Public Service Minister: No plans to retrench 30,000 govt workers

Public Service and Administration Minister, Ayanda Dlodlo, has, on behalf of the government, denied allegations that there were plans to lay off 30,000 workers.

She did admit, however, that there, in fact, were plans to restructure. No labour unions were alerted of a mass retrenchment, therefore the figures distributed by the media on Friday could not possibly reflect any truth.

Instead, Dlodlo believes that the misleading information has caused a state of panic in the public service.

Public Service Minister condemns Mail & Guardian reporting

Mail & Guardian had, on Friday, reported that according to sources that were in the Cabinet lekgotla, there was a three-year plan to recoup a sum of R20bn through the retrenchment of 30,000 workers.

It was also alleged that the National Treasury had budgeted R4bn that would be allocated towards severance packages.

Dlodlo, addressing the matter in a series of tweets, did not deny the fact about there being a plan to offer workers severance packages. In one tweet, she stated that

It is true that as part of a bigger plan to reorganize government, an employer initiated severance package and early retirement without penalties, among other measures are being considered but government is yet to engage labor unions on the matter.

— Ayanda Dlodlo (@EDAyandaDlodlo) August 10, 2018

Dlodlo went on further to state that the ultimate objective was not to recoup R20bn, a figure she claims the newspaper sucked out of their thumb. Instead, she reiterated the fact that the objective was to streamline service delivery by reducing expenses and improving performance.

The President’s call to restructure government in order to enhance service delivery and making the public administration more effective and efficient by removing superfluous functions and structures does not include such figures as quoted in the paper.

— Ayanda Dlodlo (@EDAyandaDlodlo) August 10, 2018

The Public Service Minister also touched on issues surrounding the public sector wage bill, which stood at R587bn earlier in the year.

These measures include the following:

• The development of a comprehensive remuneration strategy that covers the three spheres of government including public entities in the medium term.

— Ayanda Dlodlo (@EDAyandaDlodlo) August 10, 2018

In a bid to adopt streamlined measures in governance, she stated that organisational structures would be thoroughly explored and that new sporadic appointments would be reduced and limited.

• Strict management of overtime, performance bonuses, leave management, implementation of the Occupation Specific Dispensation and separation management.

— Ayanda Dlodlo (@EDAyandaDlodlo) August 10, 2018

Dlodlo clarifies government’s plans on improving service delivery

The government, according to Dlodlo, also plans to introduce the Organisational Functionality Assessment Framework, which will prioritise the need to ensure that workers are performing in accordance with expectations.

This grading system would ensure that performance bonuses and leave are managed properly and strictly.

Dlodlo also touched on the need for the government to employ the youth and recent graduates. This, she said, will now become a reality through the Graduate Recruitment Scheme.

Fikile Mbalula also joined in and posted a tweet of an official statement from the office of the Public Service and Administration Minister.

https://twitter.com/MinAyandaDlodlo