Promoting Employment Equity in the Public Service Presentation to the Portfolio Committee, Parliament Briefing by the Department of Public Service and Administration Date: 10/09/2003 Time: 11:00 – 13:00

Presentation outline  Legislative and policy framework  State of human resource and employment equity planning  Key interventions flowing from the status report  Revised affirmative action targets  Collaboration with key stakeholders  Intervention strategies: Women and people with disabilities  Concluding remarks

Legislation  The Constitution of the RSA (1996)  Public Service Act (1994) as amended  Employment Equity Act (1998)  Skills Development Act (1998)  Labour Relations Act (1995)

White Papers/ Policies  White Paper on the Transformation of the Public Service(1995)  National Integrated Disability White Paper (1997)  White Paper on Human Resource Management in the Public Service (1997)  White Paper on Affirmative Action (1998)

Regulations/Collective agreements Regulations:  Public Service Regulations (1999 & 2001)  Treasury Regulations (2000)  Employment Equity Regulations (2000) Collective Agreements:  PSCBC Resolution 7 of 2002: Framework agreement on the transformation and restructuring of the Public Service

National audit of management plans  A decentralised Public Service management framework implemented with effect from 1 July 1999  Integrated Implementation Programme (IIP) during August to December 1999 in mainly three provinces. Primary aim was to assist departments in those provinces develop strategic plans, organisational structures, service delivery improvement plans and human resource plans  In 2000 DPSA conducted a national audit of management plans and confirmed that HR planning was the weakest link of the four outputs (strategic plan, organisation structure, service delivery improvement programme and HR plan).

State of human resource and employment equity planning in the Public Service  In 2001, DPSA conducted an assessment on HR planning and employment equity planning and developed a report that reflected the overall state of human resource and employment equity planning in the Public Service.  Data was collated through one national and nine provincial workshops, as well as through questionnaires and telephonic surveys. Thirty-one national departments and 98 provincial departments were engaged.

 Amendment of the Public Service Regulations  Linking of human resource plans with strategic planning (regulation III D.4 of Chapter 1 of the Public Service Regulations)  Integrating human resource planning with employment equity as well as affirmative action programmes (regulation III J of Chapter 1 of the Public Service Regulations) Key interventions flowing from the status report

 In 2002 DPSA developed and published guidelines on integrated human resource planning for the Public Service  A practical guide aimed at assisting departments integrate human resource, employment equity and training plans into one composite plan - an integrated human resource plan  A practical guide to assist departments link strategic planning to the integrated human resource plan mentioned above  A guide to assist departments develop human resource plans as required by the PSCBC Resolution 7 of 2002 Key interventions flowing from the status report

New affirmative action targets for the Public Service  In 2001, DPSA undertook a study to assess progress made by the Public Service in achieving affirmative action targets. The results showed that progress towards achieving the target of 30% for women at management level (salary levels 13 to 16) by the end of 1999 fell short by about 13%.  The 50% target for blacks was however achieved and the representivity figure as at December 1999 stood at 53%.  For people with disabilities representation was 0.01% at all levels. Only Education, SAMDI as well as Sport and Recreation have achieved the 2% target

New affirmative action targets for the Public Service  In June 2003, the Minister for the Public Service and Administration submitted to Cabinet a proposal setting new minimum national affirmative action targets for designated groups for achievement by the end of March  In respect of women at management levels, the Minister proposed the retention of the original 30% target. The revised target for blacks was set at 75% while the original target of 2% was for people with disabilities was retained.  Cabinet endorsed the revised targets and committed to support the Minister

Collaboration with key stakeholders  The January 2003 Cabinet Lekgotla identified the representation of women and gender programmes as a priority for the Public Service – mainly driven by the Governance and Administration Cabinet Cluster Committee  The DPSA is thus collaborating with key stakeholders dealing with gender issues to develop strategies and acceleration programmes to advance women and people with disabilities to required levels of representation within the Public Service.

Intervention strategies: Women and people with disabilities in the PS DPSA  Competency framework for the Senior Management Service  Development of a generic competency framework for middle managers at salary levels 11 and 12  Proposals for extending the competency framework to lower levels  Programme for developing sustainable pools of middle managers for possible progression into management positions, targeting particularly designated groups  The research study to investigate factors that would enhance representivity and working conditions of employees with disabilities within the Public Service.

Intervention strategies: Women and people with disabilities in the PS OSW  Best practice manual on gender for the Public Service  User-friendly guide on the National Gender Framework  An audit on the status of gender focal points in national departments  Gender Mainstreaming

Intervention strategies: Women and people with disabilities in the PS OPSC  A case study on the work experiences of women in senior levels of management, with specific reference to empowerment and decision-making  Comprehensive audit of affirmative action in the Public Service  Disability report

Intervention strategies: Women and people with disabilities in the PS SAMDI  Response: SAMDI has trained public servants of which were women since the beginning of the financial year 2002/3.  SAMDI offers training programmes that target both internal and external public servants

Intervention strategies: Women and people with disabilities in the PS Recruitment and selection practices/ strategies  Departments of Education, Justice and Constitutional Development, Land Affairs, SAMDI, Statistics South Africa and Social Development approached various civil society organisations to distribute their vacancy lists.

Intervention strategies: Women and people with disabilities in the PS  Recruitment and selection practices/ strategies cont.  Departments of Health (Western Cape), the Department of Housing and Provincial Treasury (KwaZulu-Natal) the Office of the Premier, as well as Agriculture, Land Reform, Conservation and Environment (Northern Cape), forward their advertisements for vacancies to organisations working with people with disabilities, and in some cases to the Office on the Status of Disabled Persons (OSDP) in attempting to access people with disabilities.

Intervention strategies: Women and people with disabilities in the PS  Skills development  The national Department of Land Affairs provides bursaries for people with disabilities.  Work environment  Department of Finance in the Northern Cape and the Department of Traditional and Local Government in KwaZulu- Natal, have set aside specific budgets for improving the work environment for employees with disabilities.

Concluding remarks  Although past reports by the Commission for Employment Equity reveal that the public sector is performing better than the private sector in respect of employment equity, progress is far from satisfactory, particularly in respect of women in senior management levels and people with disabilities  The state of affairs requires collaborative efforts by all role players  Support by the Portfolio Committee in achieving meaningful representation of designated groups will be greatly appreciated