Questions and Replies

Reply:

1. The required information is not centralised and readily available as each department keeps its own register and records. Individuals Departments must be approached for detailed information such as access to internet/data.

End

Reply:

Cognisance of the Auditor-General’s findings is taken. It must however, be noted, that the mandatory investigative processes need to be undertaken by the relevant authorities, such as the South African Police Service (SAPS) and in some cases, the Special Investigating Unit (SIU). Once these investigations have been completed, the necessary information will be obtained by the DPSA, and will be communicated to the relevant department/s. The DPSA, through the Technical Assistance Unit will ensure that it keeps abreast of the developments so as to offer support to departments and monitor the management of disciplinary actions instituted against those public servants who are found guilty.

End

Reply:

a) (i) (aa) Directors-General - 37 Nationally appointed; 8 Provincially appointed (Schedule 1 of the Public Service Act, 1994) - (Directors-General are appointed on contract for a term not exceeding five years)

(bb) Acting Directors-General - National 8 Directors-General are acting; Provincially 1 Director-General is acting.

(ii) (aa) Heads of Department: 87 appointed – (Schedule 2 of the Public Service Act, 1994) – (Heads of Department are appointed on contract for a term not exceeding five years)

(bb) Acting Heads of Department – 25.

(b&c) Officials are appointed to act from the date the post has become vacant – Period of Acting Directors-General Nationally by Department (data: as at 31 December 2020):

National Departments	Post vacant date	Duration vacant (months)
Department of Social Development	2017-05-31	43
Department of Water and Sanitation	2017-11-30	37
Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development	2020-10-31	2
Department of Military Veterans	2018-06-15	31
Small Business Development	2018-09-30	27
The Presidency	2020-08-31	4
Communication and Digital Technologies	2020-06-30	6
State Security Agency	2018-04-30	33
Provincial Department	Post vacant date	Duration vacant (months)
North West Office of the Premier	2019-04-30	20

(b&c) Officials are appointed to act from the date the post has become vacant – Period of Acting Nationally by Department: (data: as at 31 December 2020):

Province	Provincial Department	Post vacant date	Duration vacant (months)
KZN	Provincial Treasury	2020-06-30	6
	Transport	2020-04-30	8
Northern Cape	Provincial Treasury	2014-10-31	74
	Education	2020-08-31	4
	Roads and Public Works	2020-07-31	7
	Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development	2019-10-31	14
	Environment and Nature Conservation	2020-02-01	11
	Economic Development and Tourism	2014-10-31	74
	Health	2020-02-28	10
Eastern Cape	Health	2020-09-30	3
	Rural Development and Agrarian Reform	2018-09-30	27
Mpumalanga	Agriculture, Rural Development, Land and Environmental Affairs	2018-05-31	31
	Public Works, Roads and Transport	2019-10-31	14
	Economic Development and Tourism	2014-10-31	74
	Education	2019-08-31	16
	Health	2013-06-01	90
	Cooperative Governance	2020-02-29	10
Gauteng	Community Safety	2020-02-29	10
	Health	2020-10-01	3
	Economic Development	2020-11-30	1
Limpopo	Education	2020-01-31	11
	Social Development	2020-05-01	8
North West	Agriculture and Rural Development	2020-10-01	3
	Health	2020-01-13	12
	Social Development	2018-11-30	26

Reply:

(1) The Government of South Africa is not paying to receive this training from China. The programmes are sponsored by the Government of China and exist within the context of the MoUs entered into between the NSG and the China National Academy of Governance and the University of China Academy of Social Sciences.

(2) For details of the curriculum please see the following annexures:

Annexure 1: Building Governance Capacity for South Africa

Annexure 2: Economic Governance

Annexure 3: Poverty Alleviation and Rural Development

 

The upcoming programme on Governance and Emergency Management will cover topics such as (1) Modernization of Chinese Government Structure and Governance Ability, (2) Chinese Government Performance Management, (3) China's Public Policy Making, (4) Response to Emergencies, (5) Emergency management in China, (6) Practice and exploration of the construction of national emergency management system

These programmes are targeted at Senior Managers in the public service and have also attracted Deputy Ministers, Councillors and Executive Mayors.

(3) The NSG has prioritised the use of strategic partnerships with leading institutions from around the world in pursuit of knowledge exchanges. These partnerships include institutions in Europe, Asia and the Americas. These partnerships are with the Ecole Nationale d’Administration (France), University College London (United Kingdom), Thunderbird School of Global Management – Arizona University (USA), China National Academy of Governance and the University of China Academy of Social Sciences.

The NSG also enjoys exchanges with countries such as Germany, Chile and India where we facilitate learning opportunities for South Africa’s public servants. The pursuit of these strategic partnerships is in line with South Africa’s White Paper on Foreign Policy. We pursue our relations with countries that have diplomatic relations with South Africa, China being one of them. Regardless of its Political System, China boasts a public service that is based on a strong system of meritocracy and has its own unique governance system which other countries can learn from in crafting or improving their own in pursuit of their own national objectives and interests. Over the past decades, China has excelled in development planning, testing and mass rollout of integrated development initiatives. China has been very successful in translating strategic plans into operational plans and implementing them. We would like South Africa’s public servants and leaders to be exposed to the education and learning programmes that have underpinned the successes of development-oriented states such as China.

We also facilitate learning opportunities with institutions in Germany, France, Chile and India, because like China, they have mastered State craft.

End

Reply:

1. For the purpose of responding to this parliamentary question, departments that received a disclaimer or adverse finding from the Auditor-General for the 2019/2020 financial year are regarded as having underperformed. (a) The North West Department of Human Settlements is the only provincial department that received a disclaimer or adverse finding from the Auditor-General for the 2019/2020 financial year. (b) According to information available on PERSAL no performance bonuses were paid by the department for the 2019/2020 financial year.
2. (a) None of the national departments received a disclaimer or adverse finding for the 2019/2020 financial year. (b) According to information available on PERSAL no performance bonuses were paid by departments that are regarded as underperforming.

End

Reply:

As it stands all appointments made by this person were performed in line with the law and delegations and therefore they are all valid until declared invalid by a court of law. In addition, each appointment made creates a contract of employment and rights for employees in terms of the Labour Relations Act of 1995 and other labour legislation. The individual employees’ rights cannot be diminished by just one incident that has no bearing on their employment.

The dismissal of the person is regarded as a deterrent to all employees to act within the prescribed legislative framework and the organisation cannot conduct a witch-hunt where no allegation or evidence of wrong-doing exist. Such an approach will have a destabilising effect on the organisation. In this regard, it should be kept in mind that the recruitment and selection process is not undertaken by a single person, but by a Selection Committee comprising of at least three members and is guided by the Public Service Regulations, 2016, as amended, and the Departmental Policy on Recruitment and Selection. When the allegations came to the attention of the Executive Authority, the former employee was removed from all recruitment and selection processes within the organisation.

Since the dismissal of the former employee, the organisation has been at pains to institute additional controls in the human resources management environment to overcome the challenges identified in the recruitment and selection process, this includes but is not limited to a comprehensive legislative and policy framework checklist that accompanies each recruitment and selection process, as well as the review of human resources management policies.

Whistle-blowing Guidelines are in place to encourage and enable employees to raise serious concerns about fraud and corruption within the organisation or with the independent Audit Committee. All complaints are handled professionally and in line with the prevailing prescripts.

Reply:

(1) The Minister for the Public Service and Administration (MPSA) can only respond to formal demands tabled by labour in the Public Service Coordinating Council (PSCBC). At the time of this reply, the unions to the PSCBC had not formally tabled their demands as per Council processes. Therefore the MPSA has not been informed of any wage increase demand of up to 10% during the upcoming round of wage negotiations.

(2)(a) The union parties to the PSCBC tabled their demands in relation to the upcoming round of wage negotiations on first March 2021 and they are attached as annexure to this reply.

(2(b)(i)(ii) The information requested is not available for the reasons indicated above.

(3) The process of engagement between parties in the PSCBC on wage negotiations occurs under the purview of the PSCBC. The employer will negotiate on the basis of fairness, equity, sustainability and affordability.

End

Reply:

1. a) No employee of the Department of Public Service and Administration performed work outside normal working hours in addition to the responsibilities related to their work in the past five financial years.

b) The functions and performance of all employees are governed by their Job Descriptions, Employment Contracts, Performance Agreements and regular Performance Assessments as per applicable Directives, laws and policies.

b. (i) Zero (0);

(ii) Not applicable.

2. No such requests nor approvals were made by any employee as the Department does not have such a policy.

a) The Department does not have a policy that requires employees to perform work outside of normal working hours additional to their responsibilities as this would be irregular and violates the principles of fair labour practice.

b) Not applicable.

c) Not applicable.

d) Not applicable.

End

Reply:

a) All the DGs and HoDs who were required to sign performance agreements for the 2020/2021 performance cycle have submitted.

(i) Out of the 54 national departments and Offices of the Premier, 39 DGs were required to and signed performance agreements. The remainder of the DGs comprises of 13 acting DGs and two (2) newly appointed. These officials only have to sign performance contracts three months after assumption of duties.

(ii) The 68 HoDs who were required to sign performance agreements have submitted it. At the provincial level, 24 were acting HoDs, three (3) newly appointed, one (1) on special leave and one (1) on precautionary suspension.

b) In terms of section 7(b) of the Public Service Act 103 of 1994, each individual Executing Authority has all the necessary powers to manage performance in their respective departments.

End

Reply:

(1) (a) (i) The number of public servants who took early retirement since the start of the lockdown to curb the spread of the virus in March 2020 at national level was 2 879.

(1) (a) (ii) The number of public servants who took early retirement since the start of the lockdown to curb the spread of the virus in March 2020 at provincial level was 2 005.

(1) (b) The breakdown of the relevant number of early retirements in each government department is depicted in the table below:

 

Number of Public Servants that retired early by department from 27 March 2020
National/Provincial department	Total
Total	4,884
Eastern Cape	Total	322
	Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs	8
	Economic Development, Environmental Affairs and Tourism	2
	Education	215
	Health	54
	Office of the Premier	3
	Provincial Treasury	4
	Roads and Public works	6
	Rural Development and Agrarian Reform	20
	Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture	2
	Transport	8
Free State	Total	135
	Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs	3
	Education	105
	Health	10
	Police, Roads and Transport	7
	Social Development	10
Gauteng	Total	207
	Agriculture and Rural Development	1
	Economic Development	4
	Education	87
	Health	107
	Human Settlements	6
	Social Development	2
KwaZulu-Natal	Total	502
	Agriculture and Rural Development	15
	Arts and Culture	1
	Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs	2
	Education	368
	Health	101
	Office of the Premier	2
	Public Works	2
	Social Development	3
	Transport	8
Limpopo	Total	360
	Agriculture and Rural Development	5
	Co-operative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs	5
	Economic Development, Environment and Tourism	1
	Education	283
	Health	48
	Office of the Premier	1
	Public Works, Roads and Infrastructure	11
	Social Development	3
	Transport and Community Safety	3

Mpumalanga	Total	139
	Agriculture, Rural Development, Land and Environmental Affairs	5
	Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs	1
	Community Safety, Security and Liaison	1
	Culture, Sport and Recreation	2
	Education	93
	Health	28
	Provincial Treasury	2
	Public Works, Roads and Transport	7
National	Total	2,879
	Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development	30
	Basic Education	4
	Correctional Services	382
	Employment and Labour	7
	Energy	2
	Environment, Forestry and Fisheries	1
	Government Communication and Information System	2
	Health	2
	Higher Education and Training	110
	Home Affairs	36
	Human Settlements	2
	International Relations and Cooperation	8
	Justice and Constitutional Development	45
	Military Veterans	2
	Mineral Resources and Energy	4
	National Treasury	9
	Office of the Chief Justice	9
	Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation	2
	Police	2,127
	Public Service and Administration	2
	Public Works and Infrastructure	44
	Social Development	1
	Sport, Arts and Culture	4
	Statistics South Africa	3
	Water and Sanitation	41

North West	Total	106
	Agriculture and Rural Development	1
	Arts, Culture, Sports and Recreation	3
	Community Safety and Transport Management	4
	Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs	2
	Economic Development, Environment, Conservation and Tourism	1
	Education	69
	Health	20
	Provincial Treasury	1
	Public Works and Roads	5
Northern Cape	Total	34
	Co-operative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs	1
	Education	26
	Health	4
	Roads and Public Works	1
	Social Development	1
	Sport, Arts and Culture	1
Western Cape	Total	200
	Agriculture	1
	Community Safety	1
	Cultural Affairs and Sport	1
	Education	119
	Environmental Affairs and Development Planning	2
	Health	60
	Provincial Treasury	7
	Social Development	6
	The Premier	3

(1) (c) (i) The number of teachers who took early retirement during this period was 1 274

(1) (c) (ii) The number of nurses who took early retirement during this period was 214

The information indicated above was obtained from PERSAL as on 1 March 2021.

End

Reply:

In terms of section 7(7) of the Public Service Act, 1994, only the head of national departments and Offices of the Premier may bear the designation of Director-General. The information presented is therefore limited to Directors-General as contained in Schedule 1 of the Public Service Act, 1994.

(a) According to the information from the PERSAL system for the 2018/2019 performance cycle (i) four (4) Directors-General were paid performance bonuses (ii) no acting Directors-General were paid performance bonuses. (b) A total amount of R614 935,11 was paid out to Directors-General for performance bonuses. (c) All of the relevant departments have achieved outputs in excess of 80% of their targets as set out in their annual performance plans (APP). The table below provides the details of the departments who paid performance bonuses.

No	Name of Departments	Performance bonus paid	Achievement of APP targets
Directors-General
1	Higher Education and Training	R155,942.16	95%
2	The Presidency	R90,369.00	80%
3	Northern Cape: Office of the Premier	R248,131,95*	99%
4	Western Cape: Office of the Premier	R120,492.00	92%
GRAND TOTAL	R614 935,11

*The amount is for two payments of performance bonuses for two performance cycles paid in the 2018/2019 financial year. .

End

Reply:

(1) In terms of Section 36 of the Public Finance Management Act, 1999 with respect to Accounting Officers; every department and every constitutional institution must have an accounting officer and the head of a department must be the accounting officer for the department.

(2) In terms of Section 37 of the Public Finance Management Act, 1999, deals with acting accounting officers and stipulates when an accounting officer is absent or otherwise unable to perform the functions of accounting officer, or during a vacancy, the functions of accounting officer must be performed by the official acting in the place of that accounting officer.

(a) Nationally: There are nine (9) acting Accounting Officers (In the Presidency the acting DG is also the formally appointed accounting officer).

Provincially: There are twenty seven (27) acting Accounting Officers.

(b) In terms of the regulatory framework, Regulation 63 (2) of the Public Service Regulations, 2016 states that, “an employee directed to act in another post in terms of section 32 (2) should have the necessary competency for the post to which he or she is appointed to act”. As defined in the Public Service Regulations, 2016, Competency means the combination of knowledge, skills, behaviour and aptitude that a person can apply in the work environment, which indicates a person's ability to meet the requirements of a specific post. For purposes of business continuity meeting qualifications for a post for purposes of acting is not a requirements however, noting the definition, competency to perform the duties are.

End

Reply:

The labour unions involved in this matter have made an application for leave to appeal the Labour Appeal Court judgement. The matter is therefore still before the courts. Under the circumstances, it is advised that at this stage the Minister for the Public Service and Administration is unable to respond to the questions posed.

End

Reply:

a) No, the said person is not an employee in the Department of Public Service and Administration.

b) N/A

c) N/A

End

Reply:

1. Each department is required to verify the payroll reports on a monthly basis to ensure that every employee receiving payment from the department is eligible for such payment.

a) The capturing, maintenance and verification of data on PERSAL is a decentralised responsibility of each relevant Head of Department. Therefore it is the responsibility of each Head of Department to assign a designated employee as a PERSAL controller to manage data accuracy. PERSAL controllers in every department are accountable for institutionalizing, maintaining and communicating procedures to ensure continuous control over access, security and maintenance of data records within their departments.

b) Treasury Regulations prescribe the verification of payroll reports to ensure that only legitimately employed persons receive payment. According to Treasury Regulation 8.3.4:

“For all employees, the person in charge at the respective pay-points must certify on the date of payment that all persons listed on the payroll report are entitled to payment. Employees paid by cheque must sign the payroll report when collecting their cheques.” Regulation 8.3.4 further specifies “These payroll reports must then be returned to the Chief Financial Officer of the department within 10 days and the accounting officer must ensure that all pay-point certificates have been received on a monthly basis.”

2. There is no specific set date for the complete phasing out of manual submission as the relevant technology platform is currently not capable of on-boarding all government departments at the same time. The introduction of electronic payslips is therefore, being rolled out in a phased approach. The migrating of departmental users to an electronic payslip platform requires a close partnership between the PERSAL controllers at National Treasury, department specific HRM employees working on PERSAL, Government Information Technology Officer (GITO) per department, the account management team at SITA as well as their mainframe team. This process impacts the on-boarding process as it depends on the readiness of specific departments to move to an electronic payslip platform at different times depending on the time departments receive the proposal from SITA, process it and verify employees and their respective email addresses to ensure the correct payslip goes to the correct employee. It has also been indicated by some departments that not all employees have access to emails which impacts on their ability to access electronic payslips.

3. The automation of leave is part of the functionality to be provided by the Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS). National Treasury, which is the lead department in the IFMS Programme, is currently in the process of appointing a service provider to design the system to meet the requirements of the Public Service. Once this has been completed and the IFMS implemented, the system will address, amongst others, the automation of leave.

In view of the above, it is not possible to indicate at this stage on which date manual leave forms will be phased out and replaced with an electronic system.

End

Reply:

The Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) forms part of the National Vaccine Rollout Committee led by the Department of Health. The Committee acts as a coordination mechanism that oversees the vaccine rollout in both the public and private sectors as government implements the National Vaccine Rollout Strategy, which was presented to Parliament.

In preparation for the Phase Two of the Rollout strategy, the DPSA has developed and presented the Project Plan to the Workplace Vaccination Work Stream of the rollout Committee, which outlines the rollout strategy for essential workers in the public service. This Project Plan is being consulted on with critical stakeholders for finalisation. The relevant details will therefore be made public and shared with Parliament once the plan has been finalised following the consultations.

End

Reply:

a) According to information from PERSAL as at 15th February 2021, there are currently a total of 9477 Senior Managers employed in the Public Service. Out of this total, 3301 members do not have the required qualifications. However it needs to be stated that many Departments do not capture the qualification information on PERSAL and therefore the information in the tables below are skewed. The information also excludes the Department of Defence and State Security Agency.

b) A total of 5447 SMS members are employed in the National departments, 1987 of them do not have the required qualifications. These are from the following departments :

(i) NATIONAL

Name of Department	Number of SMS Members with qualifications below NQF Level 7/ Not captured
Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development	227
Arts and Culture	1
Basic Education	5
Civilian Secretariat for the Police Service	11
Communication and Digital Technologies	17
Cooperative Governance	34
Correctional Services	67
Education	1
Employment and Labour	79
Environment, Forestry and Fisheries	107
Government Communication and Information System	8
Health	56
Higher Education and Training	52
Home Affairs	56
Human Settlement	46
Independent Police Investigative Directorate	9
International Relations and Cooperation	81
Justice and Constitutional Development	189
Military Veterans	4
Mineral Resources and Energy	31
National School of Government	10
National Treasury	64
Office of the Chief Justice	10
Office of the Public Service Commission	15
Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation	16
Police	228
Public Enterprises	22
Public Service and Administration	32
Public Works and Infrastructure	67
Science and Innovation	44
Small Business Development	15
Social Development	39
Sports, Arts and Culture	22
Statistics South Africa	24
The Presidency	17
Tourism	23
Trade, Industry and Competition	128
Traditional Affairs	7
Transport	25
Water and Sanitation	78
Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities	20
TOTAL	1987

(ii) Out of a total of 4028 Senior Managers who are currently employed at various provincial government department, 1314 of them do not have the required qualifications as described by the aforementioned Directive and they are from the following departments in the following provinces:

EASTERN CAPE

Name of Department	Number of SMS Members with qualifications below NQF Level 7/ Not captured
Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs	12
Economic Development, Environmental Affairs and Tourism	17
Education	25
Health	47
Human Settlement	14
Office of the Premier	5
Provincial Treasury	1
Roads and Public Works	8
Rural Development and Agrarian Reform	15
Safety and Liaison	1
Social Development	15
Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture	12
Transport	13
TOTAL	185

FREE STATE

Name of Department	Number of SMS Members with qualifications below NQF Level 7/ Not captured
Agriculture	18
Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs	12
Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs	8
Education	14
Health	19
Human Settlement	3
Office of the Premier	7
Police, Roads and Transport	15
Provincial Treasury	6
Public Works	9
Social Development	12
Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation	4
TOTAL	127

GAUTENG

Name of Department	Number of SMS Members with qualifications below NQF Level 7/ Not captured
Agriculture and Rural Development	25
Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs	14
Community Safety	8
E-Government	26
Economic Development	14
Education	42
Health	57
Human Settlement	25
Infrastructure Development	31
Office of the Premier	34
Provincial Treasury	36
Roads and Transport	31
Social Development	22
Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation	16
TOTAL	381

KWAZULU-NATAL

Name of Department	Number of SMS Members with qualifications below NQF Level 7/ Not captured
Agriculture and Rural Development	4
Arts and Culture	7
Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs	17
Community Safety and Liaison	6
Economic Development , Tourism and Environmental Affairs	25
Education	42
Finance	23
Health	28
Human Settlement	8
Office of the Premier	29
Public Works	11
Social Development	16
Sports and Recreation	6
Transport	24
TOTAL	246

LIMPOPO

Name of Department	Number of SMS Members with qualifications below NQF Level 7/ Not captured
Agriculture and Rural Development	6
Cooperative Governance, Human Settlement and Traditional Affairs	17
Economic Development, Environment and Tourism	19
Education	23
Health	46
Office of the Premier	6
Provincial Treasury	3
Public Works, Roads and Infrastructure	12
Social Development	4
Sports, Arts and Culture	5
Transport and Community Safety	13
TOTAL	154

MPUMALANGA

Name of Department	Number of SMS Members with qualifications below NQF Level 7/ Not captured
Agriculture, Rural Development, Land and Environmental Affairs	6
Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs	5
Community Safety, Security and Liaison	5
Culture, Sports and Recreation	3
Economic Development and Tourism	9
Education	15
Health	31
Human Settlement	15
Office of the Premier	7
Provincial Treasury	11
Public Works, Roads and Transport	16
Social Development	8
TOTAL	131

NORTH WEST

Name of Department	Number of SMS Members with qualifications below NQF Level 7/ Not captured
Agriculture and Rural Development	0
Arts, Culture, Spots and Recreation	0
Community Safety and Transport Management	7
Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs	1
Economic Development, Environment, Conservation and Tourism	3
Education	0
Health	6
Human Settlement	0
Justice and Constitutional Development	1
Office of the Premier	5
Provincial Treasury	0
Public Works and Roads	2
Social Development	2
TOTAL	27

NORTHERN CAPE

Name of Department	Number of SMS Members with qualifications below NQF Level 7/ Not captured
Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development	1
Cooperative Governance, Human Settlement and Traditional Affairs	1
Economic Development and Tourism	1
Education	4
Environment and Nature Conservation	0
Health	3
Office of the Premier	3
Provincial Treasury	1
Roads and Public Works	0
Social Development	3
Sport, Arts and Culture	0
Transport, Safety and Liaison	1
TOTAL	18

WESTERN CAPE

Name of Department	Number of SMS Members with qualifications below NQF Level 7/ Not captured
Agriculture	0
Community Safety	0
Cultural Affairs and Sport	0
Economic Development and Tourism	4
Education	4
Environmental Affairs and Development Planning	6
Health	9
Human Settlement	2
Local Government	2
Provincial Treasury	3
Social Development	5
The Premier	5
Transport and Public Works	5
TOTAL	45

(c) In order to rectify this situation, a Directive on Compulsory Capacity Development, Mandatory Training Days and Minimum Entry Requirements for SMS was issued to departments with effect from 1 April 2017, as determined in terms of Section 3(2) of the Public Service Act as Amended by MPSA. The Objectives of the Directive are:

1. To promote continuous professional development of members of the SMS;
2. To ensure that training on identified skills gap is implemented in departments;
3. To ensure that compulsory training programmes aimed at addressing the developmental needs of senior managers within the Public Service have been identified;
4. To promote and encourage SMS members to be trained in a structured manner;
5. To promote minimum entry requirements for appointment into the SMS through obtaining a compulsory Public Service specific qualification;
6. To achieve a highly competent SMS cadre; and
7. To strengthen the recruitment process at SMS level, inter-alia.

It is therefore, compulsory for the identified development needs of SMS members to be reflected in their Performance Agreements as Personal Development Plans. Departments must ensure that such developmental needs are addressed through ensuring that sufficient funding is made available for such interventions.

End

Reply:

The NSG is one of the entities that reports to the Minister for Public Service and Administration and has its own premises that it leases from DPWI (PIC) situated at ZK Matthews, Trevenna Bld, 70 Meintjies street Sunnyside PRETORIA and utilise the following security firms.

(i) Name of the Company	(ii) Purpose	(iii) Contract Value	(iv) Duration of the contract
Phuthadichaba Trading Enterprise cc (Reg 2003/034074/23)	To provide physical security services to safeguard NSG personnel and property	R 17, 538, 566,28	Five (5) years (01 November 2018 – 31 October 2023)
Vox Telecommunications (Pty) Ltd (Reg 2011/000797/07)	To provide management and maintenance service for CCTV surveillance, Access Control and Intruder Alarm System	R2,128,829.36	36 months (01 January 2020-31 December 2023)

REPLY: PSC

The Office of the Public Service Commission (OPSC) has appointed private security firms for four Provincial Offices as set out in the table below:

i) Name of service provider	ii)Purpose	iii) Value	iv) Duration of each contract
Tyeks Security Services	Alarm Monitoring and Guard Services (day and night) for the Eastern Cape Provincial Office	R614 477.76	01 November 2019 to 31 October 2021
Divergent OPS (Pty) Ltd	Alarm Monitoring for the Mpumalanga Provincial Office	R40 986.00	01 March 2020 to 28 February 2022
National Security and Fire	Alarm Monitoring for the Limpopo Provincial Office	R44 683.35	01 November 2019 to 31 October 2022
Defensor Electronic Security System	Alarm Monitoring for the Free State Provincial Office	R11 098.41	01 October 2020 to 30 September 2021

REPLY: DPSA

a) Yes

Department of Public Service and Administration:

1. Jackcliffy Trading Cc
2. Security guarding services during week days, weekends, Public Holidays and nightshift.
3. R2 589 998.80
4. Two year contract

b) Thusong Service Centre

1. Masutha Training & Security Services (Pty) Ltd
2. Security Guarding Services during week days and on Saturday only.
3. R4 524 399.72
4. Three year contract

REPLY: CPSI

a) The CPSI does not make use of private security firms. The organisation has 3 permanently employed Security Officers on the staff establishment.

(i) N/A

(ii) N/A

(iii) NA

(iv) N/A

End

Reply:

a) The number of employees found to be possibly conducting business with the State was 482 at the end of February 2021, with eight (8) employees reported to be conducting business with the State in an official capacity (thus, having been appointed by a competent authority, as allowed in terms of Public Service Regulations, 2016, regulations 13(c)).

	A	D
	Departments	Number of Public Servants listed on CSD conducting business with an organ of state as at end of January 2021
1	KwaZulu-Natal	39
2	Gauteng	42
3	North West	13
4	Eastern Cape	71
5	Limpopo	41
6	Mpumalanga	43
7	Free State	25
8	Northern Cape	72
9	Western Cape	18
	Total Provincial Departments	364
	Total National Departments	126
	Grand Total	482 (8 in official capacity)

b) The specified:

(i) Employees disciplined:

Referred for disciplinary hearings	37 cases in the South African Police Service (SAPS); One (1) case in the Department of Social Development; Five (5) cases in the Department of Employment and Labour; and 11 cases in the Northern Cape Department of Health.
Outcome of disciplinary hearing	One (1) employee was suspended for three months without pay at the Department of Employment and Labour.
Criminal charges introduced	12 cases were referred for criminal charges in the SAPS.

(ii) hearings resulted in the dismissal of employees: To date there are no employees who were reported to be dismissed from their respective departments due to involvement in the conducting of business with the State.

End

Reply:

The total number of public servants absent since the Adjusted Level 3 Lockdown as from 29 December 2020 amounts to 322 818. The statistics as provided are up to and inclusive of 31 January 2021 (the latest date for which information is available). The figure is made up of employees utilising approved leave as provided for in the Public Service prescripts and as set out in the table underneath. It is important to note that when an employee is counted, it does not mean that the employee was on leave for the full period, e.g. 29 December 2020 to 31 January 2021. This means the person was on leave within the period indicated. Further, the person may have been on leave on more than one occasion in the period. In accordance with the leave provisions in the Public Service it is incumbent on employees to apply for leave and obtain approval prior to taking leave.

LEAVE TAKEN AS FROM 29 DECEMBER 2020 TO 31 JANUARY 2021
Leave Category	Number Of Employees
Adoption	7
Family Responsibility	13 307
Leave Without Pay	929
Maternity	1 513
Occupational Injuries/Diseases	406
Paternity	272
Permanent Incapacity Leave	28
Pre-Natal	632
Shop Steward/Office Bearer	90
Sick-Full Pay	48 576
Special	13 518
Temporary Incapacity Leave	198
Vacation - Full Pay)	243 342
Total	322 818

End

Reply:

(1) The quarterly (October 2020 to December 2020) turnover rate is 5,7%.

(2)(a) Turnover does have an impact on the delivery of services however there when a Head of Department exits office, an official is appointed in an acting capacity for business continuity.

(b) The departmental impact is that there is a required transition period in which the acting official needs to be briefed on the deliverables of a department to manage the responsibilities whilst in an acting capacity.

Regarding mechanisms, research has been undertaken on the turnover of Heads of Department and includes recommendations on their retention. The recommendations are to be presented to Cabinet once finalised.

End

Reply:

(1) (a) The total number of Directors-General in national departments who are currently acting is ten (10).

(b) National Departments with acting Directors-General:

1. Department of Social Development
2. Department of Water and Sanitation
3. Department of Military Veterans
4. Small Business Development
5. The Presidency
6. Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development
7. Communication and Digital Technologies
8. State Security Agency
9. International Relations and Cooperation
10. Office of the Public Service Commission

(2) In terms of the regulatory framework, Regulation 63 (2) of the Public Service Regulations, 2016 states that, “an employee directed to act in another post in terms of section 32 (2) should have the necessary competency for the post to which he or she is appointed to act”. As defined in the Public Service Regulations, 2016, Competency means the combination of knowledge, skills, behaviour and aptitude that a person can apply in the work environment, which indicates a person's ability to meet the requirements of a specific post. For purposes of business continuity meeting qualifications for a post for purposes of acting is not a requirement however, noting the definition, competency to perform the duties are.

(a&b) The names of the acting Directors-General and the Departments in which they are acting:

1. Department of Social Development: Mr L Mchunu
2. Department of Water and Sanitation: Mr T Belzar
3. Department of Military Veterans: Mr DM Mgwebi
4. Small Business Development: Mr L Mkhumane
5. The Presidency: Ms L Mxenge
6. Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development
7. Communication and Digital Technologies: Ms N Jordan-Dyani
8. State Security Agency: Mr L Jafta
9. International Relations and Cooperation: Nonceba Losi
10. Office of the Public Service Commission: Ms IL Mathenjwa

End

Reply:

1. Yes, the DPSA has mechanisms to ensure Batho Pele principles are entrenched in the Public Service.

Chapter 10 of the Constitution mandates the MPSA to ensure professionalization of the Public Service with high standards of the professional ethics. To this effect, MPSA launched the Public Service Professionalization Consultation Process led by the National School of Government.

The Public Service Act 1994 empowers the MPSA to ensure transformation, reform, innovation as well as any other matters that improves the efficacy of the Public Service. Policy Frameworks such as The White Paper on Transformation of the Public Service (1995), The White Paper on Transforming the Public Service Delivery (1997) are central to the implementation of the Batho Pele Principles approach in the public service.

2. Amongst others, mechanisms to ensure Batho Pele principles are entrenched in the Public Service are:-

2.1. Public Service Charter (2013) which accelerates the Batho Pele policy as a social contract between the Public Service and organised labour in ensuring quality services to the citizenry.

2.2. National Batho Pele Forums consisting of both national and provincial departments coordinators.

2.3. Implementation of the “Khaedu” programme that is centred on the deployment of Senior Members Service employees to various frontline government department to monitor, ensure compliance and redress of the delivery of services to the people.

2.4. National Batho Pele Excellence Awards is one of the key mechanism that the DPSA host annually to celebrate those employees who has mastered the implementation of the Batho Pele principles.

3. Impact of the specified measures and/or mechanisms on the public service and its ability to deliver services to our people

3.1. The Department host the Integrated Government-Wide Public Service Month in September annually to lead the entire government in assessing the impact of public service delivery in line with the Batho Pele principles.

3.2. The major impact was demonstrated currently during the COVID-19 pandemic, where the public servants who are working in the front line were able to deliver quality public service by living the ethos of Batho Pele principles

END

Reply:

(1) (a) At national government, the average vacancy rate is 9%.

(b) At provincial government, the average vacancy rate is 12%.

Disaggregation per department is as per the attached Excel Spreadsheet.

(2) The vacancy rate does impact negatively on service delivery and this is not unique to the Public Service. Posts that remain unfilled do have an impact on the operational efficiency of an organisation. The average vacancy rate in the Public Service is approximately 12% which is above the set 10% target. The Department of Public Service and Administration monitors the vacancy rate and communicates with departments on the urgent need to fill vacant posts.

The Minister for the Public Service and Administration has addressed FOSAD on this matter and the Director-General of the Department of Public Service and Administration has presented the compliance report regarding the vacancy rate. Presentations made to FOSAD as well as the GSCID Cluster articulate the impact of vacant posts on service delivery and the non-compliance with legal prescripts, norms and standards on the filling of vacant posts.

The 2020/21 APP highlights Annual Compliance Report as one of the deliverables. This report identifies areas of compliance and non-compliance and most importantly, design technical intervention measures to support struggling departments. A partnership is being sought with the Auditor-General of South Africa to include vacancy management in the areas being audited as part of elevating the matter.

REPLY ORIGINATOR

Name: Mr M Wilson

Designation: Acting Deputy Director-General: Human Resource Management Development

Contacts: 082 903 0552

Recommended / Not recommended

Recommended / Not recommended

_________________

Ms Yoliswa Makhasi

Director-General: Department of Public Service and Administration

Date:

Recommended / Not Recommended

______________________

Ms Sindisiwe Chikunga, MP

Deputy Minister for the Public Service and Administration

Date:

Approved/ Not approved

____________________

Mr Senzo Mchunu, MP

Minister for the Public Service and Administration

Date:

Reply:

The National School of Government reporting to the Minister of Department of Public Service and Administration

(a) Spent a total amount of R15,089,360.38 on consultants for the period between 1 January 2020 and 31 December 2020. It should be noted that whilst the details below are reflected as payments to consultants, they do not necessarily represent the outsourcing of services for which the NSG employs people to render. For example, internal audit services are outsourced hence they appear below, inclusive of fees paid to external members of the audit committee.

Further, it should be noted that the NSG operates a Training Management IT

system which requires specialists to manage linked to the term of the contract of the software solution. Also included are the services of a temporary nurse who was contracted to provide screening services for COVID-19. Finally, we also reflect fees paid to independent contractors who are an extension of training arm. Money paid to these independent training contractors are recovered through the training fees charged to learners.

i.e. 2019/20 – 01 January 2020 – 31 March 2020 = R 9 667 710,85

2020/21 – 01 April 2020 – 31 December 2020 = R 5 421 649,53

(b) Relevant details: IT Related – Outsourced services

(i) Name of Consultant	(ii) Work done	(iii) Amount paid	2019/20 January – March 2020	2020/21 April – December 2020
The Training Room online	Management of the Moodle eLearning platform	R1,467,226.18	R290,151.17	R1,177,075.01
Esoftware Solutions	Management of the Training Management System	R736,894.16	R383,523.86	R353,370.30
Bytes System Integration	Outsourced ICT services	R2,021,343.81	R500,656.89	R1,520,686.92

(b) Relevant details: Professional Services

(i) Name of Consultant	(ii) Work done	(iii) Amount paid	2019/20 January – March 2020	2020/21 April – December 2020
Lunika Incorporated	Internal auditing services	R587,867.36	R222,701.39	R365,165.97
Nkosi	Audit Committee Member	R39,861.00	R12,978.00	R26,883.00
Peense	Audit Committee Member	R81,576.00	R81,576.00	R0.00
Shikwane	Audit Committee Member	R54,721.00	R54,721.00	R0.00
Van Der Nest	Audit Committee Member	R12,978.00	R12,978.00	R0.00

(b) Relevant details: Research

(i) Name of Consultant	(ii) Work done	(iii) Amount paid	2019/20 January – March 2020	2020/21 April – December 2020
Blue Oceans Information Solution	Research and Development Consultants	R338,100.00	R0.00	R338,100.00
De Waal Research	Research and Development Consultants	R18,960.00	R0.00	R18,960.00
Kula Development and Business	Research and Development Consultants	R149,130.00	R0.00	R149,130.00
Lokisa Human Development Solution	Research and Development Consultants	R21,000.00	R0.00	R21,000.00

(b) Relevant details: Nurse – Covid-19 screening

(i) Name of Consultant	(ii) Work done	(iii) Amount paid	2019/20 January – March 2020	2020/21 April – December 2020
Revolution Human Capital	Professional nurse – covid-19 screening at the department	R117,142.19	R0.00	R117,142.19

(b) Relevant details: Training related (recovered from training fees)

(i) Name of Consultant	(ii) Work done	(iii) Amount paid	2019/20 January – March 2020	2020/21 April – December 2020
Various Experts as per attached spreadsheet (attached)	Training of National and Provincial departments and Local Government	R9,387,290.68	R8,107,934.54	R1,279,356.14

(b) Relevant details: Verification Agencies

(i) Name of Consultant	(ii) Work done	(iii) Amount paid	2019/20 January – March 2020	2020/21 April – December 2020
Honeycomb Bee Rating	Verification of B-BBEE status	R51,750.00	0.00	R51,750.00
SA Qualifications Authority	Verification of qualifications	R3,520.00	R490.00	R3,030.00

End

Reply:

Introduction:

The Centralised Early Retirement initiative in 2019 was considered in response to managing the wage bill as well as a need identified for employees wishing to exit the Public Service before the official retirement age. Eligible employees must have turned 55 but not yet 60 years of age, during the financial years 2019 to 2021. National Treasury was to be approached by departments for the provision of additional funding, in cases where departments could not pay the liability attached to early retirement, on behalf of eligible employees. This meant that an employee taking early retirement would be treated as if he/she would be retiring normally. As National Treasury was providing funding for this initiative, the response to the question is based on the information supplied by National Treasury.

(1)(a)(i) The number of applications, for early retirement, received by National Treasury for processing by December 2020 from both national and provincial departments was 5 289.

(1)(a)(i)(aa) The available information is not disaggregated by departments or specific provinces. From the total number of applications for early retirement, 3 332 applications were from National Departments, and

(1)(a)(i)(bb) 1957 applications were from the Provinces.

(1)(a)(ii) 2 964 applications were recommended for funding and communicated to the respective national departments. Approval for early retirement vests with the relevant Executive Authority. The Technical Committee on Finance (TCF) decided that all applications from provincial departments be referred to the provincial Treasuries to process. The Applications from Provincial Departments were therefore processed and financed through the relevant provincial treasury.

(1)(a)(iii) all eligible applications submitted for central funding were processed and feedback provided to the relevant national departments. Each Provincial Treasury processed applications for the respective province and has such information.

(1)(b) no decision was taken not to process any eligible application made at the national level.

(1)(c) refer to (1)(b) above.

(2) Various measures are considered to better manage personnel expenditure in the Public Service. At this point in time there are no plans to re-introduce a centrally funded Early Retirement Incentive, similar to the incentive that applied in 2019. Early Retirement is regulated and is vested with the relevant Executive Authority. Nothing prohibits departments from encouraging their employees to take early retirement in terms of the current provisions. In August 2020, National Treasury issued Guidelines for Costing and Budgeting for Compensation of Employees for the preparation of estimates of expenditure for the 2021 Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF). The Guidelines encouraged departments to implement compensation containment measures, such as Early Retirement without penalisation, among others.

(3) There is no evidence that older employees are necessarily less productive than younger employees or vice versa. Experience, institutional memory and maturity are highly valued by employers. Incentivising exits, is therefore not a mutually exclusive process from considerations such as service delivery continuity, human resource planning, recruitment, utilization, development and retention.

The process of applying for early retirement is the same as applying for normal retirement with the additional consideration of penalties for early retirement. The Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) applies the same formula to both normal and early retirement. Any changes to the process may affect the Government Employees Pension Law and Rules as there is an adjustment factor applicable to early retirement.

End

Reply:

1(a) As at 31 January 2021, the number of government employees receiving the housing allowance was 958 705. The breakdown is as follows: 710 173 employees are for home ownership, 240 194 employees are tenants and 8338 are employees still receiving the old housing allowance.

1(a)(i) The table hereunder provides aggregate information, as at 31st January 2021, on employees that are receiving the housing allowance per province and in national departments.

Province and National	Number of employees
Eastern Cape	95 040
Free State	41 006
Gauteng	122 960
KwaZulu Natal	145 358
Limpopo	86 588
Mpumalanga	59 428
North West	45 060
Northern Cape	16 250
Western Cape	49 009
All Provinces (Sub Total)	660 699
National	298 006
Grand Total	958705

1(a)(ii) Information on employees receiving the housing allowance per department (National and provincial departments) is reflected on Annexure A.

1(a)(iii) Information on employees, per salary level 1 to 10 including 11 to 12 for the Occupational Special Dispensation (OSD), is reflected on Annexure B. Employees who are not owning nor renting any accommodation do not receive the housing allowance. Employees who are on middle management (MMS) and senior management service (SMS) levels (11 – 16) respectively and are on Total Cost to Employer salary packages do not receive a separate housing allowance. However, they are able to access other services of the Scheme, such as education and counselling, housing loans and housing stock facilitation, and enrolment.

1(b) As at 31st December 2020, the amount currently saved in the Individual-Linked Savings Facility (ILSF) is R 9.6 billion.

2. The DPSA has established that eligible public service employees are accessing the housing allowance benefit and that this has improved since inception of the GEHS benefits. This is demonstrated by the fact that the qualifying number of employees has almost doubled from 352 103 in July 2015 when the GEHS benefits were implemented to 710 173 employees as at 31 January 2021., A further improvement is on the reduction of the number of employees who were eligible for the historical housing allowance from 44530 in July 2015, to 8 338 employees, as at 31 January 2021.

At an employee/individual level factors, ranging from poor financial health, decisions on appropriate home locations, respective housing stock supply and affordability price ranges affect the ability of employees to obtain finance for housing loans or where to purchase, within their affordability criteria.

The access to and provision of decent housing is a national imperative and the DPSA is acutely aware of its role in acting as a catalyst for disrupting the status quo.

End

Reply:

The information requested by the Honourable Member is provided in Annual Reports tabled yearly in Parliament by departments and public entities.

Reply:

The Department received the question, reviewed its contents against its mandate and has determined that the most appropriate respondent should be the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs.

Reply:

(1) The qualifications required for a post of Deputy Director-General (DDG) are regulated in the Directive on compulsory capacity development, mandatory training days and minimum entry requirements for the Senior Management Service which was implemented on 1 April 2015. The qualifications for a Deputy Director-General post is an undergraduate qualification and a post graduate qualification (NQF level 8) as recognized by SAQA.

(2) All Deputy Director-General posts at National departments serve at Cabinet and the Minister for the Public Service and Administration performs an oversight. Should a candidate not meet the requirement, the Cabinet Memorandum does not serve at Cabinet so the appointment is not effected. Departments are often advised through circulars not only on the requirements for post but all regulatory requirements to fill posts including DDG level.

(a) The relevant details of all DDGs in National departments according to PERSAL indicates that there are currently 201 DDG posts in National government of which 135 are filled and 66 are vacant. Prior to 1 April 2015 there was no prescription on the educational requirements. In terms of professionalization, and the expected requirements, mobility is linked to the said qualifications. An individual will not be able to progress to higher levels without the said qualifications. Should a DDG have been appointed prior to 1 April 2015 such a DDG cannot be discriminated against if they currently occupy a DDG post. Should such DDGs apply for another DDG post or a Head of Department post they will not qualify in the event that they have not met the inherent requirements.

(b) The current qualification requirement is an undergraduate qualification and a post graduate qualification (NQF level 8) as recognized by SAQA as well as the inherent requirements of the post. All DDGs appointed with effect from 1 April 2015 must be in possession of those requirements. The information on qualifications for DDGs in posts is based on the data captured by departments may be incomplete or not captured and or updated on PERSAL. Where no information is reflected the department has not captured the qualification, Annexure A.

(c) An employee at a level below a DDG or at the level of a DDG can be appointed to act in a DDG post, therefore there are circumstances where employees are acting laterally. Acting in a post is not captured on PERSAL as the period are generally short. However, when an employee is receiving an acting allowance such acting in a higher post is captured on PERSAL. Based on PERSAL, there are currently six (6) Chief Directors receiving an acting allowance in DDG posts.

END

Reply:

The difference between salary level 11 and 13 is R324 069.

End

Reply:

Non-compliance letters were issued to all of the above-mentioned departments (a) (i) (ii) (iii)(iv) (v) and (b) for failing to submit misconduct cases for the fourth quarter of the 2019-2020 financial year. Departments were given up to 30 October 2020 to provide the information to the Office of the Director-General for the Department of Public Service and Administration, including reasons for failing to comply. Only Military Veterans responded (on 18 August 2020) and indicated that the document was delayed due to a technical glitch. To address non-compliance, letters will be directed before the end of November 2020 to the indicated Heads of Department to express dissatisfaction regarding the matter, to request that steps be taken to prevent a repeat of the situation, and to request disciplinary action to be taken against those responsible for the delay. The Minister of Public Service and Administration will also direct similar letters to the relevant Executive Authorities.

End

Reply:

The details of cases of misconduct that were reported in his department (DPSA) are as follows:

MISCONDUCT	DETAILS
a) Financial misconduct and the amounts involved in each case	None
b) Amounts of irregular expenditure	R505 677.95
c) Absenteeism and the period thereof	None
d) Dishonesty/Misrepresentation (Case initially captured as misrepresentation. The employee was found guilty on charge of dishonesty)	DPSA had one case of dishonesty in the 4th quarter. The case was finalised on 08 October 2020. The employee was found guilty and given the following sanctions: One month salary suspension without pay; Final written warning; and Corrective counselling.
e) Assault	None
f) Damage to state property and amount thereof	None
g) Contravention of code of conduct	None
h) Failure to carry out lawful order	None
i) Poor work performance	None
j) Sexual harassment	None

The information used to compile the above table was obtained from the 4th quarter FOSAD report for the 2019/2020 financial year.

The details of cases of misconduct that were reported in each province are as follows:

The information for the response to the question of misconduct cases reported in each province is based on information obtained from provinces during the 2018/2019 financial year, as the report on Financial Misconduct for the 2019/2020 financial year is work in progress and has not been finalized.

a) Financial misconduct cases reported by provincial departments for the 2018/2019 financial year and the amounts involved:

	CASES REPORTED BY PROVINCIAL DEPARTMENTS
1	Corruption
2	Fruitless and wasteful expenditure
3	Theft
4	Fraud
5	Gross negligence
6	Irregular expenditure
7	Misappropriation and abuse

AMOUNTS INVOLVED
Eastern Cape	R159 133 173.38
Free State	R121 333.19
Gauteng	R2 266 030.81
KwaZulu-Natal	R2 477 190.40
Limpopo	R941 159.70
Mpumalanga	R217 055.54
Northern Cape	R599 054.35
North West	R13 100.00
Western Cape	R983 569.11
Total: Provinces	R166 751 666.48

b) The Public Service Commission is not in a position to provide information with regards to the amounts involved in irregular expenditure, as the institution does not keep such records.

(c) - (j): Information is available for the following provinces:

Eastern Cape	Total Number
c) Absenteeism	8
d) Dishonesty	1
e) Assault	3
f) Damage to State property and amount thereof	2
g) Contravention of code of conduct	8
h) Failure to carry out lawful order	Not available
i) Poor Work Performance	0
j) Sexual Harassment	4
Free State	Total number
(c) Absenteeism	6
(d) Dishonesty	30
(e) Assault	42
(f) Damage to state property and amount thereof	0
(g) Contravention of code of conduct	2
(h) Failure to carry out lawful order	Not available
(i) Poor Work Performance	0
(j)Sexual Harassment	3
KwaZulu-Natal
(c) Absenteeism	2
(d) Dishonesty	0
(e) Assault	1
(f) Damage to state property and amount thereof	0
(g) Contravention of code of conduct	1
(h) Failure to carry out lawful order	Not available
i) Poor Work Performance	2
j) Sexual Harassment	0
Limpopo	Total number
(c) Absenteeism	1
(d) Dishonesty	2
(e) Assault	0
(f) Damage to State property and amount thereof	1
(g) Contravention of code of conduct	1
(h) Failure to carry out lawful order	Not available
(i) Poor Work Performance	0
(j) Sexual Harassment	1
Northern Cape	Total number
(c) Absenteeism	13
(d) Dishonesty	0
(e) Assault	4
(f) Damage to State property and amount thereof	1
(g) Contravention of code of conduct	1
(h) Failure to carry out lawful order	Not available
(i) Poor Work Performance	0
(j) Sexual Harassment	1
North West
c) Absenteeism	11
d) Dishonesty	4
ec) Assault	4
f) Damage to state property and amount thereof	0
g) Contravention of code of conduct	2
h) Failure to carry out lawful order	Not available
i) Poor Performance	1
j) Sexual Harassment	4

End

Reply:

The following information is based on the 4th quarter FOSAD reports received from the Department of Public Service and Administration and the Provinces:

a) Department of Public Service and Administration:

(i) Insubordination:

Name of Department	No. of officials	Cost	Reason for disciplinary action being instituted	Period of suspension	Status of the case	Reasons for the case not to be concluded
DPSA	1	None	Insubordination	None	Sourcing a new chairperson	Sourcing a new chairperson

(ii)- (x) No cases reported.

b) Provinces:

The offences (i) to (x) are reflected in the table below.

Provinces	Name of Department	No. of officials	Cost	Reasons for disciplinary action being instituted	Period of suspension	Reasons for case not be concluded
Eastern Cape	DSRAC	2	R 1 439 542,80 R 1 194 770,3	(ii)Negligence and/or failure to comply with procurement procedures	281 days each employee	Interference with investigation x 2
Free State	COGTA	2	None	(i)Insubordination	None	Not indicated
	Pubic Roads and Transport	1	R 258 744,64	(i)Insubordination	88 days	Uplifted on 15 May 2020
	Office of the Premier	1	R 1 023 645,00	(x) theft, fraud and bribery	365 days	Postponement
	Health	2	R 25 189,58 R30 567,96	(x) theft, fraud and bribery	60 days each employee	Suspension uplifted
	Education	2	R 156 294,81 R 214 091,01	(x) theft, fraud and bribery	425 days each employee	The matter has been finalised, awaiting finding of the chairperson
	Public Works and Infrastructure	7	R 108 680,88 R126 152,78 R 126 152,78 R 195 454,00	(x) theft, fraud and bribery	23/09/2019 to date x 3, 20/12/2019 to date x 3, 16/1/2020 x 1 to date	National lockdown has hampered progress
Gauteng	Health	1	R 115 762, 68	Insubordination	45 days	In progress
	Provincial Treasury	1	n/a	Insubordination	n/a	Postponement
	Health	1	R 133 770,21	(ii)Negligence and/ or failure to comply with procurement procedures	52 days	In progress
	Sports, Arts Culture and Recreation	2	R 637 596,75 R497 365, 86	(ii)Negligence and/ or failure to comply with procurement procedures	226 days 184 days	Ongoing/ waiting for verdict
	Provincial Treasury	3	n/a	(ii)Negligence and/ or failure to comply with procurement procedures	n/a	Postponement
	Provincial Treasury	2	None	(iv)Intimidation	Not indicated	Investigating officer not yet appointed
	Health	1	n/a	(vi)Being drunk on duty	n/a	Postponement
	Sports, Arts Culture and Recreation	1	n/a	(vi)Being drunk on duty	n/a	Postponement
KwaZulu-Natal	Education	1	R 13 378,64	(i)Insubordination	-	Pending to the outcome of hearing
	Education	3	R 25 100,00 R12 947,84 R 55166,7	(ii)Negligence and /or failure to comply with procurement procedures	30 days 30 days 44 days	Investigation in progress
	Human Settlement	5	R327 084,00 R269 162,00 R187 038,00 R47 634,00 R44 217,00	(ii)Negligence and /or failure to comply with procurement procedures	60 days x4 150 days	Matter part-heard and will be proceeding in mid-April. Suspension extended x 4
	Education	3	R 67661,5 R 17226,35 R 19287,85 R 162 508,4 R 90848,4	(x)Theft, fraud and bribery	30 days 30 days 44 days 150 days x 2	Suspension reviewed and return to work approved subject to alternative placement. Investigation in progress x 4
	EDTEA	3	R 46 673,00 R 63 884,05 R 58 996,15	(x)Theft, fraud and bribery	60 days each employee	Interfere with witnesses
	Arts and Culture	1	R 710 722,05	(x)Theft, fraud and bribery	265 days	Hearing has commenced and in process.
Limpopo	Health	1	R 32 975,25	(i)Insubordination	30 days	Investigation
	Public Works & Infrastructure	1	Not indicated	(ii)Negligence and /or failure to comply with procurement procedures	375 days	Hearing pending
	Agriculture	2	R 697595,92 R347048,32	(ii)Negligence and /or failure to comply with procurement procedures	150 days 90 days	Under investigation x 2
	Health	1	R 35 819,22	(iii)Dereliction of duty	150 days	Not indicated
	Health	1	Not indicated	(iv)Intimidation	120 days	Investigation
	Health	4	Not indicated	(x)Theft, fraud and bribery	60 days x3 30 days	Investigation
Northern Cape	Office of the Premier	3	n/a	(i)Insubordination	n/a	Matter not reported
	Office of the Premier	3		(ii)Negligence and /or failure to comply with procurement procedures		Matter not reported
	Office of the Premier	2	n/a	(vi)Being drunk on duty	n/a	Charge sheet forwarded to the HOD for signature
	Office of the Premier	3	n/a	(x)Theft, fraud and bribery	48 days	Sanction pending
North West	Health	1	R 60 447,90	(ii)Negligence and /or failure to comply with procurement procedures	180 days	Under investigation
	Agriculture	1	R 182 443,16	(iii)Dereliction of duty	2019/11/20 to date	None
	Health	3	R 537 405,21 R 55 248,00 R 50 692,00	(iii)Dereliction of duty	270 days	Unavailability of presiding officers
	Health	1	R 23 188,50	(x)Theft, fraud and bribery	60 days	Under investigation
Western Cape	Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport	2	n/a	(i)Insubordination (ii)Negligence and /or failure to comply with procurement procedures	79 days 100 days	Resigned Dismissed

End

Reply:

(1)(a) He was employed in the Branch: Policy, Research and Analysis as a Deputy Director: Learning and Knowledge Management (Case Study Writer/Analyst) on salary level 11, up to 31 October 2020. The department has offered him a post of Deputy Director: Knowledge Management in Branch: e-Government Services and Information Management due to the revised Organisational Structure with effect from 1 November 2020. He has not held a position within Corporate Services in the Department.

(1)(b) He has a Matric and a Diploma in Journalism.

(2)(c) The person is employed as Deputy Director on salary level 11. The requirements for the advertised post of Deputy Director-General Administration, which includes the management of Corporate Services, are as follows:

`An appropriate SAQA recognised undergraduate qualification and a post graduate qualification (at NQF. 8) in either Public Administration, Social Sciences, Business Management, Law, Human Resources or Finance. At least minimum of 8-10 years appropriate experience at a Senior Management level with demonstrable requisite technical skills. Knowledge of the Government legislative framework, Public Service legislative and Policy Framework, Government Medium Term Strategic Framework linked to the National Development Plan. Advanced knowledge of public policy analysis and policy development processes, Stakeholder management and coordination, Strategic thinking and leadership, Research skills, Financial Management and Human Resource Management.

(3)(a) The requirements for the position of DDG: Administration were not lowered; and

(3)(b) Ms Linda Dludla was appointed in the post of DDG: Administration in January 2017.

End

Reply:

1. No. The appointment of employees in the National Treasury is the responsibility of the Minister of Finance.

2. The post of Community Outreach Officer in the Office of a Minister is benchmarked at salary level 11 (R733 257 – R863 748).

End

Reply:

The scores were not lowered prior to Ms. Ngqolombe being appointed as an Administrator on 7 January 2002 or prior to her being promoted to Labour Relations Officer on 1 June 2006.

a) No; the score sheetswere not altered when Ms. Ngqolombe was appointed.

b) &(c) The postof Administrator was on salary level 5 and the Labour Relations Officer on salary level 6.

End

Reply:

The Department of Public Service and Administration is mandated by section 94 of the Public Service Regulations toissue the information security standard for the public service, after consultation with the relevant Ministers.

On the 2nd of June 2017 the DPSA and GITOC Security Committee (SCISS) issued the ICT Security Guidelines for implementation by the national and provincial departments within their respective departments.

The purpose of these ICT Security guidelines is to create an enabling ICT security environment and to address the security risks and weaknesses in e-governance systems.

Section 11 of the DPSA ICT Security Guidelines particularly covers the aspects of access management and acquisition of information systems as they relate to securing e-governance systems.

The ICT Security Guidelines cover a number of areas in relation to securing e-governance systems. Those include:

Section 11.7 – Information Systems Acquisitions, Development & Maintenance

Section 11.6 – Access Management

Section 11.10 – Third Party Management

Section 11.11 – Compliance

Section 11.12 – Intellectual Property Rights

The DPSA ICT Security Guidelines are currently being converted into a Public Service Information Security Standard to strengthen compliance.

End

Reply:

The details of these salary ranges and notches for employees appointed in terms of the Public Service Act,1994 and who are below the Senior Management Service, are contained in DPSA Circular No 10 of 2019 dated 28 March 2019. This circular can be accessed on the DPSA website at:

http://www.dpsa.gov.za/dpsa2g/documents/rp/2019/18_1_p_28_03_2019.pdf

The details of the salary ranges and notches applicable to the members of the Senior Management Service appointed in terms of the Public Service Act, 1994 are contained in DPSA Circular 19 of 2019 dated 2 July 2019. This circular can be accessed on the DPSA website at:

http://www.dpsa.gov.za/dpsa2g/documents/rp/2019/18_1_4_02_07_2019.pdf

End

Reply:

(a) 

(i) The total number of fulltime shop stewards elected by labour unions and paid by the state in the Public Service is 395.

(ii) The total number of elected National office bearers electedby labour unions that are employed and paid by the State in the public service is 32.

b) Breakdown of the number of (i) full-time shop stewards and (ii) national office bearers elected by labour unions employed and paid by the State in the public service in each (aa) national government department, (bb) provincial government department and (cc) public sector labour union is attached hereto as TagA1.

End

Reply:

a) The average salary levels paid to full-time shop stewardswho are elected by labour unions and are employed in the public service is R 309 860,00.

b) The average salary levels paid to National office bearers who are elected by labour unions and are employed in the public service is R 486 653,00.

End

Reply:

1. 

a) The total annual amount spent by the State on the payment of salaries, bonuses, housing allowances and medical allowances of full-time shop for the month ending 30 September 2020 is R 11 812 808.00

b) The total annual amount spent by the State on the payment of salaries, bonuses, housing allowances and medical allowances of national office bearers for the month ending 30 September 2020 is R 2 502 558,00.

2. Based on the information received, there are no senior managers elected by labour unions as office bearers or full time shop stewards in the public service.

End

Reply:

Yes, Government departments have adhered to the monitoring tool to obtain statistics in terms of discipline management, which the DPSA put in place in January 2012 and November 2014.

a) n/a

b) The steps taken in order to ensure compliance are:-

• The DPSA reported non-compliance of departments to the relevant Portfolio Committee.
• The Director-General (DG) of the DPSA addressed non-compliance of departments in the Forum of South African Directors-General and provided the Minister for the Public Service and Administration with quarterly reports, indicating those departments that did not report.
• The DG for the DPSA followed-up with the heads of departments who omitted to submit their statistics.
• The DPSA issued non-compliance letters (in terms of Section 16 A (4) of the Public Service Act,1994) to those departments who did not submit their statistics.
• The Minister for the Public Service and Administration (MPSA) hosted contact sessions with Executive Authorities of those departments identified to have suspensions older than one year, where they discussed the reasons for the delay in finalizing cases and support was offered by the DPSA to rectify the situation. MPSA met with the Premier of North West, the Premier of the Northern Cape, the Premier of Kwa-Zulu Natal, the Premier of the Free State, as well as the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology and the Minister of Justice and Correctional Services.
• To support departments, the discussions between the political heads were followed by workshops conducted by the DPSA. These workshops took place in the North West Province, Kwa-Zulu Natal, Mpumalanga, Free State, the Northern Cape and the Department of Correctional Services.
• The DPSA developed a new reporting tool for precautionary suspensions, and since September, those departments with long overdue suspensions are using it to capture their information on a database that is used by the DPSA for monitoring purposes.The DPSA uses the information obtained during workshops to draft a strategy to address backlogs of disciplinary cases and to develop a Guide on Discipline Management.

End

Reply:

(a) (i) In terms of information on PERSAL as at 31 May 2020, 62 581 employees have been appointed on temporary basis. Attached is a breakdown of temporary appointments per department (Annexure A).

(ii) The breakdown from PERSAL as at 31 May 2020 on the permanent organogram in terms of staff structures of each specified department is attached at (Annexure B).

(iii) and (iv) Budget and expenditure details for the relevant contracted positions can be obtained from the National Treasury.

(b) Persons may be employed to contracted positions additional to the establishment of a department based on a temporary need and such appointments are in terms of Regulation 57 (2) where;

• The incumbent of a post is expected to be absent for such a period that his/her duties cannot be performed by other employees;
• A temporary increase in work occurs or it is necessary for any other reason to temporarily increase the staff of the department;
• An employee’s post has been abolished and he or she cannot be transferred into another post; and
• An employee is part of a development programme as contemplated in regulation 58 (Development Programmes: Internship)

Appointments of this nature are for a period that must not exceed 12 consecutive calendar months.

2. The following 10 departments were merged on 01 April 2020 to coincide with budget appropriations for the 2020/21 financial year:

No.	Departments that Merged	New Merged Departments
1.	Agriculture	Rural Development and Land Reform	Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development
2.	Communications	Telecommunications and Postal Services	Communications and Digital Technologies
3.	Mineral Resources	Energy	Mineral Resources and Energy
4.	Sport and Recreation South Africa	Arts and Culture	Sports, Arts and Culture
5.	Trade and Industry	Economic Developments	Trade, Industry and Competition

3 (a) The process of placement has not yet been concluded. Consultations with organized labour are underway in the affected departments on the matching and placing of the staff of the merged departments. Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC) Resolution 1 of 2019 provides guidelines on the identification, transfer and placement of staff in a transparent, fair and inclusive process.

(b) The agreement provides that excess employees not matched and placed, be held additional to the post establishment. The employer must apply measures to enhance redeployment including training of employees additional to the establishment to meet the requirements of vacant posts.

A National Implementation Task Team comprising of the employer and organised labour under the auspices of the PSCBC will monitor implementation. Departmental Task Teams are established to facilitate the process of matching and placing.

End

Reply:

(a) Yes, the Department of Public Service and administration has specified criteria in place regarding the number of officials who should attend the committee meetings in the Parliament of the Republic of South Africa.

(b)(i) The criteria for attending committee meetings in Parliament is included in the departmental Travel Policy which states the following “The number of employees attending official engagement on the same matter must be limited to 3 employees from the department. If the number exceeds 3, approval must be obtained from the Accounting Officer. The Accounting Officer, Deputy Directors-General or employees holding an equivalent rank, Ministerial advisors appointed in terms of section 12A of the Public Service Act and other EXCO members reporting directly to the Accounting Officer, people performing Parliamentary duty and the Chairperson and Secretary to the Public Service Remuneration Review Commission (PSSRS) do not contribute to the three (3) employees mentioned above.”

END

Reply:

(1)(a) What number of calls were logged with the Anti-Corruption Hotline during 2019-20?

During the 2019/2020 financial year, a total of 70 500 incoming calls were logged with the National Anti-Corruption Hotline (NACH). 68 909 of the incoming calls include answered calls, unanswered calls and abandoned (dropped calls), enquiries, wrong numbers, children playing, abusive calls, calls with inadequate information, calls relating to institutions outside the Public Service, requests for feedback and additional information to a previous case reports. (The NACH keeps track of all incoming calls for monitoring the efficiency of the call centre).

(b) the specified calls resulted in (i) cases being opened,

1591 case reports were generated and referred to relevant departments/ public entities for investigation.

• 1007cases were relating to social grants fraud and all these cases were referred to SASSA for investigation. The monetary value of the cases referred to SASSA amounts to R216 799 29. 65, with the recovery of R106 263. 45;
• 76 cases were investigated by the PSC and these cases were concluded and closed on the NACH system; and
• 508 cases are outstanding and are being investigated.

(b)(ii) cases being prosecuted or, (iii) successful convictions.

The following table lists 18 cases inwhich officials were found guilty of misconduct.

ITEM NO	NAME OF DEPARTMENT	NATURE OF ALLEGATIONS	SANCTION IMPOSED
1	Water and Sanitation	Alleged abuse of state vehicle and company time	Final Written Warning
2	Water and Sanitation	Alleged abuse of Government resources	Final written warning and two months suspension without pay
3	Water and Sanitation	Alleged misuse of State vehicle	Final Written Warning
4	Water and Sanitation	Alleged misuse of state vehicle	Final Written Warning
5	Home Affairs	Alleged solicitation of bribes from foreign national in exchange for issuing them with fraudulent South African document	Dismissal
6	Home Affairs	Alleged unethical behaviour	Dismissal
7	Home Affairs	Alleged fraud	Final Written Warning and one month salary suspension.
8	Justice and Constitutional Development	Alleged absenteeism without submitting a leave form	An amount of R1 427.69 was recovered from the official in six monthly instalments.
9	Correctional Services	Alleged unethical behaviour	Demotion
10	Correctional Services	Alleged theft (3 officials)	Written warnings (2 X officials) Final Written warning (1 X official)
11	Correctional Services	Alleged submitting of fraudulent matric certificate	Resignation. A criminal case of fraud has been opened with the SAPS
12	Correctional Services	Alleged unethical behaviour	Written Warning
13	Correctional Services	Alleged unethical behaviour	Warning
14	Correctional Services	Alleged appointment irregularities	Dismissal
15	Home Affairs	Alleged abuse of government resources	Final Written Warning
16	SAPS	Alleged unethical behaviour	A case of theft has been opened with the SAPS
17	DOJ&CD	Alleged misuse of a state-owned vehicles	Final Written Warning and two months suspension without pay
18	Correctional Services	Alleged cover up of assault	42 days segregation and demotion. A criminal case of murder has been opened with the SAPS.

(iv) cases that are still open or pending;

508 cases are outstanding and are being investigated.

(2) whether he will make a statement on the matter?

The Public Service Commission has issued the information at a virtual media briefing held on 24 June 2020.

Reply:

Around 2002 the vision for a Single Public Service was conceived and since then work has been done towards the realisation thereof. The objective of this Single Public Service (now referred to as the Single Public Administration) was underpinned by the need to improve service delivery through harmonisation of norms and standards to align human resource, Governance, Information Communication Technology and related arrangements in all three spheres of government i.e national, provincial and local government, taking into account the constitutional imperatives. To this extent the Public Administration Management Act, 2014 was enacted which, to a limited extent, addressed some of the objectives of the Single Public Administration such as-

A) The mobility of staff between the spheres of government- sections 5 and 6 of the Public Administration Management Act make transfers and secondments across spheres of government possible;

b) The provision of service centres to provide services of the 3 spheres of government at one place is provide for in section 18 of the Public Administration Management Act;

c) The creation of a common ethos and culture of public service- principles of section 195 of the Constitution is recognised in section 4 of the Public Administration Management Act;

d) The provision for an anti-corruption strategy and standards of conduct- provided for in section 15 of the Public Administration Management Act;

e) Ensuring the creation of norms and standards for e-government governance, information and communication technology throughout the public administration- section 14 of the Public Administration Management Act; and

f) Providing for the professionalisation of the public administration through training and development- Chapter 4 of the Public Administration Management Act.

We are currently focused on the full implementation of the Public Administration Management Act, which includes promulgation of relevant regulations and may include amendments to address areas where there have been challenges experienced in its implementation or where new policy is required to be introduced. Once the work required to be done to inform such an amendment is completed, we will be better placed to indicate the details thereof.

Reply:

Questions 1 and 2

According to information received from National Treasury the salary adjustments granted to members at the various salary levels of the Senior Management Service (SMS), in real and nominal terms, between the 2009/10 and 2019/20 financial years, are reflected in the table below. No final decision on salary adjustments for the SMS for the 2020/21 financial year has been taken yet.

	2009/10	2010/11	2011/12	2012/13	2013/14	2014/15	2015/16	2016/17	2017/18	2018/19	2019/20	Total
Consumer Price Index	6,5%	3,8%	5,5%	5,5%	5,8%	5,6%	5,2%	6,3%	4,7%	4,6%	4,2%	57,7%
Cost of living adjustment (COLA)	Nominal salary growth (COLA)
Salary Level 13	10,5%	6,0%	5,0%	5,0%	5,6%	6,2%	5,5%	4,0%	5,5%	6,0%	5,2%	64,5%
Salary Level 14	10,5%	6,0%	5,0%	5,0%	5,6%	5,7%	5,5%	2,5%	5,5%	5,5%	5,2%	62,0%
Salary Level 15	10,5%	6,0%	5,0%	5,0%	5,6%	5,7%	5,5%	2,5%	5,5%	5,5%	5,2%	62,0%
Salary Level 16	10,5%	6,0%	5,0%	5,0%	5,6%	5,7%	5,5%	2,0%	5,5%	5,5%	5,2%	61,5%
	Real salary growth
Salary Level 13	3,8%	2,1%	-0,5%	-0,5%	-0,2%	0,6%	0,3%	-2,2%	0,8%	1,3%	1,0%	6,5%
Salary Level 14	3,8%	2,1%	-0,5%	-0,5%	-0,2%	0,1%	0,3%	-3,6%	0,8%	0,9%	1,0%	4,1%
Salary Level 15	3,8%	2,1%	-0,5%	-0,5%	-0,2%	0,1%	0,3%	-3,6%	0,8%	0,9%	1,0%	4.1%
Salary Level 16	3,8%	2,1%	-0,5%	-0,5%	-0,2%	0,1%	0,3%	-4,0%	0,8%	0,9%	1,0%	3,7%

Question 3

The number of Senior Management Service employees in the Public Service as on 30 June 2020, per salary level, is reflected in the following table:

Salary level	Number
13	6 805
14	2 173
15	503
16	126
Total	9 607

Data source: PERSAL

Excluding Defence and State Security Agency

Excluding resignations up to 30 June 2020

Reply:

1. The total allocated to the National School of Government was:

a) 2015/16 – R 140.4 million of which R47.8 million was transferred to the Trading Account. The trading Account then raised R 68.4 million of its own revenue.

2016/17 – R 88.6 million there was no allocation for the Trading Account. The Trading Account generated its own revenue of R137 million.

2017/18 – R 153.9 million of which R63.6 million was transferred to the Trading Account. The Trading Account generated its own revenue of R 115 million.

2018/19 – R 168.9 million of which R 72.8 million was transferred to the Trading Account. The Trading Account generated its own revenue of R 151.7 million.

2019/20 – R 187.9 million of which R84.8 million was transferred to the Trading Account. The Trading account generated its own revenue of R154.2 million

(b) from 1 April 2020 – R 190.6 million of which R93.7 million will be transferred to the Trading Account. The Trading Account budgeted revenue target has been revised downwards to R 75.2 million due to COVID-19 pandemic lockdown.

 

2. In repositioning for the future, the NSG is expanding its mandate in three spheres of government, state owned entities and organs of state and support the outcomes of priority 1 of MTSF (professionalising public administration). In doing so, it is critical for the NSG to intervene DIRECTLY by providing or facilitate ETD programmes; INFLUENCE (content creation of public administration, quality of ETD); and REFER (where the NSG cannot offer ETD interventions, we refer public servants to other recognised training providers esp. HEIs). The five year strategy programmes places emphasis on the quality of our ETD interventions and of those who deliver on behalf of the NSG; as well as to embrace partnerships and collaborations with public and private institutions to support ETD interventions to achieve depth and scale. In this regard, we are co-branding programmes we deliver in partnership with HEIs to grow our visibility, impact and brand value. The NSG has concluded partnerships with the following HEIs:

The NSG Programme	HEI, Geographical Allocation and Programme Recognition
EDP Contract period: Oct 2019 – Oct 2022	University of the Free State (UFS): National Participants who hold a relevant Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent qualification) may apply for admission to the Post-Graduate Diploma (Public Administration and Management) and may receive exemption for one of the six modules.
EMDP and AMDP Contract period: 1 April 2020 – 31 March 2023	North West University (NWU): N.West, Mpumalanga & Limpopo EDP: Advanced standing (exemption) in relation to some 1st year modules of the BA Public Governance AMDP: Advanced standing (exemption) in relation to all 1st year modules of the BA Public Governance
	University of the Free State (UFS): Free State & KZN EDP: Exemption from 2 modules of the Higher Cert in Management Development AMDP: Exemption from 4 modules of the Higher Cert in Management Development
	University of Forte Hare through Fort Hare Solutions (FHS): E. Cape EDP: 81 credits toward the Higher Cert in Public Admin AMDP: 85 credits toward the Advanced Cert in Public Admin
	University of the Western Cape (UWC): W.Cape & N.Cape EDP: Exemption from one 1st year module of the B Admin degree AMDP: Exemption from one 3rd year module of the B Admin degree
	Tshwane University of Technology (TUT): National Departments & GP EDP: Exemption from 1st year Nat Diploma Public Management (to become Diploma in Public Affairs) AMDP: Exemption from 1 module of the BTech Public Management (to become Advanced Diploma in Public Affairs)

The National School of Government (the NSG) has been working in partnerships with public universities for more than 10 years for the delivery of training programmes such as Integrated Management Development Programme (IMDP) and for the Legislature programmes. The Universities we have partnered with previously on the IMDP programmes include the University of Stellenbosch, Nelson Mandela University, Vaal University of Technology, University of Kwa-Zulu Natal, University of Pretoria, University of Limpopo, North West University (NWU), University of Forte Hare through Fort Hare Solutions (FHS), University of the Western Cape (UWC) and Tshwane University of Technology (TUT). On the Legislature programmes we have worked with WITS and University of Johannesburg.

The process of partnering with public universities is done through a tender process. New programmes are being explored with public universities and should bear fruits within two years – these will focus on economic governance, leadership in times of crisis (like Covid-19) and on a variety of 4iR programmes including Cyber Security and data analytics for policy making.

Over the last ten years, the training programmes in partnerships between NSG and Parliament have achieved the following based on successful participation by participants:

1. Certificate in Governance and Leadership - offered by the NSG in partnership with UNISA: Approximately 182 participants successfully completed the Certificate in Governance and Leadership; and
2. Graduate Certificate in Advanced Governance and Public Leadership - offered in partnership with the Wits University School of Governance as a short learning programme. The Graduate Certificate links to further qualification i.e. as determined by partnerships with HEIs and as determined by HEI admission requirements (PGDip in Governance and Public Leadership; MM in Governance and Public Leadership). Approximately 289 participants successfully completed the Graduate Certificate in Advanced Governance and Public Leadership.
3. Over the period of the last ten years 178 participants enrolled for the PGDIP in Governance and Public Leadership through WITS. Through the University of Johannesburg 41 participants enrolled in a Continuing Education Programme and 73 participants enrolled to complete a PGDiP at the University of Johannesburg.

3. The majority of facilitated courses offered by the NSG are accredited with a relevant quality assurance authority. These include:

• Higher Education Institutions
• Education and Training Quality Assurance bodies within the relevant Sector Education and Training Authorities, for example the Public Service Sector Education and Training Authority (PSETA); and
• Quality Council for Trades and Occupations (QCTO)

The School also offers non-credit bearing courses. The value of these courses lies in the agile development and up-skilling of public servants by developing knowledge, improving competency and enhancing practice. All courses offered by the School are approved through internal quality assurance processes. The NSG has 129 accredited and non-accredited courses/programmes of which 99 are accredited and 30 non-accredited. The details are as follows:

HEI approved	21
ETQA accredited	69
QCTO accredited	9
Total number of accredited courses/programmes (ETQA & QCTO):	99
Number of non-accredited courses/programmes	30
Grand total number of courses/programmes	129

The curriculum will be reviewed to align to the ETD needs for all salary levels (i.e. entry to exit). The NSG will also undertake the curriculum review using a peer review mechanism. The School is also building internal capacity for quality assurance and accreditation management. Furthermore, there is a process underway of establishing a Curriculum Review and Quality Assurance Committee which will also bring experts as part of continuing improvement of our curriculum and course delivery.

4. The NSG offered 9 self-paced open eLearning courses during the national lock down. Officials are able to self-register and enrol in the course or courses of their choice, which include:

1. Ethics for Internal Auditors
2. Ethics in the Public Service (Compulsory course)
3. Generally Recognised Accounting Practice (GRAP)
4. Introduction to Financial Management and Budgeting
5. Introduction to Leading Change
6. Introduction to Strategic Planning and Management
7. Know and live our Constitution
8. Policy and Procedure on Incapacity Leave and Ill-Health Retirement (PILIR)
9. Writing for Government: Basic writing skills for Executive Support

The implementation of the SMS Pre-entry Programme (Nyukela) continued during lockdown. Since the national lock down and up to the end of June 2020 there was a total of 9 156 enrolments on the NSG eLearning platform, 2166 of which were in the SMS Pre-entry Programme (Nyukela). Officials who are new to eLearning are able to self-enrol in Getting Started with eLearning, which prepares them for online learning.

The NSG in partnership with University of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (UCASS) will deliver a two weeks online Seminar on Building Governance Capacity for South Africa through the ZOOM platform starting from the 13th July 2020.

The National School of Government (NSG), in partnership with the Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities (DWYPD) will be launching in August 2020 a five-day gender course Leading Change by Championing Gender Equality. The course will be on the online platform and will cover the Mainstreaming of Gender, Gender Based Violence and Gender Responsive Planning and Budgeting.

The NSG is in the process of entering into a MOA with TIPS to develop online courses on COVID-19 and the South African Economy and South Africa’s Industrial policy and action plan. The courses will be rolled out in quarter 3 of 2020/21 financial year.

Reply:

1. Shortly after the lockdown was announced, the Minister for the Public Service and Administration issued directions in respect of service delivery and business continuity for the Public Service during the COVID-19 pandemic. These directions were communicated to departments under cover of DPSA Circular 15 of 2020, dated 25 March 2020. In essence, the directions provided that each head of department must determine appropriate work arrangements for his or her department to ensure continued service delivery during the lockdown whilst also preventing the spread of COVID-19. These arrangements should also include remote working arrangements where possible.

Due to the unique circumstances and service delivery requirements of departments, these arrangements would differ from department to department. It should also be understood that the numbers of public servants working either from their normal workplaces or remotely from home, would fluctuate constantly due to changing circumstances and work requirements.

A survey was conducted in departments to determine work arrangements during the various lockdown levels. The responses received from departments to date are captured in Annexure A.

2. During the national lockdown all public servants will continue to receive their full salaries.

The salaries of public servants are protected in terms of the provisions of the Public Service Act, 1994. Section 34 of the Act provides that the salary of an employee shall not be reduced without his or her consent except in terms of section 38 of the Act (that deals with wrongly granted remuneration), an act of Parliament or a collective agreement.

3. As far as members of the Senior Management Service (SMS) are concerned, the directions issued by the Minister for the Public Service and Administration in respect of service delivery and business continuity referred to above, provided that all members of the SMS must be available during the lockdown to render the services required of them.