Questions and Replies

Reply:

1. Yes, the Department of Public Service and Administration purchased goods and services below the amount of R500 000.00 connected to the COVID-19 pandemic.

1(a) SAFARMEX Medical Logistics, Ment Medical and Waste (Pty) Ltd, Tripharma (Pty) Ltd, BAJU Cleaning Chemicals, Breakthrough Co-operative Limited, Vitee General Dealer, Monabo Hygiene Service, Supra Latex (Pty) Ltd, Cognitive Medicals (Pty) Ltd, Sikelela Medical and Dental Supplies, Mramazing The Stylist and Tebelelo Solutions.

1(b)

• SAFARMEX Medical Logistics - R69 893.55
• Ment Medical and Waste (Pty) Ltd. - R122 700.00
• Tripharma (Pty) Ltd. - R5 999.30
• BAJU Cleaning Chemicals. - R34 500.00
• Breakthrough Co-operative Limited. - R21 395.00
• Vitee General Dealer. - R72 500.00
• Monabo Hygiene Service. - R117 886.50
• Supra Latex (Pty) Ltd - R5 520.00
• Cognitive Medicals (Pty) Ltd. - R407 855.00
• Sikelela Medical and Dental Supplies - R19 752.40
• Mramazing The Stylist - R3 600.00
• Tebelelo Solutions - R46 904.89

1(c)

• SAFARMEX Medical Logistics - 50x Automated hand sanitizer dispensers and 200x 1 litre hand sanitizer.

• Ment Medical and Waste (Pty) Ltd. - 1000x Masks, 1000x Aprons and 1000x Gloves.

• Tripharma (Pty) Ltd. - Two Infrared Thermometers.

• BAJU Cleaning Chemicals. - Hand Sanitizer, 600x 200ml bottles.

• Breakthrough Co-operative Limited. – 1100x Cloth Face Masks.

• Vitee General Dealer. - 2500x Packets of Disinfectant wipes.

• Monabo Hygiene Service. - Disinfecting Batho Pele Building.

• Supra Latex (Pty) Ltd - Four Infrared Thermometers.

• Cognitive Medicals (Pty) Ltd. - PPE's and consumables.

• Sikelela Medical and Dental Supplies - 15x Wall mounted automatic hand sanitizer dispensers and 100x litres of sanitizer for the dispensers.

• Mramazing The Stylist – 240x Cloth Face Masks.
• Tebelelo Solutions - 120x 200ml hand sanitizer, 120x Face shields, 300x Aprons, 48x 1 Litre Handheld spray sanitiser, 100x 1 litre Hand Sanitiser to refill spray bottles and 120x Sanitising wipes.

(2)

• SAFARMEX Medical Logistics – Deviation approved.
• Ment Medical and Waste (Pty) Ltd. - No Deviation.
• Tripharma (Pty) Ltd. – Deviation approved.
• BAJU Cleaning Chemicals. – No Deviation.
• Breakthrough Co-operative Limited. – No Deviation.
• Vitee General Dealer. – No Deviation.
• Monabo Hygiene Service. – Deviation approved.
• Supra Latex (Pty) Ltd – No Deviation.
• Cognitive Medicals (Pty) Ltd. – Deviation approved.
• Sikelela Medical and Dental Supplies – No Deviation.
• Mramazing The Stylist - R3 600.00 – No Deviation.
• Tebelelo Solutions - R46 904.89 – No Deviation.

2(a)(b)

• • SAFARMEX Medical Logistics – Deviation on the basis that it was the only supplier on National Treasury’s Transversal Contracts RT32-2019 and RT76-2019 who had stock from the excess of thirty suppliers engaged.
  • Tripharma (Pty) Ltd. – Deviation on the basis that from eleven (11) suppliers approached, only two responded with quotations instead of at least three quotation as prescribed by the SCM processes. Tripharma was the cheapest.
  • Monabo Hygiene Service. – Deviation on the basis that from the three (3) quotations received, two of the service providers did not quote according to specification.
  • Cognitive Medicals (Pty) Ltd. – Deviation approval on the basis that Cognitive quoted an amount of R407 855.00 which was cheaper than the other three quotations received which exceeded R500 000.00. The second quote amounted to R662 707.50, the third R944 625.00 and lastly

R1 305 083.50. The quotations which exceeded R500 000.00 were not considered as they were above the “Request for Quotation” threshold.

(3)

• SAFARMEX Medical Logistics - 50x Automated hand sanitizer dispensers and 200x 1 litre hand sanitizer for Batho Pele Building for the use by staff and visitors.
• Ment Medical and Waste (Pty) Ltd. - 1000x Masks, 1000x Aprons and 1000x Gloves for in-house Cleaners to use during cleaning operations.
• Tripharma (Pty) Ltd. - Two Infrared Thermometers to check body temperature of DPSA officials and visitors entering the Department.
• BAJU Cleaning Chemicals. - Hand Sanitizer, 600x 200ml bottles for DPSA officials who make use of public transport.
• Breakthrough Co-operative Limited. – 1100x Cloth Face Masks for the issuing and use by DPSA officials.
• Vitee General Dealer. – 2500x Packets of Disinfectant wipes for the issuing thereof to DPSA officials for the disinfection of workstations and submissions.
• Monabo Hygiene Service. - Disinfecting Batho Pele Building. Disinfection of the building prior to officials returning to work in a staggered approach.
• Supra Latex (Pty) Ltd - Four Infrared Thermometers. Additional two thermometers for the use at Batho Pele Building and two for the use at the Thusong Service Centre located at Maponya Mall in Soweto.
• Cognitive Medicals (Pty) Ltd. - PPE's and consumables. Replenishment of PPE’s and consumables to be used by DPSA officials at Batho Pele Building.
• Sikelela Medical and Dental Supplies - 15x Wall mounted automatic hand sanitizer dispensers and 100x litres of sanitizer for the dispensers to be used at the Thusong Service Centre at Maponya Mall.
• Mramazing The Stylist – 240x Cloth Face Masks for officials at the Thusong Service Centre at Maponya Mall.
• Tebelelo Solutions - 120x 200ml hand sanitizer, 120x Face shields, 300x Aprons, 48x 1 Litre Handheld spray sanitiser, 100x 1 litre Hand Sanitiser to refill spray bottles and 120x Sanitising wipes for officials at the Thusong Service Centre at Maponya Mall.

(4) The Minister will make a statement on the matter should the need arise.

Reply:

1. For the current financial year only SMS members have been required to disclose their financial interests. In terms of regulation 18(1) and (2) of the Public Service Regulations, 2016, SMS members are required to disclose their financial interests annually by 30 April. Out of 10 011 SMS members in the Public Service, 309 failed to disclose their financial interests by 30 April 2020 (243 in national departments, 14 in national government components and 52 in provincial departments).

2. a) Doing business outside the prescripts of the State: At the end of February 2020, 1544 public service employees were identified to be possibly conducting business with the State. Of these 1544 public service employees, 1111 were from Provincial Departments and 433 from National Departments. Letters were sent to relevant departments to take action against identified employees and to report investigation and disciplinary outcomes to the DPSA. The DPSA committed to present quarterly reports to the Forum of South African Director-Generals (FOSAD) and Ministers and Members of Executive Councils Meeting (MINMEC) to monitor implementation progress. As it is a criminal offence for Public Service employees to conduct business with the State, the DPSA had interaction with the South African Police Service to investigate confirmed cases with the aim of prosecuting offenders.

	A	B
	Provincial Departments	Number of Public Servants listed on CSD conducting business with an organ of state as at end of Feb 2020
1	KwaZulu-Natal	357
2	Gauteng	117
3	North West	40
4	Eastern Cape	118
5	Limpopo	138
6	Mpumalanga	104
7	Free State	93
8	Northern Cape	101
9	Western Cape	43
	Total Provincial Departments	1111
	Total National Departments	433
	Grand Total	1544

(ii) Conflict of interest and (b) potential conflict of interest: In terms of regulation 18(5) of the Public Service Regulations, 2016, the Head of Department and the Executive Authority are required to submit the disclosed financial interests to the Public Service Commission (PSC) by 31 May 2020. It will only be thereafter that the PSC can determine if there is potential or actual conflict of interest regarding the disclosed financial interests, as per their mandate.

Reply:

a) Yes, He is currently employed in the Public Service

b) He is not in a Ministerial office, but in the Presidency, employed as a Special Advisor to the Deputy President

 

Reply:

1. The Department of Public Service and Administration will not be offering any Covid-19 financial or other relief to small businesses as this is not within the mandate of the department to provide relief to any private organisation.

2. Not applicable as no financial or other relief will be provided by the department.

Reply:

(1) (a) Tag A provide the names of officials from National Departments who have been suspended for more than 60 days.

(b) Tag B provide the names of officials from Provincial Departments who have been suspended for more than 60 days.

(2) Tags A and B provide reasons for each disciplinary action instituted against each official.

(3) Tag A and B provide (a) the period and (b) the cost of each suspension.

(4) Tag A and B provide the reasons why the cases have not being concluded.

(5) These responses are those of the departments which have submitted their information to the Department

Reply:

1. The Department of Public Service and Administration did not publish any tenders in relation to the COVID 19 pandemic. The Department facilitated the procurement requirements in relation to the COVID 19 pandemic through a Request for Quotation (RFQ) process.

1(a) Not applicable.

1(b) Not applicable.

1(c) Not applicable.

1. Not applicable.

2(a) Not applicable.

2(b) Not applicable.

1. Not applicable.

1. The Minister will make a statement on the matter should the need arise.

Reply:

1. The Public Service as an employer has made a number of interventions to reprioritise funding during the difficult and challenging economic conditions we are currently experiencing as a nation.

All posts in the Public Service are evaluated through the prescribed job grading system. The remuneration for a post is determined on the basis of a number of factors including, but not limited to, the principle of equal pay for work of equal value and the need to recruit and retain employees with appropriate skills and competencies.

All Directors-General in the Public Service are remunerated according to a standard salary structure that consists of a number of elements constituting total cost-to-employer packages (notches). The salary of R1 978 533 that was indicated for the Director-General of the Department of Small Business Development is the minimum notch of the standard salary level applicable to Directors-General.

1. With regard to vacant senior management service (SMS) posts, it is important to note that once an SMS post becomes vacant, irrespective of the notch the previous incumbent held, the remuneration of the post reverts to the minimum notch of the salary level attached to the post. These salary levels are determined through the job grading system and ad hoc changes or downgrades to levels would severely compromise the job grading and remuneration regimes of the Public Service.

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. The size of the Public Service wage bill is being managed through a number of initiatives but the reduction of salaries of individual employees is not being considered.

1. No statement on this matter is considered necessary at this point in time.

Reply:

1. For purposes of this report, departments who received Auditor-General findings of “Disclaimer” and “Adverse with Findings” may be regarded as underperforming departments. For the past three financial years the following six (6) departments (two national and four provincial) may be regarded as underperforming:

No	Department	2018/19	2017/18	2016/17
1	Department of Cooperative Governance		X
2	Department of Environmental Affairs		X	X
3	FS Office of the Premier	X	X
4	FS Agriculture and Rural Development		X	X
5	FS Sport Arts and Recreation		X
6	GP Human Settlements	X

2. No performance bonuses were paid to the HODs or acting HODs of the six (6) affected departments for the past three financial years.

Reply:

(a) the date on which the equipment was purchased,

• 50x Automated hand sanitizer dispensers and 200x 1 liter hand sanitizer – 19 March 2020
• 1000x Masks, 1000x Aprons and 1000x Gloves – 23 March 2020
• Two Infra-Red Thermometers – 3 April 2020
• Hand Sanitizer, 600x 200ml bottles – 20 April 2020

(b) the name of the supplier where the equipment was purchased,

• 50x Automated hand sanitizer dispensers and 200x 1 liter hand sanitizer – SAFARMEX Medical Logistics.
• 1000x Masks, 1000x Aprons and 1000x Gloves – Ment Medical and Waste (Pty) Ltd.
• Two Infra-Red Thermometers – Tripharma (Pty) Ltd.
• Hand Sanitizer, 600x 200ml bottles – BAJU Cleaning Chemicals.

(c) the monetary value of the purchase,

• 50x Automated hand sanitizer dispensers and 200x 1 liter hand sanitizer – R69 893.55
• 1000x Masks, 1000x Aprons and 1000x Gloves – R122 700.00
• Two Infra-Red Thermometers – R5 999.30
• Hand Sanitizer, 600x 200ml bottles – R34 500.00

(d) the branding that appeared on the purchased equipment, including the branding of any political party, and

• Automated hand sanitizer dispensers and sanitizer - Germkill
• 1000x Masks, 1000x Aprons and 1000x Gloves – No branding
• Two Infra-Red Thermometers – Shenzen BSX Technology Electronics C0.Ltd (BSX815)
• Hand Sanitizer, 600x 200ml bottles – No branding

(e)(i) how and (ii) where was the purchased equipment distributed?

• 50x Automated hand sanitizer dispensers - dispensers mounted on walls throughout the Batho Pele House Building for usage by all employees and persons entering the building and 200x 1 liter hand sanitizer – sanitizer bottles used to refill the various dispensers and Cleaners’ spray bottles.
• 1000x Masks issued to staff who attend meetings, Cleaners and front office workers, 1000x Aprons issued to Cleaners to perform cleaning activities on a daily basis and 1000x Gloves – issued to frontline staff and Cleaners on a daily basis,
• Two Infra-Red Thermometers – utilize for screening employees’ temperature prior to meetings and when entering the building.
• Hand Sanitizer, 600x 200ml bottles – intended for frontline officers and to be issued to employees who travel with public transport, when they are required to return to the office during alert level 4 and onwards.

REPLY:

The Public Service Commission (PSC) is an independent Constitutional body, accountable to the National Assembly. It is therefore not an entity or body reporting to the Minister for Public Service and Administration (MPSA). Its budget was, prior to 2020/21 financial year, appropriated through the MPSA. With effect from 1 April 2020, the PSC’s budget is appropriated through the PSC allocated vote, and not through the MPSA.

The PSC has to date, not received any donation of personal protection equipment from any source. The details of the purchase for twenty two (22) infrared thermometers are as follows:

a) the date on which the equipment was purchased: 16 April 2020;

b) the name of the supplier where the equipment was purchased: Baitsanape Laboratory Supplies;

c) the monetary value of the purchase: R55 660.00 (VAT inclusive);

(d) the branding that appeared on the purchased equipment including the branding of any political party: Not Applicable; and

(e) (i) how was the purchased equipment distributed: Distribution to the All Provincial Offices PSC was through the contracted courier service company called Skynet South Africa; and

(ii) Where was the purchased equipment distributed? Two instruments per provinces were distributed to the nine (9) Provincial Offices of the PSC using the courier services for only eight offices outside the Gauteng Province. The Provincial Offices of the PSC are located as follows:

• Eastern Cape Provincial Office in King Williams Town;
• Free State Provincial Office in Bloemfontein;
• KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Office in Pietermaritzburg;
• Limpopo Provincial Office in Polokwane;
• Mpumalanga Provincial Office in Nelspruit;
• Northern Cape Provincial Office in Kimberly;
• North West Provincial Office in Mmabatho;
• Western Cape Provincial Office in Cape Town; and
• Gauteng Provincial Office in Johannesburg,

 

REPLY:

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

1. 11 March 2020
2. The NSG has a service provider (Masana Hygiene Services (PTY) Ltd.) that provides cleaning, maintenance and hygiene services of its building. As part of their cleaning service contract, an addendum was added requesting them to supply the NSG building with sanitizers.
3. The total amount was R13 314.61
4. No. There was no branding of any political party
5. (i) The sanitisers were purchased through request for quotations process

(ii) The sanitisers were used at the lifts and floor entrances

REPLY:

The CPSI has not purchased any personal protection equipment since 1 February 2020.

(a) N/A

(b) N/A

(c) NA

(d) N/A

(e)(i) N/A (ii) N/A

Reply:

No

REPLY:

The Public Service Commission (PSC) is an independent Constitutional body, accountable to the National Assembly. It is therefore not an entity or body reporting to the Minister for Public Service and Administration (MPSA). Its budget was, prior to 2020/21 financial year, appropriated through the MPSA. With effect from 1 April 2020, the PSC’s budget is appropriated through the PSC allocated vote, and not through the MPSA.

The PSC has to date, not received any donation of personal protection equipment from any source.

REPLY:

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

No. The department did not receive any donation of personal protection equipment since 1 February 2020.

1. No. Not applicable
2. No. Not applicable
3. No. Not applicable
4. No. Not applicable
5. (i) No. Not applicable

(ii) No. Not applicable

REPLY:

The CPSI has not received any donation of personal protection equipment since 1 February 2020.

(a) N/A

(b) N/A

(c) NA

(d) N/A

(e)(i) N/A (ii) N/A

Reply:

(a)  Yes.

(b) Government’s position in this regard is to to slow down the growth of the public service wage bill as presented by the Minister of Finance in the 2020 Budget speech.

(c) The employer has tabled an agenda item, namely: Management of the Public Service Wage Bill for discussion with organised labour admitted to the Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council on 25/02/2020 which is now following council processes.

(d) As indicated above, the employer is engaging with admitted trade unions at the PSCBC on the 2018 wage agreement and engagements are ongoing.

Reply:

1. With reference to the recent announcement by the Minister of Finance in his budget speech regarding the reduction of the public sector wage bill, the Minister for the Public Service and Administration has developed the following strategies to give effect to the announcement:

(a) In terms of the respective Ministers, the Minister for the Public Service and Administration is not responsible for the Public Sector. The strategy is to reduce the cost of Public Administration in terms of minimizing the spending on the following cost drivers among others that have been identified:

i) Litigations against the state;

ii) Information and Communication Technology (ICT);

iii) Office accommodation;

iv) Corruption and fraud;

v) Use of Consultants;

vi) Irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure;

vii) Introduce reforms in the procurement and supply chain management processes; and

viii) The wage-bill.

The strategy is to create consistency in government wide remuneration through the following measures:

i) Curbing benefits and conditions of service that have proliferated.

ii) Consolidating efficiency measures in allowances, overtime and contract appointments.

iii) Introducing cost effectiveness and efficiencies in the guide for Members of the Executive in terms of office accommodation, cell phone allowances, securities and travel benefits.

iv) Extending such cost effectiveness and efficiencies to State Owned Entities, Boards and the Executive of Entities.

(b) The wage bill is currently at R629 billion and is unsustainable. Savings garnered from the above will allow increased investment in goods and services.

Definite amounts from the above will emerge as measures are put in place.

(c) Many of these are subject to legislation and collective bargaining in the short to medium-term.

2. Yes, all categories of employees in the public service who meet the qualifying criteria in terms of the Performance Management and Development System (PMDS) for the 2019/20 financial year will be paid their performance bonuses, within the reduced percentage allocation for remuneration budgets for the payment of performance bonuses for all categories of employees with effect from 1 April 2019.

Reply:

The response to the questions above is depicted in the table below. Please note that on the payment system there are no distinctions between payments of capped leave and unused leave. Consequently, the DPSA cannot report on capped leave specifically. This is a shortcoming that I have already addressed with my colleague the Minister of Finance.

	2018/2019 financial year	2019/2020 financial year
Implementation Area	number of officials paid	number of days payment made	total amount paid out	number of officials paid	number of days payment made	total amount paid out
National Departments	53	574.18	R7 512 648. 67	61	862.71	R7 320 156. 28
Provincial Government	632	17 531.63	R56 932 737.96	679	17 710.38	R64 902 746.42

Reply:

The DPSA recognises the seriousness of public service employees involved in fraud and corruption and is putting the necessary processes in place. In doing so, it must be kept in mind that corruption and fraud investigations are the sole mandate of the South African Police Service (SAPS) and that of discipline management the mandate of the respective heads of department. As such, discipline management is inherently a decentralised process.

In terms of section 15 of the Public Administration Management Act, 2014 (PAMA), misconduct emanating from criminal investigations is a DPSA responsibility. It is therefore envisaged that the newly established Public Administration Ethics, Integrity and Disciplinary Technical Assistance Unit will establish a central disciplinary database to monitor, track and record public servants under investigation for misconduct which may include corruption and fraud.

As such, the Unit will play an important role (as contemplated in section 15(4)(f) of the PAMA) to coordinate the involvement of the two identified stakeholders in a decentralised process, so as to able to paint a holistic picture regarding the involvement of public service employees in fraud and corruption.

Reply:

There is no moratorium on the filling of funded vacant posts in the Public Service.

End

Reply:

In terms of section 12A of the Public Service Act, 1994 and the dispensation for the appointment and remuneration of persons (Special Advisers) appointed to executive authorities on grounds of policy consideration. Executive Authorities must submit proposals/recommendations for the appointment of individual Special Advisers to the Minister for the Public Service and Administration (MPSA) for approval of the individual’s compensation level before the appointment is effected.

(a) On 03 and 24 July 2019, I approved the compensation levels for Advocate Menzi Simelane and Mr. Mo Shaik respectively, as Special Advisers to the Minister of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation.

(b) The MPSA is not responsible for the approval of appointments of Special Advisers but for the approval of the compensation levels of Special Advisers before appointment.

End

Reply:

The Minister for the Public Service and Administration does not exercise any authority to appoint staff in departments other than be the Department of Public Service and Administration.

The executive Ethics Code issued in terms of the Executive Member’s Ethics Act, 1998 regulates the conduct of Members of the Executive. The Public Service Commission may also be the appropriate institution to deal with this matter.

End

Reply:

The Guide for Members of the Executive was approved by the President effective from 20 November 2020. The benefits due to former Members was removed from the Guide and the process to review same was left to Parliament to deal with as it is a Scheme that is administered by Parliament and the costs emanating therefrom is borne by Parliament.

End

Reply:

(a) The 2019 Incentive Policy Framework for employees in the general Public Service, provides for the payment of non-pensionable performance bonuses to employees appointed in terms of the Public Service Act, 1994.

The other sectors (e.g. Correctional Services, Police Service, Educators, Defence) have their own sectoral unique performance incentive schemes.

(b) My Department does not have information on the amount budgeted by departments on the payment of performance bonuses. However, the actual expenditure incurred in the 2017/18 and 2018/19 financial years is as follows:

(i) (aa) and (bb)

2017/18	2018/19
R1.54 billion	R2.6 billion

Source: PERSAL

Excludes National Defence Force and State Security Agency

(ii) The actual expenditure to be incurred on payment of performance bonus in recognition of performance in the 2019/20 (current) financial year will only be available in the 2020/21 financial year.

Reply:

The Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) has not done business with any of the persons, companies and or trusts as listed in any of the past five (5) financial years or since 1 April 2019.

Reply:

The Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure

1. The National Building Regulations recognise at least one of three methods of satisfying compliance to the Building Regulations. Those are:

• Rational Design, as designed by a Professional Engineer,
• Compliance to “deem-to-satisfy” rules as set out in the South African National Standards (SANS) 10400 series, or
• Agrément South Africa certification.

The National Home Builders Registration Council (NHBRC), in its mandate to protect the interests of housing consumers and ensure that builders comply with the prescribed building industry standards, assesses the quality of construction of homes, subsidised and non-subsidised, based on their satisfaction of at least one of the three requirements indicated above.

The NHBRC provides general guidance on the implementation of Innovative Building Technologies (IBTs) and condition of IBTs (by means of a published database). However, it does not provide assurance of the IBTs’ fitness-for-purpose; and Agrément South Africa does so.

In simple terms, the National Building Regulations do not only consider the conventional “brick-and-mortar” method of construction as the only solution, but recognises three methods, including innovative technologies.

The choice of an IBT to use, lies with the owner(s) of the product, or in a case of public infrastructure projects, with the specifiers (at planning and design phase).

The South African Bureau of Standards (SABS), through its Standards Division, develops, publishes and maintains the South African National Standards (such as SANS 10400), which are referenced in legislation, as one of the three methods of satisfying compliance to National Building Regulations. The SABS also develops standards for the so-called “conventional methods”, and not the innovative solutions.

(2) In terms of the objects of the Agrément South Africa Act, 2015 (Act No 11 of 2015), Section 4 (b) and (c), ASA is empowered to:

- “support and promote the process of integrated socio-economic development in the Republic as it relates to the construction industry”; and also to

• “support and promote the introduction and use of certified non-standardised construction related products or systems in the local or international market.

This speaks to the issue raised by the Honourable Member relating to assisting South Africans to be entrepreneurs and to get their innovative products into the market.

This has been done with some relative success. Many non-standardised products certified by ASA have found their way into the market, but also we realise that we have not made the strides that we would like to. In this vein, we have engaged with ASA to come up with proposals as to how to further assist young entrepreneurs and to expand the footprint of the use of Innovative Building Technologies.

To this effect, ASA has established in the current financial year the Industry Advisory Committee (IAC) which will serve to promote to the industry the use of innovative building technologies. We expect ASA to come up with proposals on how best to assist young entrepreneurs by, among other things, forming strategic partnerships with funding agencies, in order to promote socio-economic development by having more innovative products in the markets and also ensure the uptake thereof, which will ensure the viability of businesses.

Reply:

 1. (a) The general rules for the awarding of performance bonuses are contained in the Incentive Policy Framework issued by the Minister for the Public Service and Administration. Performance bonuses are awarded to employees who receive a performance rating of significantly above the expectation. The authority to grant performance bonuses resides with the Executive Authority or as delegated to the Head of the Department.

Therefore, the DPSA is not in a position to respond to the question regarding the grounds for the payment of bonuses by departments who recorded adverse audit outcomes and/or did not reach key performance indicators in the past three financial years.

According to the published reports of the Auditor General for the past five years (i.e. 2013/2014, 2014/2015, 2015/2016, 2016/2017, 2017/2018), the National Department of Environmental Affairs and the Free State Department of Agriculture and Rural Development each received an adverse audit outcome for the 2016/2017 performance cycle (Annexure B on Audit findings attached). The DPSA will write to the affected departments to request an explanation.

(b) The two affected departments, (National Department of Environmental Affairs and Free State Department of Agriculture and Rural Development) paid performance bonuses during the 2016/2017, 2017/2018 and 2018/2019 financial years.

(c) The amount paid for performance bonuses for the last three financial years was R45 769 407.95 and R5 036 752.95, respectively.

Name of Department	2016/2017	2017/2018	2018/2019	Total
National Department of Environmental Affairs	*R14588100.00	R16189906.95	14991400.00	R45769407.95
Free State Department of Agriculture and Rural Development	*R1555018.62	R2474891.16	R1006684.17	R5036752.95

*Adverse audit outcome

2. The DPSA Circular dated 23 January 2013, requires all departments to capture information on the signing of performance agreements for members of the Senior Management Service and non-SMS employees on or before 31 June annually.

(a) According to the information extracted from the PERSAL system, all departments have captured their information on the signing of performance agreements for the 2018/2019 performance cycle.

(b) The DPSA monitors and report on the level of compliance with the signing of performance agreements. Letters will be sent to non-compliant departments, when such is identified.

(c) Performance assessments are conducted based on the signed performance agreement which contains the performance measures. The performance assessments are subjected to a half-yearly and annual review. The performance ratings or scores are further subjected to a moderation process and recommendations are made to the relevant Executive Authority on the outcome of performance.

(d) Departments have awarded performance bonuses to eligible employees. The detailed list of performance bonuses paid by departments is attached as Annexure A.

2. Government departments paid performance bonuses for the 2016/2017, 2017/2018 and 2018/2019 financial years. The detailed list of the performance bonuses paid by departments is attached as Annexure A as extracted from the PERSAL system.  

Reply:

The Cabinet has directed that the Ministers of Finance, Public Works and Infrastructure and Public Service and Administration further engage on the financial implications of the Guide for Members of the Executive (referred to as the Ministerial Handbook).

a) The engagements have been finalised and proposals are being considered by the President and it is expected to be concluded shortly.

b) (i) The substantive matters that the Cabinet identified are-

• Vehicle purchases for official use;
• Tariffs in relation to privately owned vehicles used for official business by Members;
• Residential upgrades; and
• Staffing in Ministerial Offices.

(ii) Further details will be provided once decisions on any revisions are effected.

 

Reply:

1. The personnel suitability checks as prescribed by the Minister for the Public Service and Administration emanate from the National Vetting Strategy that resides with the State Security Agency. Departments keep their own databases on criminal records and information is not captured on the PERSAL system. A similar question was posed to me, when it was asked in the NCOP in relation to the murder of a 19 year old student of the University of Cape Town. My response to the question entailed that the Department of Public Service and Administration will be embarking on a number of initiatives to address the matter which includes, but is not limited to, the creation of a database of employees who have criminal records with the assistance of other relevant departments.

5. In terms of the provisions of the Public Service Regulations an Executive Authority must subject an employee or a candidate for employment to personnel suitability checks as directed by the Minister for the Public Service and Administration. The personnel suitability checks contemplated in Regulation 57(1) (c) of the Public Service Regulations, 2016 shall consist of the following:

(i) Criminal record checks

(ii) Citizenship verification

(iii) Financial checks

(iv) Qualification/ Study verification

(v) Previous employment verification (Reference checks)

Should a verification confirm a criminal record, the department has to consider the relevance thereof to the person’s suitability for employment in a particular post on the following basis:

(a) The nature and severity of the negative finding.

(b) The relevance of the finding to the job duties and work environment in question.

(c) The amount of time that has passed since the negative incident and the applicant’s subsequent behaviour since then.

(d) The record of the applicant in respect of multiple incidents of misbehaviour and convictions.

A department’s decision to reject an application on the aforesaid grounds must, however, conform to the concept of a fair administrative action as provided for in the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act, 2000.

Reply:

PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION (PSC)

Question 1

(1)(a) The Public Service Commission (PSC) is an independent Constitutional body, accountable to the National Assembly. It is therefore not an entity or body reporting to the Minister of Public Service and Administration (MPSA). Its budget is appropriated via the MPSA.

D1(a)(a) R238,679.79

1(b)(b) R229,481.00

1(c)(c) R255,660.47

Question 2

2 (i)

SUPPLIER	B-BBEE STATUS	2016/17	2017/18	2018/19
		R'	R'	R'
Kone Staffing Solutions	100%	10,574.56	-	-
Human Communications	51%	86,270.18	21,939.58	15,870.69
Ultimate Recruitment Selection	100%	42,909.68	31,849.18	149,714.25
Basadzi Communication	100%	21,711.47	153,693.32	70,370.13
Lokoko Industries Primary Co-operative LTD	100%	73,548.46	-	-
Government Printing Works	100%	3,665.44	15,000.00	1,765.40
Black X Trading	100%	-	6,998.92	-
Digipaper Concepts CC	100%	-	-	17,940.00
TOTAL:		238,679.79	229,481.00	255,660.47

2(ii) No outdoor advertising cost were incurred during the 2016/17, 2017/18 and 2018/19 financial years.

2(c) No outdoor advertising cost were incurred during the 2016/17, 2017/18 and 2018/19 financial years.

DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SERVICE AND ADMINISTRATION (DPSA)

REPLY:

(1) (a) (i) (aa), (bb) and (cc) Zero amount

(2) (a) (i) (ii) (c) None

CENTRE FOR PUBLIC SERVICE INNOVATION (CPSI)

(1)(a) (ii) (aa) (bb) (cc) The Centre for Public Service Innovation has not spent any amount on advertising in any of the financial years.

(2) (b) (i) (ii) N/A

(c) N/A

NATIONAL SCHOOL OF GOVERNMENT (NSG)

REPLY:

(1)(a)(ii) reporting to him

(aa) No. There was no outdoor advertising done for financial year 2016-17

(bb) No. There was no outdoor advertising done for financial year 2017-18

(cc) No. There was no outdoor advertising done for financial year 2018-19

(2)(b)

(i) The was no expenditure incurred for outdoor advertising for financial years  2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19

(ii) There was no expenditure incurred for outdoor advertising for financial years 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19

(2)(c) There was no outdoor advertising done for financial years 216-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19

Reply:

(a) The Department of Public Service and Administration has not incurred any costs related to the inauguration of the Republic, Mr M C Ramaphosa, held in Pretoria on 25 May 2019.

(b) The Department of Public Service and Administration has not incurred any costs related to the State of the Nation Address held in Cape Town on 20 June 2019.

(i) N/A

(ii) N/A

Reply:

1. Appointees appointed to the Middle Management Service (MMS) (salary levels 11 and 12) and Senior Management Service (SMS) (salary levels 13 to 16) are remunerated by means of Total Cost-to-Employer (TCE) packages, which include the following macro benefits:

1.1 Employer contribution to the Government Employees Pension Fund.

1.2 Employer contribution to a registered medical aid scheme.

1.3 13th cheque.

1.4 Housing benefit.

2. The annual average (mean) TCE packages of MMS and SMS members, per salary level, per national and provincial department, as at 1 July 2019, are as follows:

	Cadre	Salary level	Government Sphere	Annual average TCE package
1	MMS	11	National	R779 802
			Provincial	R779 435
		12	National	R922 750
			Provincial	R947 802
2	SMS	13	National	R1 078 267
			Provincial	R1 076 222
		14	National	R1 285 722
			Provincial	R1 269 755
		15	National	R1 557 121
			Provincial	R1 533 755
		16	National	R1 974 067
			Provincial	R1 984 885

Source: PERSAL (Julu 2019 data)

Reply:

a) Number of recommendations issued: 153

b) Number implemented (including partially implemented and to be implemented): 43

c) Outcome: See notes in the last two columns in the detailed table at Annexure A below.

Summary Table

Research Reports	Number of recommendations issued	30
	To be implemented	1
	Implemented	1
	Partly implemented	18
	Not implemented	10
Public Administration Investigations	Number of recommendations issued	77
	No feedback received	32
	To be implemented	9
	Subject to court judgement	31
	Implemented	5
Grievances	Number of recommendations issued	46
	No feedback received	35
	To be implemented
	Implemented	9
	Partly implemented
	Not implemented	2

Annexure A: DETAILS OF IMPLEMENTATION OF RECOMMENDATIONS

Title of Report	Department	Key Recommendations	Outcome of implementation of the recommendations	Comments
Service Delivery Inspection at 1 Military Hospital (Thaba-Tshwane)	Department of Defence (DoD) and Military Veterans	1. The DoD supported by the PSC and the Office of the Military Ombudsman to engage with the City of Tshwane to explore the possibility of allocating an electricity transformer/grid to the hospital.	Not implemented	The PSC forwarded the report to the Minister on 29 May 2018 and requested an engagement regarding the findings. Further correspondence through email dating back to 6 July 2018 were directed to the Chief of Staff of the Ministry to no avail. As an alternative, the PSC held a meeting with the Secretary for Defence on 28 March 2019 and agreed that the Department will provide the PSC with an action plan within 60 days. To date, no feedback has been received. The Chairperson of the PSC has sent letters to the Minister and the Secretary for Defence to schedule an engagement with the Chairperson to address this matter. A meeting between the Director-General of the PSC and the Secretary for Defence has been scheduled for 17 September 2019.
		2. The DoD should conduct an assessment of the security and safety needs of the hospital in line with the Minimum Physical Security Standards and the Minimum Information Security Standards. The security features should also be aligned to those accorded to National Key Points.
		3. The DoD supported by the PSC and the Office of the Military Ombudsman should engage National Treasury on the management of transversal contracts and its implications for the 1 Military hospital with regards to the courier service provider to ensure the latter adheres to the service level agreement (SLA).
		4. The DoD and South African National Defence Force (SANDF) should consider granting both Human Resources and Financial Delegations to the hospital management for efficient operations.
		5. The Department of Military Veterans should re-assign an official to the hospital to facilitate the interface between the hospital and new ex-combatants.
		6. The DoD and SANDF to review and redesign the organisational structure and service delivery model to ensure that it responds to the mandate of the hospital
		7. The DoD and SANDF should attend to the Human Resources Management and Development issues affecting the hospital, including performance management (PMDS), occupation specific dispensation (OSD), remunerated work outside of the public service (RWOPS) and overtime payment.
		8. The Department of Public Works (DPW) should provide the PSC and Office of the Military Ombudsman with a report on the delay in finalisation of the RAMP. In this regard, the PSC will request a meeting with the DoD, Public Works and National Treasury.
Factsheet on the implementation of the performance management and development system (PMDS): case study at the Department of Agriculture: Western Cape	Western Cape Department of Agriculture	1. Ensure that Performance Agreement (PA), reviews, and assessment documents are initialled and signed. The signing of the PAs is important for authenticity and validity as these documents form the legal basis for performance contracting.	Implementation of all recommendations is in progress	During February 2019, the PSC engaged the HoD of Agriculture on the findings and recommendations. The HoD accepted all the recommendations.
		2. Ensure on-going feedback and coaching in conducting of reviews. The PERMIS (computerised) system can restrict the personal interaction between supervisor and employee as information is signed-off on the system, so supervisors should make a concerted effort to sufficiently interact with their supervisees during the review process.
		3. Ensure that the performance of employees is evaluated fairly and consistently evaluated across the Department. Lower level employees who do not have computers indicated that their performance assessment documents are loaded on the system by their supervisor. They are not always sure if the right information is captured. This may create a problem when individual ratings agreed upon between the employee and her/his supervisor is not correctly captured.
		4. Ensure that there is a common understanding of the standards required as well as the unit of measurement that should be linked to posts where similar outputs are required. Farmworkers usually work in groups and the assessments do not allow for a group/team award. A training session should be held with these employees to create a shared vision of the standards required for their post.
		5. Ensure that development needs are completed. Most of the employees did not complete the Personal Development Plan. Where employees lack knowledge and skills relevant to their work it is important that gaps are identified and training needs captured, and training programmes be implemented
		6. Employees should feel empowered to influence the content relating to targets, quality of delivery, and resource allocation, as examples. A first step could be that employees are encouraged to formulate the performance statements and descriptions themselves. This is perhaps not universally applied for good reason. However, it does engender greater ownership of the agreement.
Non-Payment of Suppliers within the prescribed 30 days by National Departments	Rural Development and Land Reform Social Development Public Works Water and Sanitation Police Cooperative Governance	1. Put systems and internal controls in place to adhere to the PFMA regulations to pay invoices within 30 days of receipt.	Partly implemented Overall, the departmental performance has fluctuated from quarter to quarter. Some departments continued to demonstrate a pattern of poor performance in the 30-day payment of invoices.	The PSC held engagements with the HODs of the mentioned departments. Follow-up letters indicating dissatisfaction with the recurring bahaviour of defaulting on payments were further issued during the week of 13 and 14 June 2019.
		2. Apply consequences management where officials were found to have neglected their duties of ensuring that invoices are paid on time.
Evaluation of the department against the nine principles in section 195 of the Constitution	Social Development, Gauteng	1. The Head of Department need to put measures in place to ensure that disciplinary hearings are held within 60 days as prescribed in Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC) Resolution 1 of 2003.	Implemented For the 2017/18 financial year the Department reported zero in terms of disciplinary hearings which were held after 60 days, meaning that the measures have been put in place to improve the management of labour relations. The issue of labour relations has been prioritised in the province since most departments are battling with it, particularly resolution of the cases in time.
		2. The Head of Department need to produce and publish citizens’ annual reports on the departmental website annually.	Not implemented There was no improvement, during the 2017/18 financial year because the Department still had no annual citizens’ report published and posted on its departmental website.
		3. The Head of Department needs to make sure that all the strategic objectives have set targets.	To be implemented This area can only be confirmed after scrutinizing the department’s Annual Report for the 2018/19 financial year. The Annual report will only be available late in September 2019.
		4. The Head of Department need to take actions against the supervisors who are not concluding performance agreements with their supervisees as required.	Not implemented There are officials who are still not concluding their performance agreements (and the number of officials who are not concluding their performance agreements increased compared to the previous financial year).	The PSC will continue to monitor the Department on this matter and ensure that there is improvement in this matter. The PSC will have an engagement with the new MEC as part of its strategy of raising problematic areas that the PSC has observed.
Public Administration Investigations
Investigation into a complaint	Rural Development and Land Reform	9 recommendations on acting appointments and acting allowances	No feedback received	The period for implementation of recommendations lapsed on 3 June 2018. Reminder e-mails were forwarded to the Ministry on 10 August 2018, 9 November 2018 and 4 February 2019.
Investigation into a complaint	Independent Police Investigation Directorate	5 recommendations regarding disciplinary procedures, precautionary suspension, irregular appointment and failure to pay invoices within 30 days	No feedback received	The period for implementation of recommendations lapsed on 8 March 2018. Reminder e-mails were forwarded to the Ministry on 19 April 2018, 3 May 2018, 12 June 2018, 10 August 2018, 9 November 2018 and 4 February 2019.
Investigation into a complaint	Water and Sanitation	5 recommendations on failure to adhere to a bargaining council resolution, appointment/ secondment of staff and job evaluation	Implemented The former Minister sent the PSC a letter dated 6 April 2018 in which the PSC’s recommendations were accepted. The PSC’s investigating officer has testified in the disciplinary proceedings instituted by the Department
Investigation into a complaint	Public Service and Administration	4 recommendations on the filling of posts in the private office of the Minister	No feedback received	The final report was on 13 February 2019 forwarded to, amongst others, the Minister for further action.
Investigation into a complaint	Public Enterprises	1 recommendation on recovery of money that was irregularly paid	No feedback received	The report was approved and forwarded to the Minister on 15 November 2018 for comment within 30 days of receipt of the report.
Investigation into a complaint	Justice and Constitutional Development	2 recommendations on irregular appointments	No feedback received	The report was approved in March 2017. The Department had to provide feedback on the implementation of recommendations within 60 days of receipt of the report. Follow-ups were made with the Department. The latest follow-up being on 08 July 2019.
Investigation into a complaint	Public Works	31 recommendations regarding 12 instances of irregular appointments of members of the senior management service	Subject to court judgement	The DPW has approached the courts to set aside the irregular appointments.
Investigation into a complaint	Science and Technology	3 recommendations on non-adherence to Supply Chain Management regulations and Treasury Practice Notes	Implemented
Investigation into a complaint	Trade and Industry	5 recommendations on irregular expenditure on tuition fees and awarding of study bursaries	2 implemented 3 to be implemented
Investigation into a complaint	Sport and Recreation SA	11 recommendations with regard to delays in the filling of posts, creation of posts, competency assessment and deployment matters – transfers, secondments and assignments.	No feedback received	The final report together with the letter addressed to the Minister was handed to the Chief of Staff (CoS) in the Ministry on 5 November 2018. Feedback on implementation of the recommendations had to be provided to the PSC within 60 days, which period lapsed on 5 January 2019. Reminder e mails were forwarded to the CoS in the Ministry on 24 January 2019 and 16 April 2019. On 4 February 2019 the CoS indicated in an e mail that the content of the e mail dated 24 January 2019 was “shared with the Minister and the department who will respond to you in due course”. To date no feedback on the implementation of the recommendations has been received.
Investigation into a complaint	Center for Public Service Innovation	1 recommendation on the approval of sponsorship agreements	To be implemented	The Report was delivered on 02 August 2019. The 30 days to respond to the PSC has not yet lapsed.
Grievances
Several investigations of the grievances of employees in the public service	Several departments	Recommendations were made to address the grievances of the effected employees.	Implemented	7	Implementation of recommendations contributes towards compliance with policy, builds sound relations between the employer and employees, and contributes towards employee productivity. In the case of the two recommendations that were not implemented, the EAs disagreed with the PSC’s recommendations and provided reasons for the disagreement. Aggrieved employees have the right to declare disputes should the disagree with the outcome of the process. In many instances the PSC’s findings are confirmed by dispute resolution bodies and the employees are then given awards which are enforceable.
			Partially implemented	2
			Awaiting feedback from department	35
			Not implemented	2
			Total issued	46

Reply:

1. The Department of Public Service and Administration did not host any event and/or function related to its 2019 Budget Vote debate.
2. N/A

Reply:

(a) The Department of Public Service and Administration can only provide information on employees who are appointed on PERSAL. The information provided in the tables below excludes the Defence Force and the State Security Agency that do not make use of the PERSAL system. Information pertaining to local government and state own entities should be sourced from the Department of Cooperative Governance and the relevant oversight Departments for the state owned entities. Information on the number of appointments in the National and Provincial spheres is provided in the tables below:

1. (i) and (ii) Table 1: All appointments in National and Provincial spheres

Sphere	Number of appointments (Including periodic and abnormal)
National	375 662
Provincial	1 018 788
Total	1 394 450

1. (i) and (ii) Table 2: Appointments in the MMS and SMS in National and Provincial spheres

Sphere	Number
	MMS	SMS
National	9554	5643
Provincial	8322	4131
Total	17 876	9 774

Reply:

 

As at 31 May 2019, the PSC received 45 financial disclosures forms of the Directors-General (DGs) at national and provincial level. Selected posts of DG were vacant.

1. and (b) The PSC did not receive the financial disclosure forms of 8 DGs at national level. Of these, 7 DGs complied with Regulation 18(2) by disclosing their registrable interests on or before 30 April 2019, but their EAs did not submit copies of the financial disclosure forms to the PSC by 31 May 2019 as required by Regulation 18 (6). The extent of non-disclosure with the requirements of Regulation 18(2) and (6) is illustrated in Table 1 below.

Table 1: The extent of non-compliance by Heads of Department and/or EAs with the requirement to submit financial disclosure forms in respect of the 2018/2019 financial year

No.	DEPARTMENT	DATE OF DISCLOSURE BY THE HoD	DATE SUBMITTED TO THE PSC BY THE EA
1.	Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries	29 April 2019 Complied	Not submitted to PSC Not yet submitted to EA by Ethics Officer
2.	Communications	16 April 2019 Complied	Not submitted to PSC Not yet submitted to EA by Ethics Officer
3.	Defence	26 April 2019 Complied	Not submitted to PSC Submitted to EA by Ethics Officer on 03 May 2019
4.	Energy	15 April 2019 Complied	Not submitted to PSC Submitted to EA by Ethics Officer on 31 May 2019
5.	Health	18 April 2019 Complied	Submitted to PSC by EA on 14 August 2019 (after due date)
6.	Public Enterprises	30 April 2019 Complied	Submitted to PSC by EA on 04 June 2019 (after due date)
7.	Public Service and Administration	26 April 2019 Complied	Not submitted to PSC Submitted to EA by Ethics Officer on 14 May 2019
8.	State Security Agency	Citing security reasons	Not submitted to PSC

(C) The PSC is constant contact with the Ethics Officers reminding them to ensure that their respective departments comply with the Financial Disclosure Framework (FDF). Ethics Officers in departments have been assigned specific duties to assist the HoDs and EAs with the implementation of the FDF. The PSC continuously made follow-up with the Ethics Officers where the submission of financial disclosures was moving slowly. The Ethics Officers and SMS members are also sensitised on the importance of complying with the deadlines for the submission of the financial disclosures through workshops that are conducted in the departments.

Reply:

(a) The number of the 20 public service employees found to have conducted business with the State is not known to the DPSA. The list with 20 names was handed to the South African Police Service (SAPS) on 24 June 2019 to conduct investigations and, based on their findings, to request the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) to prosecute those in contravention of section 8 of the Public Administration Management Act, Act 11 of 2014. As section 8 of the Public Administration Management Act only came into effect on 1 April 2019, and conducting business with the State became an offence for public service employees only then, the name list submitted to the Police and NPA only contains employees who are in contravention of the Public Administration Management Act since 1 April 2019.

(b) This department identified the 20 public service employees as possibly conducting business with the State, based on information obtained from the Central Supplier Database, as provided by National Treasury. This database contains a register of all individuals registered to tender for business with the State and is maintained by National Treasury. The information obtained from this database is compared with information on the Personnel Salary System (PERSAL) which then identified the public service employees registered on the database.

(c) The following mechanisms have been put in place to detect public service employees who are conducting business with the State:

• The DPSA affected changes to the Personnel Salary System (PERSAL) to allow departments to capture requests from employees to perform other remunerative work on it. This data captured on PERSAL is then analysed and compared with information on the eDisclosure system to detect possible cases of employees conducting business with the State. Departments’ management of other remunerative work (as captured on PERSAL) are monitored by the DPSA and a report is drafted annually, which is distributed to departments. The DPSA also annually drafts a report based on the information submitted to the eDisclosure system, which exposes those employees conducting private work without permission and promotes the detection of employees possibly conducting business with the State.
• Information is extracted from the Central Supplier Database, which contains a register of all individuals registered to tender for business with the State and is maintained by National Treasury. This data is analysed and compared to data on PERSAL, so as to identify public service employees. These employees are then deregistered by National Treasury from the database. The DPSA draft a statistical report containing data from the Central Supplier Database on employees possibly conducting business with the State and submits it annually to Cabinet.
• Based on the information received from the Central Supplier Database, the DPSA directs letters to departments to encourage them to confirm that the identified individuals were indeed conducting business with the State, were till in Government employ and to encourage them to take action where needed and to report the steps taken against culprits to the DPSA. This information is also included in the statistical report presented to Cabinet.
• The DPSA also increased awareness on the detection of employees conducting business with the State among Ethics Officers of the various departments by means of hosting an annual National Ethics Officer Forum.

Reply:

The Information requested by the Honourable member is not yet available, as decision has not yet been made.

Reply:

The data provided in response to the question is derived from the PERSAL system as at 30 June 2019 and is for National and Provincial Departments in terms of the Public Service Act,1994.

a) Number of employees currently on precautionary suspension in:

(i) National Departments is 29.

(ii) Each Province

Provincial Governments	Total Number of Suspension
Total	16
KwaZulu-Natal	2
North West	2
Eastern Cape	4
Gauteng	1
Western Cape	7

b) Average length of precautionary suspension for employees at:

• National Departments is 2 months,
• Provincial Departments is as follows:

Provincial Governments	Average Length on Suspension months
KwaZulu-Natal	8
North West	2
Eastern Cape	2
Gauteng	2
Western Cape	2

(c) Total cost of precautionary suspension for each (i) year and (ii) month that the employees have been suspended is based on the average salary.

(i) 2017/2018 is R 73 976, 00

2018/2019 is R 1 319 887, 00

2019/2020 is R 26 183 216, 00

(ii) See attached

Reply:

1. The Public Administration Ethics, Integrity and Disciplinary Technical Assistance Unit was established as per Public Administration Management Act Proclamation, effective from 1 April 2019.

2.a) The Unit is not fully operational and b) it is not adequately staffed. (i) as the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) has no funding to staff the unit or to allocate funds for its operations. (ii) The Unit is currently being incubated within the DPSA and is envaseged to be fully operational and adequately staffed by the next financial year, subject to the allocation of funds by the National Treasury.

3. The Unit has not yet conducted any disciplinary process against officials as the Unit is not yet fully operational.

Reply:

a) R20, 558,000.

b) (i) Total remuneration

• R7,870,773.63

(ii) Salary levels

• L.14x1; L.13x4; L.11x1; L.9x1; L.7x1; L.5x1; and L.3x2.

(iii) Job Tittles

• Chief of Staff
• Private Secretary
• Media Liaison Officer
• Community Outreach Officer
• Assistant Appointment Secretary
• Domestic Worker (x2)
• Administrative Secretary
• Parliamentary and Cabinet Support
• Registry Clerk
• Driver/Messenger

(iv) Qualifications

- Matric/NQF 4 - x1

- National Diploma/NQF 6 - x2

- Degree/B Tech/NQF 7 - x4

- Honours/NQF 8 - x2

- Masters/NQF 9 - x1

(v) Job Descriptions attached

Reply:

Based on the information available on PERSAL the vacancy rate in the Public Service for the quarter from April to June 2019 stands at 9.34%. This excludes the Defence Force and the State Security Agency that do not make use of the PERSAL system. The breakdown per department and province is provided in the table below:

National/ Provincial Departments and their Components	Government Components	Filled Posts June 2019	Vacant Posts June 2019	Quarterly Vacancy Rate (%)
Total		1,169,580	123,843	9.34
Eastern Cape
Total		115,551	20,516	15.23
Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs		1,378	167	8.52
Economic Development, Environmental Affairs and Tourism		508	245	30.48
Education		60,891	12,316	17.21
Health		40,254	6,653	13.93
Human Settlements		530	35	6.61
Office of the Premier		345	69	13.67
Provincial Treasury		417	22	4.56
Roads and Public works		1,639	161	7.33
Rural Development and Agrarian Reform		2,662	241	11.09
Safety and Liaison		131	20	14.44
Social Development		3,638	386	9.22
Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture		1,192	33	9.9
Transport		1,966	168	6.97
Free State
Total		56,301	3,830	5.72
Agriculture		987	56	4.43
Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs		348	53	13.13
Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs		681	119	14.51
Education		27,849	1,664	4.81
Health		18,290	770	3.43
Human Settlements		409	62	12.89
Office of the Premier		493	56	9.81
Police, Roads and Transport		2,562	291	10.46
Provincial Treasury		380	48	11.21
Public Works		1,366	131	11.19
Social Development		1,913	464	16.99
Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation		1,023	116	9.85
Gauteng
Total		158,807	15,997	8.86
Agriculture and Rural Development		947	68	6.63
Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs		650	45	5.98
Community Safety		1,154	105	8.29
E-Government		773	76	9.23
Economic Development		327	31	8.19
Education		83,374	5,619	5.94
Health		61,112	7,895	11.2
Human Settlements		753	195	20.46
Infrastructure Development		2,514	487	15.89
Office of the Premier		463	86	14.14
Provincial Treasury		779	110	12.93
	Infrastructure Financing Agency	32	0	0
	Provincial Treasury	747	110	13.41
Roads and Transport		1,888	554	22.17
Social Development		3,460	509	12.81
Sports, Arts, Culture and Recreation		613	217	27.47
KwaZulu-Natal
Total		180,613	17,145	8.31
Agriculture and Rural Development		2,449	264	8.98
Arts and Culture		473	55	8.87
Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs		1,233	102	7.09
Community Safety and Liaison		162	18	8.99
Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs		532	128	18.78
Education		100,817	8,057	7.16
Finance		378	44	10.93
Health		64,395	7,554	9.83
Human Settlements		579	55	7.5
Office of the Premier		512	46	7.21
Public Works		1,525	100	6.19
Social Development		3,668	278	9.41
Sport and Recreation		233	28	10.94
Transport		3,657	416	9.72
Limpopo
Total		100,509	17,386	14.58
Agriculture, and Rural Development		2,496	507	16.31
Co-operative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs		1,835	221	10.09
Community Safety		127	8	6.17
Economic Development, Environment and Tourism		1,231	69	5.99
Education		52,788	9,336	15.22
Health		32,549	3,738	9.85
Office of the Premier		457	36	6.63
Provincial Treasury		408	58	11.52
Public Works, Roads and Infrastructure		2,784	516	14.32
Social Development		3,103	2,590	44.66
Sports, Arts and Culture		469	47	8.12
Transport		2,262	260	9.76
Mpumalanga
Total		70,066	5,742	7.59
Agriculture, Rural Development, Land and Environmental Affairs		1,493	297	15.75
Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs		754	25	2.58
Community Safety, Security and Liaison		1,482	33	2.92
Culture, Sport and Recreation		277	34	10.91
Economic Development and Tourism		220	21	5.24
Education		40,002	2,461	5.97
Health		19,954	2,549	11.18
Human Settlements		370	99	20.94
Office of the Premier		228	38	15.22
Provincial Treasury		279	71	20.19
Public Works, Roads and Transport		3,120	51	1.45
Social Development		1,887	63	3.08
National
Total		332,677	17,803	4.92
Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries		4,850	1,269	20.35
Arts and Culture		404	55	9.26
Basic Education		733	48	5.22
Civilian Secretariat for the Police Service		145	10	7.59
Communications		62	8	14.48
Cooperative Governance		585	75	10.52
	Cooperative Governance	421	47	9.33
	Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent	164	28	13.5
Correctional Services		38,142	3,329	7.68
Economic Development		95	19	12.87
Energy		505	116	17.76
Environmental Affairs		1,598	211	11.17
Government Communication and Information System		415	52	10.56
Health		1,592	262	13.88
Higher Education and Training		21,215	1,995	7.97
Home Affairs		9,584	190	1.9
	Government Printing Works	648	137	16.41
	Home Affairs	8,936	53	0.57
Human Settlements		518	86	13.72
Independent Police Investigative Directorate		355	36	9.14
International Relations and Cooperation		2,198	400	14.01
Justice and Constitutional Development		20,377	1,419	6.6
	Justice and Constitutional Development	16,017	1,413	8.21
	National Prosecuting Authority	4,360	6	0.16
Labour		8,448	853	9.09
Military Veterans		137	12	12.53
Mineral Resources		1,012	89	7.93
National School of Government		203	26	10.77
National Treasury		1,972	316	13.84
	Government Pensions Administration Agency	911	179	16.36
	Government Technical Advisory Centre	140	13	9.09
	National Treasury	921	124	11.92
Office of the Chief Justice		1,864	209	10.16
Office of the Public Service Commission		254	26	7.96
Performance Monitoring and Evaluation		418	52	11.29
Police		191,211	2,368	1.19
Public Enterprises		162	43	19.35
Public Service and Administration		379	75	14.33
	Centre of Public Service Innovation	31	3	8.82
	Public Service and Administration	348	72	14.77
Public Works		4,500	497	9.79
Rural Development and Land Reform		5,155	741	12.91
Science and Technology		386	104	20.5
Small Business Development		188	19	8.21
Social Development		690	245	25.29
Sport and Recreation South Africa		147	111	41.03
Statistics South Africa		3,323	865	20.19
Telecommunications and Postal Services		247	17	5.41
The Presidency		469	105	16.26
Tourism		456	54	9.99
Trade and Industry		1,174	39	2.67
Traditional Affairs		88	7	9.9
Transport		648	239	26.53
Water and Sanitation		5,680	1,105	16.02
Women		93	6	5.74
North West
Total		59,738	10,943	15.22
Community Safety and Transport Management		1,439	215	12.37
Culture, Arts and Traditional Affairs		695	189	20.94
Economy and Enterprise Development		221	21	6.92
Education and Sport Development		30,612	4,542	12.73
Finance		515	92	15.21
Health		18,099	4,372	19.26
Local Government and Human Settlements		525	192	27.14
Office of the Premier		703	117	13.86
Public Works and Roads		2,751	369	11
Rural, Environment and Agricultural Development		1,494	600	28.41
Social Development		2,540	182	6
Tourism		144	52	25.34
Northern Cape
Total		21,743	3,477	13.85
Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development		521	40	5.44
Co-operative Governance, Human Settlements and Traditional Affairs		581	69	9.99
Economic Development and Tourism		185	52	14.49
Education		10,085	2,196	18.7
Environment and Nature Conservation		236	12	3.39
Health		6,748	785	10.07
Office of the Premier		235	14	5.35
Provincial Treasury		350	45	10
Roads and Public Works		869	104	8.87
Social Development		1,051	84	6.59
Sport, Arts and Culture		522	48	8.08
Transport, Safety and Liaison		360	28	7.57
Western Cape
Total		73,575	11,004	12.18
Agriculture		861	24	2.67
Community Safety		286	10	2.94
Cultural Affairs and Sport		534	15	1.82
Economic Development and Tourism		187	13	4.6
Education		33,654	8,093	17.69
Environmental Affairs and Development Planning		350	4	1.6
Health		31,377	2,669	7.87
Human Settlements		400	19	3.83
Local Government		354	4	1.58
Provincial Treasury		249	27	6
Social Development		2,049	46	2.67
The Premier		950	21	2.37
Transport and Public Works		2,324	59	3.26

Reply:

1. The DPSA identified twenty public service employees who may have conducted business with the State and therefore, may be in contravention of section 8 of the Public Administration Management Act, 2014.
2. No public service employees were prosecuted or fined for contravening section 8 of the specified Act. However, on 24 June 2019, the DPSA submitted a list of twenty employees referred to in paragraph 1, to both the National Commissioner of the South African Police Service and the National Director for Public Prosecutions, with a request to conduct the necessary investigations and possible prosecutions.
3. No public service employee has had their employment terminated for contravening section 8 of the Act; as the identified cases still need to be investigated.

END

 

Reply:

(a)(b) The DPSA is not mandated to conduct lifestyle audits on members of the Executive, which includes members of Cabinet and Deputy Ministers.

(c) The newly established Public Administration Ethics, Integrity and Disciplinary Technical Assistance Unit (called the “Ethics Enforcement Unit”) is mandated in terms of section 15 of the Public Administration Management Act, 2014 (PAMA), to conduct ethics profiles, which includes lifestyle audits, and includes all employees in the public administration, including Director-Generals.

(i) On 1 April 2019, a proclamation issued in terms of the Public Administration Management Act, 2014 (PAMA 2014) brought into effect the Public Administration Ethics, Integrity and Disciplinary Technical Assistance Unit (the “Ethics Enforcement Unit”).

The mandate of this Unit, in terms of section 15 of PAMA 2014, (see Tag A) is to:

• support and provide technical assistance for the management of ethics, integrity and disciplinary matters relating to misconduct in the public administration;
• develop norms and standards for the above;
• build capacity around the disciplining of misconduct;
• strengthen oversight of ethics, integrity and discipline; and to intervene in cases where systemic weaknesses are identified;
• promote ethics and integrity; and
• cooperate with other institutions and organs of state.

As such, this Unit is the legal custodian of all integrity testing information and is responsible for lifestyle audits and integrity testing in all spheres of government.

The Unit is currently incubated in the DPSA, with efforts underway to fund and staff it properly, through a process of internal reprioritisation and reorganisation. The first phase will commence from 01 September 2019, and will include lifestyle audits as a function.

ii)-iii) The Unit has identified lifestyle audits as a priority and during its incubation phase will focus on the Public Service. To this effect, the unit has drafted a Framework for conducting lifestyle audits on public service employees. The Framework will be presented for approval to the Minister of the Public Service and Administration, where after terms of reference will be developed. As soon as this is finalised, it will be announced.

End

Reply:

Yes. During and post the 2018 Wage negotiations, economic realities and financial pressures were discussed with organised labour. The purpose was to jointly look at tangible measures going forward, to remain within the budgetary ceiling without negatively impacting on job security, as well as ensuring continuous efficient and effective functionality of departments within the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) and beyond.

Numerous Human Resources (HR) related areas to reduce the Public Service wage bill have been jointly identified between the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) and the National Treasury (NT) as follows:

(i) Organisational structures interim measures

Regulation 25(2) of the Public Service Regulations (PSR), 2016 confers the authority to executive authorities to determine their department’s organisational structures, define and create posts necessary to perform the relevant functions of the department, grade the proposed new jobs and to engage in human resources planning.

Organisational structure of each government departments will be finalised when the National Macro Organisation of Government (NMOG) Project has been concluded by the 6th Administration.

(ii) Creation and filling of posts

Due to the current financial constraints, executive authorities of the 5th Administration were encouraged to align their organisational structures with their respective personnel budgets, and to create posts within the available funds in the current MTEF. Furthermore, executive authorities were encouraged to only fill critical posts in terms of section 9 of the Public Service Act (PSA), 1994.

Where the creation of a post is based on the redirection of funding from an abolished post to another post, the redundant post must first be abolished before the creation of the newly funded post.

(iii) Employment of persons additional to the approved fixed establishment

Regulation 57(2) of the PSR, 2016 states that “an executive authority may, unless otherwise authorised by the Act, within the available budget and at a salary linked to a grade determined through job evaluation or as determined in an OSD, employ persons additional to the establishment”.

The employment of persons additional to the establishment shall not exceed 12 consecutive calendar months unless otherwise directed by the MPSA. Requests made for the extension or continuation of the employment for periods longer than 12 months, must be assessed against the original reasons for the employment of persons additional to the fixed establishment to reduce such expenditure if no longer necessary.

(iv) Posts in the Offices of Executive Authorities

Chapter 3 of the guide to Members of the Executive and regulation 66 of the Public Service Regulation (PSR), read in conjunction with section 9 of the Public Service Act (PSA) 1994, stipulates the standard configuration of Offices of executive authorities and the capacity requirements for such offices.

The DPSA has issued a circular informing government departments that appointment made to private office of Executive Authority or Deputy Minister in terms of Regulation 66 of the PSR should be linked to their term of office of the relevant Executive Authority or Deputy Minister.

(v) Granting of Early Retirement without penalty for employees between 55 and 60 years

Section 16(6) of the Public Service Act, 1994 as amended states that “an executive authority may at the request of an employee allow him or her to retire from the public service before reaching the age of 60, notwithstanding the absence of any reason for dismissal in terms of section 17(2) if sufficient reasons exist for the retirement”.

Granting of Early Retirement without penalty for employees is in response to a need identified by employees who wish to exist the public service before the official retirement age of 60 years.

The provision for applications for early retirement, where National Treasury provides funding support to departments, is limited to the period 01 April 2019 to 30 September 2019. An assessment will therefore be conducted to determine whether a further need for financial support for early Retirement is required by departments.

The DPSA and NT have between April and June 2019 concluded National, Provincial and Sectoral workshops with the relevant human resource officials to support implementation. In addition the requisite governance, financial and administrative tools, documentation and reporting templates have been issued to departments.

(vi) Decremental Budgets allocated for payment of Performance Bonus

Regulation 73(3) of the Public Service Regulations, 2016 states that “the Minister shall from time to time determine a percentage of a department’s remuneration budget that shall not be exceeded for the purpose of granting performance rewards”. This regulation is supported by regulation 73(4) which states that “the Minister shall from time to time determine the maximum percentage reward to be granted to an employee or category of employees”.

A strategy to decrease the percentage of a department’s allocated remuneration budget for the payment of performance rewards has been developed together with the National Treasury.

The approved Incentive Policy Framework (2017), provides that departments may not utilise more than 1.5% of their annual remuneration budget for the payment of performance rewards. The strategy decreases the budget allocation as follows:

Financial Year	Maximum % of Remuneration Budget
2018/19	1.5%
2019/20	0.75%
2020/21	0.5%
2021/22	0%
Post 2022	To be determined based on the comprehensive review of all PMDSs for all categories of employees

The above initiatives are envisaged to support government’s approach to manage the wage bill. The DPSA and NT monitor the public service wage expenditure to identify new and further areas for potential savings.

Reply:

(a) The number of:

(i) buildings: 2

(aa) own: 0

(bb) rent: 2

(ii) properties: 0

(iii) facilities: 0

(b) The value and purpose of each:

(i) owned: n/a

(ii) rented property:

• Maponya Mall: Office Accomodation
• Batho Pele House Office Accomodation

(iii) Value of the properties unknown

(c) (i) for how long has each property been rented,

• Maponya Mall: February 2010
• Batho Pele House December 2015

(ii) from whom is each property rented:

• Maponya Mall: Department of Public Works
• Batho Pele House Department of Public Works

(iii) what is the monthly rental fee for each property?

• Maponya Mall: R510 889.88
• Batho Pele House R3 227 378.00

Reply:

Verification process of the number of employees in the respective provincial government departments is at an advance stages of completion.

Reply:

Each government department is in a better position to provide Parliament with total amounts recovered in their respective departments

Reply:

Regulation 18 of the Public Service Regulations (PSR) require each Head of Department (HoD) to submit their disclosure forms including disclosure forms of officials in their department to the relevant Executive Authority (EA) of their Department, the EA and Head of Department to submit copies of these disclosures forms to the Public Service Commission. Therefore, each department is in a better position to provide details of these gifts and or sponsorship.

Reply:

Auditing process on the amount and number of employees currently on suspension since 1 April 2018 has not been completed

 

 

Reply:

The number of Public Service employees that were employed in each provincial department of (a) education and (b) health (i) on the last day of the (aa) 2015-16, (bb) 2016-17 and (cc) 2017-18 financial years and (ii) on 31 January 2019 (February 2019 information not available at time of compilation), were as follows:

Reply:

1. In terms of Section 16 (6) of the Public Service Act, 1994, approval of early retirement is a function delegated to each Executive Authority. This means each Executive Authority uses his or her discretion to approve early retirement, taking into account the motivation furnished by the employee when applying for early retirement.

DPSA has however provided criteria to be considered by Executive Authority when approving early retirement which are as follows:

i) the applicant is aged 55 to 60 years

ii) here shall be no negative impact on the delivery of services by the department

iii) there shall be no skills deficit created within the department

iv) the Human Resources Planning needs were considered

v) potential future fiscal savings will be realised in terms of NT’s conditions, and

vi) consideration is given to functions that are not aligned to a department’s mandate, structure and post provisioning norms.

We still need to engage Labour before issuing the early retirement circular and guideline.

2. This information will only be available once the Executive Authority of each department approved the application they received from the employees in their departments.

3. When an employee retires, his or her pension benefits are determined by the number of years of pensionable service. An employee with less than ten years of service, only receives a once-off lump sum (gratuity), whereas an employee with more than ten years of service, receives both a gratuity and monthly pension (annuity). An employee with less that fifteen years actual service, does not qualify for continued post-retirement medical assistance.

4. Not at this stage.

Reply:

The Department of Public Service and Administration in 2018 held:

a) Four (4) Tender Briefings, and

b) All four (4) Tender Briefings were Compulsory.

Reply:

REPLY ORIGINATOR:

Name:

Designation:

Contacts:

E-Mail:

Recommended / Not recommended

__________________

Prof. Richard Levin

Director General: Public Service and Administration

Date: _____________

Recommend / Not Recommend

_______________________

Dr Chane Pilane-Majake, MP

Deputy Minister for the Public Service and Administration

Date:

Approved/ Not approved

__________________

Ms Ayanda Dlodlo, MP

Minister for the Public Service and Administration

Date:

Reply:

REPLY ORIGINATOR:

Name:

Designation:

Contacts:

E-Mail:

Recommended / Not recommended

__________________

Prof. Richard Levin

Director General: Public Service and Administration

Date: _____________

Recommend / Not Recommend

_______________________

Dr Chane Pilane-Majake, MP

Deputy Minister for the Public Service and Administration

Date:

Approved/ Not approved

__________________

Ms Ayanda Dlodlo, MP

Minister for the Public Service and Administration

Date: