PRESENTATION TO THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION

1
PRESENTATION TO THE SELECT COMMITTEE ON LOCAL
GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION

• 25 September 2002

2
MANAGEMENT OF SUSPENSIONS
3
Number of Employees on Suspension

• The advent of the Disciplinary Code and Procedure
  brought a major change to the application of
  suspensions.
• Prior to 1 July 1999 most departments endorsed
  suspensions without remuneration.
• With effect from 1 July 1999 Code stipulates
  that suspensions with remuneration.
• Survey conducted for the period 1 July 1999 to 31
  July 1999.

4
Number of Employees on Suspension

• A total number of 377 employees were suspended or
  transferred for the period 1 July 1999 to 31 July
  2000.
• Comparison of the total number of suspensions,
  nationally and provincially.

5
Number of Employees on Suspension

• Total number of suspensions in provincial
  administrations

6
Financial Cost of Suspensions

• Remuneration paid to 377 employees on suspension
  amounted to nearly R9 544 222,00.
• This amount is not all inclusive as only 81 of
  departments/provincial administrations provided
  statistics.
• Comparison between financial cost, in Rand value,
  in respect of suspensions nationally and
  provincially

7
Financial Cost of Suspensions

• Cost of suspensions, in Rand value, per
  provincial administration

8
Period of Suspension

• Disciplinary Code stipulates that a disciplinary
  hearing must be held within one month from the
  date of suspension.
• In 72 of the cases employees were suspended for
  a period longer than one month.
• 54 suspended for longer than 3 (three) months.

9
Observations

• Employees are suspended pending charges such as
  absenteeism, unauthorised use of government
  vehicles, abusive language, racist remarks and
  insubordination. While some of these are serious
  transgressions, there are others which lend
  themselves to temporary transfer to another work
  location or reassignment of duties.
• Alternatives to suspension not considered.

10
Observations

• Lack of review of suspensions. In 72 of cases
  employees are suspended for a longer period than
  1 month. Only a few dept/admins review
  suspension on a regular basis.
• Lack of capacity to conduct hearings trained
  presiding and investigating officers.
• Lack of departmental policies on suspension.

11
Recommendations

• A key recommendation was for the DPSA to
  co-ordinate a central database with particulars
  on such officers to be accessed by departments.
• This work was supplemented with guidelines on the
  management of suspensions.
• This should contribute in more effective
  management of a procedure that has serious
  socio-economic impact on the parties.

12
SURVEY BY THE PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION OF
COMPLIANCE WITH THE BATHO PELE WHITE PAPER
13
Methodology and Scope of the Survey

• Compare practice with requirements of the policy.
  Compliance/ adherence.
• Not actual service delivery against standard
• Not customer satisfaction
• Assessment by staff of the Office of the
  Commission - not self-assessment
• Degrees of compliance

14
Departments Covered

• Correctional Services
• SA Police Service
• Justice
• Home Affairs
• Provincial education departments
• Provincial health departments

15
Departments (continued)

• Developmental Local Government and Housing, North
  West
• Economic Development and Tourism, North West
• Finance, North West
• Safety and Security, North West
• Transport, North West

16
(No Transcript)
17
Findings

• Basic compliance but no rigour/fundamental/
  sustainable change
• Nothing in the findings suggest that there is
  anything wrong with the policy
• Skills
• Integration
• Alignment of service delivery capacity with the
  service delivery improvement plan
• Identifying the service delivery improvement gap
  and how to achieve the improvement required to
  bridge the gap

18
Where to Address Change Efforts

• Basic management systems
• Responsibility for service delivery performance
  clearly allocated
• Authority to make significant changes must be
  delegated
• Basic performance measurement systems
• Managers held accountable for performance

19
Basics

• Performance evaluation of individual staff
  members
• Simple but elegant administrative policies,
  rules, processes and record systems
• Basic project management systems
• Training redesigned around basic skills
• Achievable, concrete goals
• Clear priorities

20
Customer
Standard
Feedback Complaints
Responsibility/Authority
Measurement/ Accountability
Adjustment
21
REPORT ON THE VERIFICATION OF QUALIFICATIONS OF
SENIOR MANAGERS IN THE PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION
22
Background to Project

• This project has its origins in an exercise
  undertaken in the Mpumalanga Provincial
  Administration (2000), by the PSC.
• The Minister of Public Service and Administration
  requested the PSC to verify the qualifications of
  all public servants. Phase 1 commenced with the
  Senior Management echelon.
• The project is part of a broader project by
  government to improve the quality of information
  on its employees.
• It initiates discussion on the very fundamental
  question about the Public Service leadership of
  our country.

23
Objectives of the Project

• Establish the authenticity of formal tertiary
  qualifications.
• Provide a description and analysis of the
  qualification profile of public servants.
• Contribute to the overall upgrading of
  information on personnel in government.
• There is a limited pool of skills at this
  level, and it is therefore important that this
  level of leadership is assessed and effectively
  managed.

24
Project Scope

• The project covered 30 National Departments and 9
  Provincial Administrations.
• The Senior Management echelon levels 13-16
  includes professional and technical officials at
  this level. The total number is 3 597.
• As at April 2001 (the PSC cut-off date for
  returns), a total of 2 376 Senior Managers had
  submitted qualifications for verification. The
  results of this project is based on this number.

25
Project Scope (continued)

• It is of concern that as of end April 2001, 1 221
  Senior Managers had not submitted their
  qualifications for verification. As of 25
  September 2002, 11 are outstanding.
• The project involved complex networking with 264
  awarding and certifying institutions 182
  International and 82 National to complete the
  exercise.

26
Key Findings

• 1. Results of the audit
• 2. Nature of qualifications
• 3. Training
• 4. Administrative compliance
• 5. Conclusions and recommendations

27
Results of the Audit

• Authenticity rate of qualifications
• A 99 rate of qualification authenticity was
  achieved. In the 2 cases of misrepresentation,
  action was taken.
• Number of qualifications held and distribution
  thereof
• A total of 5 216 degrees and diplomas are held.
  54 of these qualifications are held by managers
  from National Departments, and 46 by managers
  from the Provincial Administrations.

28
Results of the Audit (continued)

• Average number of qualifications held
• The average number of tertiary qualifications
  held by managers in the public service is 2. The
  highest average 4, is from the Department of
  Education.
• Institutions from where most qualifications were
  obtained
• The following 5 institutions UNISA, University
  of Pretoria, Technikon SA, WITS and Stellenbosch
  are where most qualifications have been obtained.
• There is also a wealth of international
  experience from institutions such as Oxford
  University, London School of Economics, Howard
  University (USA) and Harvard Business School
  (USA).

29
Nature of Qualifications

• PIE CHART SHOWING STUDY DIRECTIONS

30
Nature of Qualifications (continued)

• Study direction of Senior Managers across the
  country
• Almost half (47) of Senior Managers hold
  qualifications in the Arts field, 29 in the
  Science field, 13 in the Commerce field and 11
  in the Law field of study.
• Qualifications in the various fields of study
• The Arts field More Senior Managers hold Arts
  qualifications from the National level (49) over
  the Provincial level (44). The larger
  proportion at the National level may be
  attributed to the high numbers from large
  Departments such as SAPS (16), Correctional
  Services (6) and Education (3).

31
Nature of Qualifications (continued)

• The Commerce field The Provincial
  Administrations (16) have more capacity in this
  area over National Departments (11). However,
  various reports by the Auditor-General have
  pointed to poor financial management controls at
  these levels, suggesting that this capacity is
  not used optimally.
• The Law field A higher proportion of legal
  skills is evident at the National level (15)
  over the provincial administrations (6).
  Contributory factors for this may be that policy
  drafting and state litigation tends to occur
  centrally.

32
Nature of Qualifications (continued)

• The Science field More science qualifications
  are held at the Provincial level (34) over the
  national level (25). This may be attributed to
  the fact that most health care professionals are
  located at service delivery points such as
  hospitals and clinics.
• Nature of qualifications some comments
• The dominant Arts qualification, whilst
  providing a useful general level of training, is
  inadequate and further training in the legal and
  commerce fields are required. Legal and financial
  skills are necessary for managers to cope with
  their new responsibilities.

33
Training

• Potential within Senior Management echelon for
  further training
• It was found that managers are well-qualified in
  their line-functions, but there is a need for
  management specific training.
• The potential for further training to be
  successful is high, given the sound educational
  basis possessed by senior managers.
• If current skills are enhanced, there is strong
  management potential for transforming the public
  service.

34
Training (continued)

• Shifting the qualification emphasis
• A training policy that emphasises training at the
  provincial and local level, and which caters for
  new demands must be implemented. Imaginative
  training strategies that draw on life skills and
  on-the-job training should be considered. SAMDI
  has a role to play.
• The type of training that is required
• Training needs to be relevant and customized. It
  should also be able to be flexible and cater for
  the high work demands of Senior Managers.

35
Training (continued)

• Factors influencing the placement of managers
  past and present
• Placement of managers in the past has tended to
  be based on policies favouring post progression,
  generally time and assessment based. Internal
  candidates were generally favoured, perpetuating
  the status quo and promoting a white-male
  management hegemony.
• Managers recruited post-1994 have generally been
  from outside the public service, and tend to hold
  a more diverse range of qualifications and
  experience.

36
Training (continued)

• The report is suggesting that due to our
  socio-political context we may have produced one
  attribute (highly qualified managers), at the
  expense of others (inappropriately trained)
  officials.
• There is no evidence that a highly qualified
  management cohort naturally translates into more
  effective service delivery of government.

37
Administrative Compliance

• The extent of compliance by national departments
  and provincial administrations around this
  project raises issues of compliance and
  coordination.
• Departments seemed to experience problems
  eliciting information from their manager. This
  may have to do with issues of leadership and
  management.
• If relatively simple information such as this was
  so difficult to obtain, this does not augur well
  for other more complex information requests.

38
Administrative Compliance (continued)

• The highest levels of returns of information to
  the PSC, which were on time and accurate were
  from
• Agriculture
• Environmental Affairs and Tourism
• Minerals and Energy
• Social Development
• Free State Administration
• Eastern Cape Administration
• Northern Cape Administration

39
Administrative Compliance (continued)

• The lowest levels of returns of information to
  the PSC, which were late or incomplete were from
• Justice
• Labour
• Correctional Services
• Home Affairs
• Statistics South Africa
• Gauteng Administration
• KwaZulu-Natal Administration

40
Conclusions and Recommendations

• Departments and administrations must ensure that
  outstanding returns are submitted. Heads of
  Departments must assume responsibility for
  ensuring this takes place.
• The completion of the skills audit is a priority
  for the development of customised training
  courses. The initiatives by the South African
  Management Development Institute (SAMDI) in this
  regard must be supported, and the outcomes of
  such training on increasing management
  effectiveness monitored.

41
Conclusions and Recommendations (continued)

• The project has contributed to the update of
  PERSAL, and this must become a prerequisite when
  a qualification is obtained. The qualification
  must be authenticated with the relevant
  institution before the use of this facility on
  PERSAL.
• Intense discussions on the quality of the Public
  Service leadership must be undertaken with key
  stakeholders. The report outlines an extensive
  dissemination strategy.
• The project needs to be extended to other levels,
  working closely with the South African
  Qualifications Authority (SAQA).