Matters arising from previous meeting; Letters of Objections in relation to shortlisted candidates

Meeting report

 Apologies

The Chairperson rendered an apology on behalf of Mr M Maine (ANC; North West), who was the co-chairperson of the Committee. Mr Maine was held up with other legislative duties but would join the meeting at a later stage.

Apologies from other absent Members were read out by the Committee Secretary.

 

Committee Minutes dated 11 April 2012

The Chairperson tabled the minutes for consideration.

 

Members pointed out and corrected all the typhographical errors in the minutes.

 

Mr Z Mlenzana (COPE Eastern Cape) moved for the adoption of the corrected minutes. Mr S Makhubela (ANC) seconded this motion.

 

The minutes were approved with amendments.

 

Matters arising from the previous meeting- dated 11 April 2012

The Chairperson, raised two issues from the previous meeting for discussion.

 

Firstly, in respect of shortlisted candidates who were currently serving in the Public Service, she drew Members attention to Section 26 of the Public Service (Amendment) Act, 2007 (the Act). This provision mandated such candidates to obtain permission from their executive authorities before taking up other appointments. The Section read: ‘ (1) No employee shall perform or engage himself or herself to perform remunerative work outside his or her employment in the relevant department, except with the written permission of the executive authority of the department (2) For the purposes of subsection (1) the executive authority shall at least take into account whether or not the outside work could reasonably be expected to interfere or impede the effective or efficient performance of the employee’s functions in the department or constitute a contravention of the code of conduct contemplated in section 41(1)(b)’.

 

Mr Mlenzana reminded the Committee that the Board’s composition was made up of both part time and full time members. He wondered if part-time Board members could be described as being in remunerative work as defined in the Public Service (Amendment) Act, considering that they would only be paid for travel costs and stipends for sitting allowance when they attended meetings.

 

Mr Makhubela commented that it was unnecessary for the Committee to engage on the matter. It should be the business of candidates taking up Board positions and the departments involved to decide whether or not the Board appointment would interfere with their duties and if it would be remunerative.

 

Mr A Nyambi (ANC Mpumalanga) supported Mr Makhubela’s take on the issue. In addition, he advised that in future there should be a legal adviser sitting in the meetings  to assist the Committee with such matters.

 

fMr N Bhanga (COPE) agreed with the two previous Members. He further underlined that it was the President inviting candidates to perform a national duty and this should therefore not be underestimated. He suggested that the relevant section of the Act be brought to the notice of candidates who were serving public officers during the interview process.

 

The Chairperson responded that the President could only invite persons to National duty within the ambit of the law.

 

The second issue raised by the Chairperson  for consideration by Members was in relation to the publication of the names of the shortlisted candidates.  She reported that the names had appeared in National newspapers as required under the National Youth Development Agency Act (NYDA Act).  The list of names had also been sent to the Police for screening of criminal records. The Committee was yet to receive any feedback on the screening without which interviews could not commence, hence communication had been sent out to candidates that interviews would not take place on the dates earlier publicised and new dates would be communicated to them.

 

A Member asked what the status was of candidates who did not submit qualifications at the time of short listing.

 

The Chairperson clarified that the adverts had stipulated that all shortlisted candidates were required to bring their original qualifications with them when coming for the interviews.

 

Letters of Objections in relation to shortlisted candidates

Also related to the publication of shortlisted candidates names, the Chairperson  informed the Committee that three letters of objections had been received all of which centred around the demographic profile of the candidates.

 

The letter from Pastor Elrich Oliphant indicated that no coloured person had been represented in the shortlisted names.  The second letter of objection also stated that there was no representation of the coloured race in the shortlisted names, where out of the 23 names, 20 were from the ethnic black race, 2 were Indians and 1 White South African. Finally, a very strongly worded letter of objection was also received from the Gamtakwa Khoisan Council in which it stated that there was no Khoisan represented in the shortlisted candidates and took the liberty to nominate its candidate, a Mr Francisco Swarts, attaching his CV and qualifications to its letter.

 

The Chairperson proposed that in response to the Khoisan Council, the Committee should turn down the nomination it had made as the name had not been sent in before the deadline set for nominations of persons and accepting such a nomination would be giving an unfair advantage to the person in question and would be a flagrant abuse of the whole process. The Committee should also explain to explain to the Council that it had to work within the selection process . The applications only contained the CVs and other relevant documents of the candidates and it was difficult to decipher who was or was not Khoisan. The notice of representation across demographic profiles was noted by the Committee. The Committee however needed to ensure that this must not be taken advantage of.

 

Mr Makhubela stated that the Committee’s responses to the letters of objection must take several issues into consideration. He was in agreement with the proposed response on turning down the CV of the individual nominated by the Khoisan Council as this was against due process. He suggested that the response clearly state that Parliament had nothing against Khoisans or any group of people and called upon them to participate in matters of National Youth Development Agency whether or not they were represented on the board.

 

Mr Nyambi highlighted that the responses must be detailed in explaining the process to those who had raised objections and also clearly state that the CVs did not specify a candidate’s race. He also suggested that co-chairs indicated their readiness to grant the Khoisan Council an audience if the need arose.

 

Mr J Skosana (ANC) viewed the statements made by the Khoisan Council in their letter as racist. The Committee's response must address this and explain that the shortlisting process was a democratic process. A democratic process should unfold without racism.

 

Mr Bhanga suggested that the legal team assist with the responses and point out that the process did not end with Parliament.

 

Mr Makhubela commented that it may be that people had mistaken the publication of shortlisted names as though they were the only applicants and the responses should clearly address this and also state that application was not a guarantee for shortlist.

 

The Chairperson highlighted that the Committee was faced with a challenge as the NYDA legislation stipulated the requirement to publish but did not give direction on steps to be taken after publishing. She advised that this might be worth looking into in future for legislative amendment.

 

The Chairperson proceeded to lead members on discussions as regard upcoming interviews of shortlisted candidates and requested non members leave the meeting. The rest of the meeting was closed to non members.