SOUTH AFRICA
A report from South Africa’s Public Service Commission (PSC) claims performance management within Government is not working, with managers reportedly too scared of trade unions to do their jobs properly.
Deputy Director-General of the PSC, Irene Mathenjwa told Parliament’s Standing Committee on Appropriations that while Public Servants had rights that must be respected, managers were struggling to handle both workforce and union demands.
Ms Mathenjwa gave an example of workers blocking operating theatre doors during a strike at Charlotte Maxeke Hospital, saying fear of union reprisals clouded the entire performance management system.
“We need to respect rights, but a distinction must be made where, as a manager, you are able to tell someone they are not performing without fearing that you will be reported to the unions to be dealt with,” Ms Mathenjwa said.
“Performance management is undermined by weak management and employee expectations that they should be given a good score just for coming to work.”
She said managers would complain that a person was not performing, then later put them forward for a bonus.
The PSC also tracked the payment of invoices by Government Departments to service providers.
Ms Mathenjwa said while the number of unpaid invoices had gone down, the overall value increased during 2018-2019.
“The top offender is the Department of Water and Sanitation – the culture is so bad that they don’t take the calls of service providers, they just shut them out,” she said.
“In some cases this is due to genuine lack of capacity. But at the core of it, we need to be honest, is corruption. ‘If you don’t bribe me, I’m not going to pay’.”
The PSC is a Government body with constitutional responsibility for oversight of the Public Service.
Pretoria, 8 November, 2019
