Outstanding Budget Issues: Department responses

Meeting report

SECURITY AND CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS SELECT COMMITTEE
30 May 2006
OUTSTANDING BUDGET ISSUES: DEPARTMENT RESPONSES

Chairperson: Kgoshi L Mokoena (ANC, Limpopo)

Documents handed out:
Presentation to the Select Committee on Utilisation of External Service Providers in Recruitment
Presentation to the Select Committee on the Status of Gender Representivity in DCS

SUMMARY
The Department of Correctional Services presented the Committee with responses to questions asked at a previous meeting (10 May 2006). These questions related to the employment of women and the Department’s use of recruitment agencies. The National Commissioner of Correctional Services assured Members that the outsourcing of recruitment was a temporary measure. Members requested clarity on the new financing model to be used in the building of the new prisons. They were also concerned about the poor representation of disabled officials in the Department. These questions would be responded to at a later stage.

MINUTES
The Chairperson welcomed the delegation and especially Deputy Minister of Correctional Services, Ms Loretta Jacobus to the meeting. Ms Jacobus thanked the Committee for the warm welcomed and said that she hoped to have a good working relationship with the Committee.

Utilisation of External Service Providers in Recruitment
Mr E Khosa (Director: Human Resource, Administration and Utilisation, Department of Correctional Services (DCS)) briefed the Committee on the background to the Department’s decision to outsource its recruitment. The presentation also gave a brief overview of the selection process and the achievements of the recruitment strategy. The Department’s decision was motivated by, amongst others, a desire to limit corruption and to improve the turnaround time of the recruitment process.

National Commissioner Linda Mti added that many departments used recruitment agencies. This strategy made it possible for the Department to deal with the backlog, maladministration and corruption. It was the first time that the Department had succeeded in filling 1 000 positions in one year. He emphasised that the outsourcing would not be permanent but merely assisted the Department in handling the realities it was faced with at the moment.

Status of Gender Representivity in DCS
Ms Ayanda Bonani (Director: Equity and Recreation) reported that between 1999 and 2006 the number of women employed at senior management level had increased from 18 to 35. The submission detailed the gender and racial breakdown of officials at senior management level. The Department had exceeded all but one of the targets as far as the employment of women was concerned: it still had 0, 58% fewer Indian women than the target agreed to in 1999.

Commissioner Mti acknowledged that the number of women remained low but assured the Committee that the Department was getting closer to the targeted 50% women by 2009. It was not only the number of women that was important but also their "complexion". The DCS was not "likeable"; people did not necessarily volunteer to become correctional officials.

Discussion
Mr J Le Roux (DA, Eastern Cape) felt that privatising the recruitment of correctional officials was the right avenue to take. All big companies were taking this route. He cautioned that the success or failure of the recruitment depended on the quality of the agencies. He wondered what measures the Department had taken to ensure that the agencies were able to deliver.

Commissioner Mti explained that the Department followed a tender process when deciding which companies to outsource recruitment to. He assured the Committee that the service agreements the Department had with the selected agencies enabled the termination of the contracts should the agencies fail to perform. The Department rotated between three agencies.

Mr S Shiceka (ANC, Gauteng) commented that Mr Le Roux’s response to the outsourcing of the recruitment was ideological but agreed that in this particular case privatisation resulted in a shorter turnaround time, enabling the Department to fill vacancies faster. He asked whether recruitment was centralised or decentralised.

Commissioner Mti explained that the posts were advertised nationally but that the processes took place at a regional level. He reminded the Committee that the Department had many problems – the more it decentralised functions, the more problems occurred. He reminded the Committee that at the end of the day it was the accounting officer who had to take responsibility before the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA).

Mr Shiceka acknowledged that responses from 3 million applicants were too many for the Department to handle. He wondered what criteria were used in the recruitment for the 1 000 posts currently advertised.

Commissioner Mti commented that the situation at the entry level posed a great challenge. Matriculants were often unsuccessful due to the great number of graduates applying for positions.

Mr S Tsetsane (Deputy Director: Human Resource Development) added that consultants did the initial screening of candidates. The short listing and finalisation of appointments were done at regional level. He assured Members that recruitment, even at a promotional level, was done in the regions.

The Chairperson wondered how much the Department spent on the private recruitment agencies.

Commissioner Mti explained that since 2005 about R5million had been spent on recruitment agencies. He emphasised that outsourcing recruitment would not be a permanent solution. The Department did not have the capacity to adequately perform their recruitment function but was working on improving the situation.

Mr Shiceka reminded the delegation that the Committee had requested an explanation of the new model that would be used in the financing of the new prisons the Department planned on building.

Commissioner Mti said that the new model would be a hybrid between a public and private financing model. He was not aware that the Committee needed an explanation on the much talked about new financial model. The Department would do a presentation on it at a later stage.

The Chairperson pointed out that the Chief Deputy Commissioner, Mr Motseki, had briefly spoken about this matter at the previous meeting. The Department had then also said that it would respond to this issue at a later date.

The Deputy Minister repeated the request to explain the new model at a later stage. She was aware that the Committee would now be focusing on issues related to its policy debate.

Mr Shiceka pointed out that ensuring that disabled people were also employed was one of the Government’s priorities. He asked how many people with disabilities were employed within the Department.

The Deputy Minister responded that at present the Department employed 56 disabled people. She admitted that this number was not adequate. The Department would supply the Committee with a document that would detail the levels at which they were employed.

Commissioner Mti added that the Department had been under the impression that the Committee was more interested in a gendered breakdown of the staff numbers. The Equity and Recreation directorate could provide figures dealing with women, disabled people, youth, etc. He too acknowledged that the Department was doing worse in the area of the employment of disabled people than in the recruitment of women.

The Deputy Minister said that her predecessor, Ms Cheryl Gillwald had said that she had always had a good relationship with the Select as well as the Portfolio Committees. Ms Jacobus wished to also have a good relationship with the committees, despite the fact that there would probably be differences of opinion.

Mr A Moseki (ANC, North West) assured her that the Committee too wished to maintain the good working relationship with the Deputy Minister’s office.

The meeting was adjourned.