whistleblowers and investigators in the Public Service
• Awarding of higher salaries on appointment and counteroffers in the National Departments of Transport and Labour

The completion date of “investigations conducted on receipt of any complaint lodged with the PSC”, is dependent on a number of factors including the time when the complaint is lodged, the number of allegations contained therein and the complexity of the investigations. The PSC aims to finalize investigations of the complaints lodged with it within ninety (90) days after the receipt of all necessary documentation.

(1)(b) Investigations to be conducted in the ensuing year are determined annually at the Public Service Commission Strategic Planning Session and compilation of a list of these investigations is still a work in progress.

(2) The process to develop a schedule of investigations is informed, amongst others by the Public Service Commission’s (i) legal mandate, (ii) vision and mission, (iii) strategic objectives, and include compilation of Workplans from the trends on the nature of complaints received, previous research conducted and an external environmental scan, this Workplan is presented annually at the Public Commission Strategic Session for consideration and adoption. Furthermore, the Public Service Commission Annual Performance Plan are tabled in Parliament annually

(3) Upon finalization of investigation, a provisional report with findings is forwarded to the relevant executive authority for comment, and should comments be provided, these comments are considered by the Public Service Commission in the issuance of a final report with recommendations. The executive authority is requested to indicate whether it accepts the Public Service Commission recommendations or not. In instances where the recommendations are not accepted, the executive authority should indicate reasons for not accepting the recommendations. The Public Service Commission’s report and findings are submitted to the National Assembly or to Provincial Legislature in line with section 196(6) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996.

Reply:

The number of employees for each national and provincial department in the Public Service, as at the end of each of the requested financial years (March), is provided in the table below. Please note that abnormal and periodical appointments are excluded. Where departments appear to be duplicated it is due to the restructuring of departments over the reporting period (2011/12 to 2014/15). Data was obtained from PERSAL as it is the source system for data published on Vulindlela. No data is directly captured on the Vulindlela website.

NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES BY DEPARTMENT
MARCH 2011 TO MARCH 2015

National/Provincial Department	March 2011	March 2012	March 2013	March 2014	March 2015
Eastern Cape	Economic Development, Environmental Affairs and Tourism	611	627	605	600	578
	Education	86 181	82 816	80 154	78 791	74 279
	Health	40 818	41 186	39 577	38 655	39 470
	Human Settlements	406	460	544	556	616
	Local Government and Traditional Affairs	1 584	1 595	1 608	1 637	1 537
	Office of the Premier	415	402	386	369	402
	Provincial Planning and ,Treasury	512	545	565	540	480
	Roads and Public works	3 433	3 601	3 715	3 699	4 163
	Rural Development and Agrarian Reform	3 404	3 288	3 172	3 051	2 959
	Safety and Liaison	117	120	121	128	129
	Social Development and Special Programmes	3 443	4 101	3 929	4 415	4 690
	Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture	1 198	1 161	1 144	1 205	1 229
	Transport	1 631	1 668	1 694	1 602	1 602
	Total	143 753	141 570	137 214	135 248	132 134
Free State	Agriculture	1 090	1 187	1 189	1 194	1 185
	Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs	651	437	378	374	393
	Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs	595	650	680	702	709
	Education	31 113	31 885	32 013	31 368	30 382
	Health	16 841	18 915	19 060	19 008	18 388
	Human Settlements	121	126	206	287	308
	Office of the Premier	345	348	616	620	612
	Police, Roads and Transport	2 325	2 388	2 289	2 306	2 552
	Provincial Treasury	390	402	427	373	398
	Public Works	2 013	2 432	2 652	2 813	2 153
	Rural Development	0	0	53	0	0
	Social Development	1 602	2 003	2 015	2 007	1 999
	Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation	664	713	694	729	790
	Total	57 750	61 486	62 272	61 781	59 869

National/Provincial Department	March 2011	March 2012	March 2013	March 2014	March 2015
Gauteng	Agriculture and Rural Development	841	803	850	854	901
	Community Safety	934	935	968	1 010	1 096
	Economic Development	353	338	373	357	439
	Education	79 554	82 134	82 318	83 794	84 353
	Finance	1 734	1 673	1 197	1 147	1 053
	Health	62 492	65 078	61 406	62 992	62 894
	Housing	0	0	0	849	882
	Infrastructure Development	1 444	1 809	1 987	1 947	1 930
	Local Government and Traditional Affairs	1 666	1 586	1 582	638	675
	Office of the Premier	232	235	233	243	271
	Provincial Treasury	0	0	417	489	500
	Roads and Transport	2 038	1 908	1 838	1 881	1 999
	Social Development	0	0	3 469	3 541	4 190
	Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation	383	392	391	464	473
	Total	151 671	156 891	157 029	160 206	161 656
Kwazulu- Natal	Agriculture, Environmental Affairs and Rural Development	3 384	3 825	3 729	3 754	2 900
	Arts and Culture	422	457	463	526	565
	Community Safety and Liaison	105	105	106	141	165
	Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs	1 216	1 331	1 461	1 658	1 633
	Economic Development and Tourism	298	300	349	432	667
	Education	106 689	108 058	106 732	108 024	106 715
	Finance	280	359	462	491	517
	Health	71 001	78 543	82 436	72 731	71 865
	Human Settlements	796	733	743	789	763
	Office of the Premier	319	366	430	447	461
	Public Works	2 085	2 070	2 086	2 038	1 888
	Social Development	2 880	3 425	6 005	4 357	3 862
	Sport and Recreation	172	165	207	233	218
	The Royal Household	141	143	138	120	108
	Transport	4 289	4 153	4 022	3 873	4 015
	Total	194 077	204 033	209 369	199 614	196 342

National/Provincial Department	March 2011	March 2012	March 2013	March 2014	March 2015
Limpopo	Agriculture	4 015	3 946	3 785	3 470	3 281
	Co-operative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs	1 464	2 343	2 286	2 211	2 197
	Economic Development, Environment and Tourism	1 591	1 595	1 443	1 390	1 390
	Education	64 425	63 911	62 901	62 768	62 153
	Health	36 472	38 112	37 094	36 650	37 203
	Office of the Premier	626	508	486	456	469
	Provincial Treasury	454	461	441	479	449
	Public Works	3 403	3 305	2 618	2 764	4 237
	Roads and Transport	4 560	4 316	4 061	4 101	2 403
	Safety, Security and Liaison	112	107	104	96	108
	Social Development	2 658	3 250	3 152	2 962	3 351
	Sport, Arts and Culture	416	489	457	396	389
	Total	120 196	122 343	118 828	117 743	117 630
Mpumalanga	Agriculture, Rural Development and Land Administration	1 621	1 718	1 731	1 767	1 602
	Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs	775	789	730	850	867
	Community Safety, Security and Liaison	176	1 257	1 292	1 371	1 320
	Culture, Sport and Recreation	312	311	324	482	501
	Economic Development, Environment and Tourism	490	459	446	457	267
	Finance	329	332	340	342	326
	Health	18 026	18 485	18 269	19 225	19 446
	Human Settlements	351	362	371	376	387
	Office of the Premier	277	263	254	272	262
	Public Works, Roads and Transport	5 307	4 109	3 900	3 787	3 643
	Social Development	1 862	1 879	1 819	1 903	2 069
	Total	29 526	29 964	29 476	30 832	30 690

National/Provincial Department	March 2011	March 2012	March 2013	March 2014	March 2015
National Departments	Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries	6 356	6 367	6 445	6 424	6 205
	Arts and Culture	455	436	448	484	447
	Basic Education	639	721	746	814	837
	Civilian Secretariat for the Police Service	0	0	0	0	130
	Communications	305	299	290	332	301
	Cooperative Governance	450	486	566	558	475
	Correctional Services	40 170	41 166	42 216	41 913	40 691
	Defence	78 663	78 674	78 202	78 649	78 091
	Economic Development	68	106	118	126	126
	Energy	485	560	559	547	581
	Environmental Affairs	941	1 439	1 571	1 762	1 941
	Government Communication and Information System	471	493	479	455	472
	Health	1 276	1 450	1 913	1 893	2 071
	Higher Education and Training	858	916	1 069	1 234	6 673
	Home Affairs	9 782	9 655	9 786	10 248	10 251
	Human Settlements	693	684	663	710 ,	637
	Independent Police Investigative Directorate	270	277	303	308	322
	International Relations and Cooperation	2 383	2 465	2 439	2 364	2 323
	Justice and Constitutional Development	22 543	23 248	23 726	23 960	24 851
	Labour	7 408	7 623	7 708	7 746	8 149
	Military Veterans	0	0	0	136	228
	Mineral Resources	1 081	1 108	1 122	1 165	1 115
	National School of Government	190	184	199	205	204
	National Treasury	2 122	2 192	2 246	2 300	2 380
	Office of the Public Service Commission	225	225	261	272	317
	Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation	0	139	184	207	261
	Police	194 293	199 610	198 175	195 182	194 269
	Public Enterprises	158	168	185	215	225
	Public Service and Administration	448	420	457	485	461
	Public Works	5 010	5 851	5 624	5 714	5 783
	Rural Development and Land Reform	4 565	4 855	4 837	5 596	5 871
	Science and Technology	421	425	459	477	500
	Social Development	714	757	748	802	917

National/Provincial Department	March 2011	March 2012	March 2013	March 2014	March 2015
	Sport and Recreation South Africa	209	189	172	164	174
	Statistics South Africa	5 429	4 797	3 356	3 577	3 969
	The Presidency	708	635	677	678	666
	Tourism	299	401	465	505	530
	Trade and Industry	1 776	1 881	1 950	1 568	1 563
	Traditional Affairs	0	0	0	0	79
	Transport	543	530	592	623	691
	Water and Sanitation	8 047	7 100	7 209	7 348	7 475
	Women	44	126	126	137	113
	Total	400 498	408 658	408 291	407 883	413 365
North West	Agriculture and Rural Development	1 556	1 569	1 525	1 468	1 641
	Economic Development, Environment and Conservation	192	361	355	408	216
	Education and Training	30 425	30 242	30 329	30 703	29 473
	Finance	506	512	472	478	541
	Health	17 290	17 613	18 256	19 305	18 955
	Human Settlements	310	346	344	360	0
	Local Government and Traditional Affairs	732	740	800	823	735
	Office of the Premier	321	290	313	397	716
	Public Works, Roads and Transport	3 551	3 469	3 536	3 521	3 089
	Public safety and liaison	844	859	1 006	1 117	1 442
	Social development, Woman, Children and Persons with Disabilities	1 803	1 983	2 030	2 099	2 183
	Sport, Arts and Culture	590	649	682	701	671
	Tourism	0	0	0	0	114
	Total	58 120	58 633	59 648	61 380	59 776

National/Provincial Department		March 2011		March 2012		March 2013		March 2014		March 2015
Northern Cape	Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development		547			556		575		570		609
	Co-operative Governance, Human Settlement and Traditional Affairs		652			651		653		662		640
	Economic Development and Tourism		167			167		166		178		177
	Education		12 023		11	892		11 690		12 457		12 229
	Environment and Nature Conservation		400			207		218		225		242
	Health		6 176		6	372		6 474		6 713		6 781
	Office of the Premier		228			225		231		247		250
	Provincial Treasury		238			241		287		278		304
	Roads and Public Works		575			780		827		845		827
	Social Development		933			943		942		929		970
	Sport, Arts and Culture		422			504		364		401		402
	Transport, Safety and Liaison		341			320		347		351		347
	Total		22 702		22	858		22 774		23 856		23 778
Western Cape	Agriculture		969			953		941		961		973 ,
	Community Safety		830			871		898		947		343
	Cultural Affairs and Sport		608			604		612		648		635
	Economic Development and Tourism		198			229		236		252		242
	Education		40 514		40	402		40 114		40 672		42 108
	Environmental Affairs and Development Planning		313			337		359		390		380
	Health		29 306		30	446		31 092		31 654		31 882
	Human Settlements		392			432		434		482		461
	Local Government		306			345		376		376		394
	Premier		913		1	052		1 065		1 087		1 157
	Provincial Treasury		248			240		279		321		317
	Social Development		1 750		1	762		1 822		2 129		2 098
	Transport and Public Works		1 730		1	676		1 887		1 913		2 472
	Total		78 077		79	349		80 115		81 832		83 462
Total	1	256 370	1	285	785	1	285 016	1	280 375	1	278 702

* Please note that the new departments that were created during the National Macro Organisation of the State (NMOS) process are not reflected here as these only came onto effect after March 2015.

Excluding Abnormal and Periodical appointments

Where departments are duplicated it is due to the restructuring of departments over the reporting period

Reply:

1. The Department of Public Service and Administration is aware of the pronouncements made in the media in relation to 36 000 ghost workers in the North West province. This matter is currently under investigation.
2. The management and employment of public servants at national and provincial level is managed through a decentralized human resource management framework where Heads of Department and Executive Authorities are responsible for the employment and management of their own employees. Currently Municipal workers do not fall within the ambit of the Public Service’s human resource management framework. Departments’ employee numbers and payroll fall under the purview of the respective Executive Authorities and are audited by the Auditor-General.
3. Mechanisms for annual audit and verification on the number of government employees are in place. A process of strengthening these mechanisms to mitigate the challenges of ghost employees, amongst others is currently underway, these process include the cleaning up of the PERSAL System.
4. Fraud and non-compliance to the Public Finance Management Act, 1999 and the Treasury Regulations and other legal prescripts are dealt with through the disciplinary processes.
5. The Public Finance Management Act, and the Medium Term Strategic Framework (MTSF) Outcome 12 amongst others, outlines government’s endeavors to ensure that departments are run efficiently, effectively and economically. Furthermore, government has introduced the National School of Government, which provide training programme to the public servant in order to ensure that these public servants run government departments efficiently, effectively and economically.

Reply:

The National Treasury Instruction paragraph 1.2 states that, “cost containment measures related to Executive Authorities will be prescribed in the Revised Ministerial Handbook. The process to review the Ministerial Handbook is at advance stages of completion. The Inter-Ministerial Committee established for this purpose met on 17 November 2015 to finalise its inputs. The matter will now be submitted to the Cabinet Secretariat for further processing to the Cabinet for approval

Reply:

(1)(a)(b)

(a)(i)(ii)

(a)(i) – Cost Price

• YZF721GP - R678 248.85
• BF66SVGP - R995 512.00
• BJ01DPGP - R948 612.00
• 2RD85CA4574599 - R319 228.41

(ii) – Acquisition Date

• YZF721GP – 17 February 2010
• BF66SVGP – 17 March 2011
• BJ01DPGP – 14 June 2011
• 2RD85CA4574599 – 9 March 2012

(b)(i)(ii)(iii)

(b)(i) – Odometer Reading

• YZF721GP – 98937 km’s
• BF66SVGP – 84664 km’s
• BJ01DPGP – 79172 km’s
• 2RD85CA4574599 - 7045 km’s

(ii) – Model Number

• YZF721GP – E350 CDI
• BF66SVGP – S350
• BJ01DPGP – S350
• 2RD85CA4574599 - KB300 LX

(iii) – Vehicle Description

• YZF721GP – Mercedes Benz four door sedan
• BF66SVGP – Mercedes Benz four door sedan
• BJ01DPGP – Mercedes Benz four door sedan
• 2RD85CA4574599 - Isuzu double cab LDV

(2) Yes

(a)(i) – Optional Equipment Fitted are:

• YZF721GP – Center Console Rear View Entertainment
• BF66SVGP – None
• BJ01DPGP – None
• 2RD85CA4574599 - None

(ii) – Optional Equipment Fitted

• YZF721GP – R11 398.86

(3) Yes. The cities are Pretoria and Cape Town:

• YZF721GP – Pretoria
• BF66SVGP – Pretoria
• BJ01DPGP – Cape Town
• 2RD85CA4574599 - Pretoria. Vehicle has been disposed.
  
  
  
  
  
  END

Reply:

The Public Service Commission (PSC) is an independent constitutional body established in terms of Section 196 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996. It comprises 14 Commissioners appointed by the President of which five (5) are approved by the National Assembly and nine (9) are nominated by each of the Premiers of the respective province.

Section 4(1) and (2) of the Public Service Commission Act, 1997 states that:

“(1) Whenever the President is required to appoint a commissioner who has been approved by the National Assembly, the President shall address a request in writing to the Speaker of the National Assembly that a fit and proper person contemplated in section 196(10) of the Constitution be approved of as soon as may be practicable by the National Assembly in accordance with section 196(8)(a) of the said Act”, and

“(2) Whenever the President is required to appoint a commissioner who has been nominated by the Premier of a province, the President shall address a request in writing to the premier of that province that a fit and proper person contemplated in section 196(10) of the Constitution be nominated as soon as may be practicable by that Premier in accordance with section 196(8)(b)”,

In terms of Section 5(1) of the Public Service Commission Act, 1997, “the President shall designate one commissioner as chairperson and another as deputy chairperson of the Commission”.

Therefore, the chairperson of the Public Service Commission is not a direct appointment as the vacancy does not get advertised but the chairperson is drawn from amongst Commissioners within the employ of the Public Service Commission. It is the prerogative of the President to designate one Commissioner as the chairperson and another as a deputy chairperson of the Public Service Commission.

The President is waiting for the filling of the vacant post at national level of which the National Assembly of Parliament is in a process of identifying the candidate for nomination and recommendation to fill this vacant post.


END

Reply:

An employee’s applications for long periods of incapacity leave must in terms of the Policy and Procedure on Incapacity Leave be dealt with in keeping with defined time frames. The Head of Department has the authority to consider such an application taking into account all available information such as the employee’s application, additional medical information, including the advice of the Health Risk Manager. Managers are in terms of their core management responsibilities as defined in their core management criteria (CMC’s), responsible for the management of their staff. Therefore, if a manager fails to properly manage long periods of incapacity leave, the relevant Executive Authority and/or Head of Department can discipline that particular manager for not executing his/her responsibilities. Therefore relevant Heads Department (HODs) are in a better position to indicate the measures taken in this regard.


END

Reply:

(a)(b) The National School of Government (NSG) is taking the following steps to address the backlog:

1.  Entering into Service Level Agreements (SLAs) with Provincial Academies and other State Colleges to include the CIP in their course offerings so that they could help to eliminate the backlog within the two years as projected.
 
2.  Discussion with the Department of Public Service and Administration around the utilisation of public servants for public service training and a proposed approach is at an advance stage for submission for approval.

​3.  Continues support to fully equipped trainers, for example, the number of departmental trainers that were trained for the delivery of the compulsory induction programme (CIP) has increased from 775 in 2014/15 to 868, of which 848 trainers have been screened to date. Of this number, 483 are “ready to train” and will be supported to be fully equipped as trainers; and 172 departmental trainers have been actively delivering on the CIP.

The backlog remains a challenge. There is a turnaround strategy in place to build dedicated capacity within the National School of Government for compulsory induction programme (CIP) training and administration. This capacity, together with department-based trainers, will assist in providing the institutional support for the delivery of high volume training in the public service.



END 

Reply:

(1) (a) The total amount spent on air travel between Gauteng and Cape Town for employees attending Parliamentary businesses in the 2014-15 financial year is R983 417.69.

(b) Total number of trips on air travel between Gauteng and Cape Town for employees attending Parliamentary businesses in the 2014-15 financial year is one hundred and fifty (150)

(2) (a) The total amount spent on accommodation for employees attending Parliamentary businesses for the 2014-15 financial year is R362 555.05

(b) The total amount spent on car rental for employees attending Parliamentary businesses for the 2014-15 financial year is R111 693.96



END

Reply:

1. The Minister for Public Service and Administration formally consulted with the Minister of Cooperative Government and Traditional Affairs, in a letter dated 23 June 2015, in respect of the local government remuneration framework as published in April 2015.

​2. (a) Minister communicated the following:

• agreement with the proposed extension of the number of categories for the classification of municipalities from 8 to 10 for purposes of the remuneration of Senior Managers;
• noted that the proposed annual (2015) increase of the minimum and maximum remuneration for the revised municipal categories ranges between 12% and 18.7% for Municipal Managers and 12.7% and 60.9% for Managers directly accountable to Municipal Managers; and

• recommended that the 2015 increases should be based on National Treasury’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) forecast of 4.8% for the 2015/16 financial year.

(b) and (c) There was no further official communication received from the Minister of Cooperative Government and Traditional Affairs after the afore-mentioned letter dated 23 June 2015.

3.  (a)(b) That the 2015 salary increases for Municipal Managers and Managers directly accountable to Municipal Managers should be based on National Treasury’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) forecast of 4.8% for the 2015/16 financial year.



END

 

 

Reply:

No. The Department of Public Service and Administration (the DPSA) does not have a Regulatory Burden Reduction Strategy. The Minister for Public Service and Administration, issues Regulations that are required and necessary in terms of the Public Service Act, 1994 and no Regulations have been identified as burdensome to date.

 

Reply:

The Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC) has been tasked to monitor implementation of both Resolutions 7 of 1998 & 12 of 2002 of the Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC) regarding past discriminatory practices. Therefore, enquiries in relation to reopening of the submissions of applications should be made to the PSCBC.

Reply:

The figures provided herewith below have been extracted from PERSAL. These figures exclude the (i) department of Defence and the (ii) Security sector:

(a) Employees who retired or resigned before the prescribed retirement ages during the 2014/15 financial year

Employees who retired before their prescribed retirement ages	10 449
Resignations	39 194
Total	49 643

(b) Re - employment in the Public Service

Employees who retired before their prescribed retirement ages	92
Employees who have resigned	6 614
Total	6 706

Reply:

(a)(i)(ii)(b)(i)(ii)(aa)(bb)(aaa)(bbb) The Department of Public Service and Administration and the National School of Government do not have a standard definition for red tape besides the standard dictionary meaning which generally refers to excessive regulation or rigid conformity to formal rules that are considered redundant or bureaucratic and hinder or prevent action or decision-making.

There are continuous performance monitoring reviews with specific reference to reducing lead time and improve turn-around time against the Annual Operational Plans (AOPs) and/or the Annual Performance Plans (APPs).

In keeping with the prescripts that govern effective and efficient service delivery, the following have been put in place; service delivery charter and standards, complaints handling management policy, service delivery improvement plans, amongst others, which are in addition to the processes of monitoring individual programmes and institutional performance management.

To optimise the use of ICT in order to gain some efficiency in the operations and service culture, the National School of Government is currently reviewing its service systems architecture and ICT infrastructure towards ensuring seamless delivery of education and learning programmes and courses.

CENTRE FOR PUBLIC SERVICE INNOVATION (CPSI)

(a)(ii)(b)(i)(ii)(aa)(bb)(bbb) According to the CPSI, red tape emerges when formal rules, regulations and procedures related to the administration of service delivery are no longer effective in achieving the goal for which they were instituted and/or the cost of compliance is not justified by the benefit that citizens receives.

The CPSI Awards Programme annually unearths a number of innovations to improve turn-around time for effective and efficient public service delivery. Recent projects include the “Vota Quota” web-based procurement system of the IEC, the CFO Helpdesk at DTI, pharmacy automation in Gauteng that significantly reduces paperwork and queues, KZN’s Digital Pen for m-Health, and the Road Accident Fund’s “RAF on the Road” initiative that simplified RAF applications and pay outs.

For a more comprehensive analysis of red tape and examples of red tape reduction, please refer to the CPSI’s Future Watch publication “From Red Tape to Smart Tape: Easing the Administrative Burden of Public Service Delivery”, available from http://www.cpsi.co.za/archived-publications/ and attached herewith).

Given the size of the CPSI and its mandate, very little red tape exists within the organisation. New internal policies and processes prioritise simplified processes and the use of electronic forms and systems rather than paper-based solutions.

An example of an internal system where red tape was reduced within the CPSI is the new online system being used for travel bookings. Using the Travel Agent’s web-based system, designated staff members are doing bookings for the organisation. The system eliminates the need to use a travel consultant to make a booking on behalf of the CPSI, provides for electronic authorisation and offers access to more and cheaper options. The CPSI is already saving significant amounts using the system.

Reply:

(1)(2) No. The Government Pensions Administration Agency has confirmed that there has been no alleged loss regarding Bophuthatswana Pension change since the last response on 19 June 2015. As such, there are no engagements or investigations that have taken place.

Reply:

1. The following training courses have been offered on “the management of discipline and incapacity issues in the workplace” during the 2012-2015 period.

Course	2012-13	2013-14	2014-15	2015-16	Totals
Grievance and Disciplinary Procedures	80	111	198	-	389
Investigating and Presiding Skills	159	136	145	-	440
PILIR - Policy & Procedure on Incapacity Leave & Ill health			324	166	490
					1319

(2) The NSG has three programmes related to management of discipline and incapacity issues in the workplace. The first is the Grievance and Disciplinary Action Procedures programme. This programme is accredited by the Public Service Sector Education and Training Authority (PSETA) against 2 (two) registered unit standards which are 12139 and 11286. The number of public service employees successfully accredited for this programme is 86 from 2012-2015. The second programme is the Investigating and Presiding Skills programme. This programme is not accredited, and thus has no registration number. The third programme is on Policy on incapacity and ill-health (PILIR). This programme is also not accredited, and thus has no registration number

(3) The NSG conducts training needs analyses on middle and senior management level for national, provincial and local government entities. Education interventions and capacity requirements are determined against the senior and middle management competency frameworks developed by the DPSA as well as specialised competency requirements in areas such as finance, supply chain management and human resources – which deal with issues of managing discipline and incapacity amongst others. Learning and education programmes provided by the NSG therefore meet the needs of public servants regarding the management of discipline and incapacity issues within the public service.

However, Management Performance Assessment Tool (MPAT) reports from the Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation in the Presidency (DPME) as well as various reports by the Public Service Commission (PSC) suggest that departments need to increase the numbers of supervisors and managers undergoing training. Also senior managers attending specific NSG programmes are of the view that their performance has improved, but further training in areas of Human Resource Management such as discipline management is necessary. MPAT reports have indicated the following with regards to the handling of disciplinary cases by all National Departments: 41% non-compliance with legal/regulatory standards; 39% partial compliance; 5% full compliance; and 15% full compliance while “doing things smartly”.

The NSG is currently piloting mandatory training for public service Managers and Supervisors beginning with Performance Management Development System (PMDS) training in an endeavour to further meet the training needs regarding HRM including discipline and incapacity management.

Reply:

1. The Public Service Commission submitted a draft report on the investigation into the appointment of the General Manager Fraud Compliance at the SA Social Security to the Minister of Social Development on 12 September 2013 for comments.

(2)(a) The Public Service Commission received a legal opinion on the draft report on the 14 October 2014

(2)(b) The Public Service Commission withdrew its draft report after consideration of the comments received from the Department of Social Development. The decision to withdraw the report was based on the fact that the Public Service Commission’s jurisdiction does not extend to public entities.

3.  The Public Service Commission did not issue a final report.

4.  There is no full and complete report by the Public Service Commission on the matter.

Reply:

(1) The number of public service employees completed officials training programmes on the procedures, regulations and legislation regarding the management of discipline and incapacity issues in the workplace in (i) 2012-13, (ii) 2013-14 financial years were included in the Annual Report of the Public Administration Leadership Academy and the National School of Government tabled in Parliament (iii) the auditing process on the 2014-2015 figures has not been completed, this figures will be included in the National School of Government 2014-2015 Annual Report to Parliament.

(2) The National School of Government is in contacts with the South African Qualifications Authority, Quality Council for Trades and Occupations, Department of Public Service and Administration, and the Public Service Sector Education and Training Assurer for accreditation of its training programmes, a list of accredited training programme will be released once this process is completed.

(3) The Department of Public Service and Administration has developed a pool of expert to assist departments in relation to management of discipline, review of the policies to improve capacity of public servants to meet the requirements of the National Development Plan are at an advance stage, when completed, public servants will be required to undergo through these training programmes.

 

Reply:

(a) and (c) Yes. (i) The purpose of the visit was to lead an MPSA delegation to Beijing, China to attend the 2014 Global City Information Forum (GCIF) from 2 to 6 November 2014, (ii)(aa)(bb) auditing process has not been completed, the costs will covered in the 2014-2015 Audited Financial Statements of the Annual Report for the Department of Public Service and Administration to Parliament.

(b) No

Reply:

The Minister for Public Service and Administration (MPSA) is not a custodian of the Employment Equity Act, (Act 55 of 1998). Compliance with the Employment Equity Act, Act 55 of 1998 (EEA) falls under the purview of the Minister of Labour who receives periodic compliance reports from all employers in the country, including state organs, much of the information requested in this question concerns compliance with the EEA. Therefore, the Minister of Labour is in a better position to reply to this question.

Reply:

(1) (a)(b) 10 087 public servants have successfully completed Module of the Compulsory Induction Programme and 3 685 public servants have completed all further Modules of the Compulsory Induction Programme.

Reply:

To date nothing has been brought the attention of the department about possible industrial action as a result of non-approval of probations and payment of pay progression. However, if there are disputes emanating from the violation of some of the clauses in the conditions of service of employees, there are processes to be followed, which will enable for such issues to be resolved.

Reply:

(1) (a)(b) Yes, the revised disciplinary code and procedure has been tabled for negotiation at the Public Service Bargaining Council during the negotiation, a decision on this matter can be expected when the negotiation is concluded.

(2) Yes, we are confident that the revised code will improve the turnaround time for concluding disciplinary cases in the public service, improvement will be reflected when the revised disciplinary code is fully implemented.

Reply:

The Department is in the process of putting together a policy framework to enable effective implementation of the Use of Official Language Policy Act within the Department. It is envisaged that the policy will be adopted and implemented at the beginning of 2015

Reply:

(1) Yes. Members of the Executive usually receive invitations from individuals and institutions, invited in their private capacity or official capacity. Weddings are generally private.

(2) No.

(3) Falls away.

Reply:

(a)(b) Government is in a process of revising the Public Service Disciplinary Code and Procedure and also Chapter 7 of the SMS Handbook. This Disciplinary Code and Procedure has been tabled for negotiations at the Bargaining Council, (i)(ii) the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) working with the National Treasury will ensure that the PERSAL system respond to this kind of a need to ensure that public servants who commit acts of misconduct are precluded from entering the public service, including state institutions.