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By BAKANG MOKOTO

The Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration (PSA) calls on Premiers from three provinces, Northern Cape, Mpumalanga and North West to fill the positions of the Heads of Departments (HODs) and comply with policy stipulating the performance management development system.

The Chairperson of the committee, Tyotyo James said the report flagged that these provinces are having a high vacancy rate for the HODs positions.

“On 3 March 2021, the Portfolio Committee received a report from the DPSA on the turnover and filling of the Directors-General/Heads of Departments in the public service, as well as the Public Service Commission.

“This has resulted in the Portfolio Committee taking a decision to extend an invitation to the provinces with high HODs vacancy rate in order to understand their challenges in filling those critical positions,” James said.

He further said the National Development Plan (NDP) states that many of government’s best performing institutions are characterised by stability in leadership positions. Jame added that the committee appealed to all three provinces to ensure that HoDs positions are filled within the required stipulated time frames as per the Public Service Act of 1994 and its regulations.

“Furthermore, the committee cautioned the provinces to act within the law in terms of acting positions.  The committee observed that suitably qualified heads of departments with proper relevant experience lead to the better implementation of departments’ predetermined objectives in line with NDP’s observations.

“The committee heard that in Northern Cape, there were four vacant HoDs positions, the same in North West, and six vacant posts in Mpumalanga. The committee heard from the premiers that the posts will be filled in accordance with the guidelines by August 2021,” said James.

He also said the committee welcomes the commitment because in order for a department to operate optimally and efficiently, it should not be without a head of department for a lengthy period.

The committee heard that the Head of Department for the Department of Sports, Art and Culture in the Northern Cape has been on suspension since September 2020, following the report from the Public Protector where she was directly implicated for misappropriation of funds.

 The next hearing is on 19 July 2021 and until such time, she is on precautionary suspension.

“The committee raised its concern that suspensions should not take longer than six months as the state will be paying twice for the same position (once for the incumbent on suspension and the other for the person acting in that position) and this, therefore, increases the budget for personnel expenditure,” he said.

Recently, the North West Social Development appointed Emannuel Mofokane as the new Head of Department, but this did not sit well with the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (NEHAWU) together with Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) in the province.

It is alleged that Mofokane does not have the necessary qualifications to be appointed as the HoD.

NEHAWU provincial deputy secretary, Ignatius Msoki said’: “We were not part of the process during Mofokane’s appointment. We also want to put it on record that, the leader of the government has taken a decision to exclude us as the union in the recruitment process of the Head of Department of the Department of Social Development.

“NEHAWU received a letter that introduced Mokokane to us as the new HoD. This was followed by the allegations that he was not qualified for the position. We then requested a meeting with North West Premier, Prof Job Mokgoro to engage him on this issue.”

COSATU also shared the same sentiments. COSATU provincial secretary, Kopano Konopi said they have called on the North West Social Development MEC, Boitumelo Moiloa and Mokgoro to give this matter urgent attention.

“We urge Moiloa and Mokgoro to address this matter in a dignified manner as soon as possible and for stability purposes, but to put the appointment in abeyance until matters are settled.

“If the panel knows better that the appointed candidate does not meet the requirements then it must do the right thing and re-start the process from the beginning,” Konopi said.

However, Mokgoro alleged that he took no part in Mofokane’s appointment.

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By REGINALD KANYANE

Situation is back to normal at Taung District Hospital. This comes after healthcare workers who embarked on a week-long protest over non-payment of overtime and bonuses, Performance Management, and Development System (PMDS), and lack of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) brought their week-long protest to a grinding halt.

Healthcare workers’ representative, Tlotlo Maje said they agreed to return to work after their consultative engagement with the North West MEC for Health, Madoda Sambatha. However, Maje said they have submitted their ‘memorandum of demands’ and they will wait until Friday in order for the department to respond.

Maje said: “We complained about non-payment of overtime and bonuses, implementation of Performance Management and Development System (PMDS), Staff Grading and skill development among others.

“We are concerned about the department’s failure to implement a skill development program, especially at the administrative level. However, we have reached an agreement with Sambatha and we will be at our working stations until Friday.”

He further said they will continue with the protest if their demands are not addressed. Some healthcare workers alleged that the department also failed to give them PPEs even though they have been at the forefront in a fight against coronavirus.

Sambatha said some of the issues raised have to do with the responsibilities of the management. He said they have reached an agreement with the disgruntled workers and will ensure that the department addressed their grievances.

“Everything that does not need money is going to be resolved. Every problem that they have and it needs money, we will check whether we do have money to resolve it. However, what we cannot do is to force healthcare workers to be out of their work station predominantly on failures of the administrative components in health.

“There are issues that we need to be investigated in terms of qualifications and the responsibilities of the management. I have agreed with them that between Monday and Friday, they are going to get all their issues in an action plan. So, if they are not happy with the action plan, they can have an engagement with me in terms of it,” he said.

On the issue of PPEs, Sambatha said each unit should have a proper PPE. He said this is the responsibility of the occupational health and safety committee and management to ensure that PPEs are available.

taungdailynews@gmail.com

By REGINALD KANYANE

Taung District Hospital is marred with maladministration, fraud, and corruption. This comes after the North West Health Department brought the recruiting processes to a grinding halt after it was marred with illegal activities.

According to information, the hospital CEO, Tumediso Setlhodi and members of various unions from Public Servants Association (PSA), DENOSA, NEHAWU, and HOSPERSA allegedly connived in the recruitment processes.

One of our sources who refused to be named for fear of reprisal said: “There were 20 posts available at the hospital, but Setlhodi allegedly increased them to 40. So, each representative from various unions allegedly brought two individuals to be appointed, while Setlhodi allegedly employed 20 individuals.

“There were twenty women who participated in a hospitality internship, but four of them remained behind when the internship expired. These four women were allegedly in romantic relationships with some managers at the hospital. They stayed for months at the hospital residential area without authorization, but the management kept mum on the matter.”

It is alleged that these four women were appointed by Setlhodi during the recruitment processes without going through interview processes. The appointments caused uproar at the hospital after one of the job seekers closed to one of the employees at the hospital was not appointed as agreed.

The job seeker allegedly wrote down a letter complaining to the department’s provincial office in Mahikeng. He also allegedly reported the matter to the Public Protector’s office. This prompted the MEC for Health, Madoda Sambatha to assemble a team to investigate the matter.

Sambatha said the Taung District Hospital issue is quite interesting and sometimes one can laugh about it.

“Firstly, we have received a complainant letter from someone accusing the hospital management of maladministration, corruption, and fraud. He alleged that people are appointed not procedurally. The complainant alleged that there were no interviews conducted and then I despatched a team to go and investigate the matter.

“What is very interesting about this matter is that, when our team arrived at the hospital, the same person who launched a complaint was appointed at the same hospital. According to our investigations, the appointment was meant to silence him. Now, the matter gives us more reasons to investigate,” said Sambatha.

He further said the department has stopped all recruitment processes at the hospital until the investigations are completed. Sambatha added that the department has also extended its investigations at the Joe Morolong Hospital in Vryburg.

“We have also had investigations at Joe Morolong Hospital in Vryburg. Our investigations at Joe Morolong Hospital are on a basis that female job seekers are expected to write some specified tests aside with specified individuals for them to be given appointment confirmations.

“The department has extended its investigations to the provincial offices where we are investigating the leakages that are done especially in internal control and supply chain. We are also investigating asset management where we are checking assets ordered versus assets delivered in the past four years,” he said.

NEHAWU provincial secretary in the North West, Patrick Makhafane said: “We will launch intensive investigations on the matter. However, we want to categorically say our members were not acting on our mandate if there is any truth in the matter. Our shop-stewards sit in various panels as observers during interview processes and we doubt if they have any influence to swing interviews to any individual’s favour.”

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