Staffing likened to a ‘leaking bucket’

THE Correctional Services Department said it was finding itself in a situation of a “leaking bucket” where it was filling the number of vacant posts equalling the staff leaving its employ.

“This has had serious negative effects on the compensation of employees (COE) budget, which seems to be on an increasing trajectory throughout the financial years.

“As a result of this negative trajectory, the department is continuously underspending on COE to where at the end of the financial year a huge amount of unspent budget is returned back to National Treasury,” deputy chief commissioner for human resources Patrick Mashibini said.

He made the statement on Friday when he briefed the portfolio committee on justice and correctional service on the filling of senior management service (SMS), occupational specific dispensation and non-sms posts.

He told MPS that they feared that if the situation continued, National Treasury would continue to reduce their COE budget to a point their delivery of services could suffer. The trend, has been consistent since the 2014/15 financial year.

A report tabled to the committee showed that posts were most vacant at director level with an average of 22 and deputy commissioners averaging at eight vacant posts. The SMS vacancy rate for salary levels 13 to 16 stood at 49 as of February 3. There were 848 non-sms posts to be filled nationally.

Mashibini put the blame on the centralisation of recruitment and selection of senior management in the head office and panelists often committed to high level strategic commitments.

He said there was disappearance of some appointment memorandums leading to re-advertisements of posts and disputes lodged against pending appointments. |