1. PRESENTATION TO THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON WOMEN IN THE PRESIDENCY
THE ROLE AND MANDATE OF THE PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION (PSC) AND GENDER MAINSTREAMING
PRESENTATION TO THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON
WOMEN IN THE PRESIDENCY
15 March 2016

2. Our Legislative Mandate Organisational Environment Programmes
Introduction
Our Legislative Mandate
Organisational Environment
Programmes
Structure
Gender mainstreaming initiatives in the PSC
Gender focal point in the PSC
Employment Equity Targets
Conclusion 2

3. INTRODUCTION
The PSC is established by the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996, as one of the institutions to strengthen the oversight role of the legislatures over the Executive and Administrative branches of the state to facilitate transparent and effective policy formulation and implementation.
The PSC is accountable to Parliament. Parliamentary Committees (PCs) utilise the PSC’s reports in exercising their oversight functions.
The PC has requested the PSC to brief them on the following:
The PSC’s mandate, programmes and structure
How the PSC deals with gender mainstreaming
Employment Equity targets within the PSC
Overview of the gender focal point
Gender equity and disability in the workplace 3

4. OUR LEGISLATIVE MANDATE (1)
Professional ethics
Efficient, economic and effective use of resources
A development-orientated public administration
Provision of services in an impartial, fair and equitable way
Public Participation
Accountability
Transparency
Good HR management and career-development practices
Representivity
Values and Principles
In terms of section 196(4) of the Constitution, the powers and functions of the PSC are to-
promote Constitutional Values and Principles in the Public Service
investigate, monitor and evaluate the organisation and administration, and the personnel practices of the Public Service
propose measures to ensure effective and efficient performance within the Public Service 4

5. OUR LEGISLATIVE MANDATE (2)
give directions aimed at ensuring that personnel procedures (recruitment, transfer, promotions and dismissals) comply with the basic values and principles set out in section 195
report on activities to the National Assembly and to Provincial Legislatures in respect of activities in Provinces
either of own accord or on receipt of a complaint:
investigate the application of personnel and public administration practices and report to the relevant EA & Legislature
investigate grievances of employees in the Public Service and recommend remedies
monitor and investigate adherence to applicable procedures in the Public Service
advise National and Provincial Organs of State regarding personnel practices in the Public Service 5

6. OUR LEGISLATIVE MANDATE (3)
The PSC is accountable to the National Assembly and interacts with Parliament and the Provincial Legislatures regularly, reporting on its activities and the performance of its functions as required by sections 196(4)(e) and 196(6) of the Constitution.
The PSC’s main objective is to provide effective oversight over the public service nationally and provincially.
To this end, the PSC conducts evidence-based research, monitoring and evaluation involving the gathering and collation of qualitative and quantitative data on public administration for use by the Legislatures and the Executive.
The PSC also conducts inspections at service delivery
points and public hearings on topical issues. 6

7. PROGRAMMES (1)
The PSC has operationalised its wide mandate around six (6) key performance areas (KPAs), in three programmes.
Labour Relations Improvement: Public Service labour relations and practices enhanced through timely investigation of all properly referred grievances and provision of best practices
Leadership and Human Resource Reviews: To identify and promote sound Human Resource Management and Leadership Practices in public administration.
Leadership and Management Practices
Governance Monitoring: To provide institutional assessments and programme evaluations that support policy and management decisions.
Service Delivery and Compliance Evaluations: To provide participative evaluations as well as evaluations of service delivery models and processes to support policy and management decisions.
Monitoring and Evaluation 7

8. PROGRAMMES (2)
Public Administration Investigations: To investigate and improve public administration practices and to make recommendations to departments on the promotion of good governance and issue directions regarding compliance with the Public Service Act, 1994.
Professional Ethics: To promote ethical conduct amongst public servants through the management of the Financial Disclosure Framework (FDF), the NACH and provide advice on professional and ethical conduct in the Public Service.
Anti-Corruption
Integrity and
The PSC has a fourth programme, namely Administration. The programme’s objective is to provide strategic leadership, direction, management and administrative support to the PSC. 8

9. STRUCTURE
A high level overview of the PSC organisational structure is as follows:
PSC (14 Commissioners)
5 Commissioners at National level
9 Commissioners at Provincial level
Branch: Integrity and Anti-Corruption
Branch: Leadership and Management Practices
Branch: Monitoring and Evaluation
Branch: Corporate Services
OPSC
The PSC is supported by an Office that is structured as a department,
headed by the DG
9 X Provincial offices
(providing operational and administrative support to provincially based commissioners exercising the powers and functions of the PSC in section 196(4) in their provinces) EC WC FS
KZN
MPU
LIMP NC GP NW 9

10. GENDER MAINSTREAMING INITIATIVES (1)
The PSC has a Task Team on Gender. The key objectives of the Task Team are informed by the HoD’s 8-Principles for Promoting Women Empowerment and Gender Equality:
To promote the advancement of women in the workplace and for the evaluation of progress made in this area; and
To advise on how to systematically create an enabling environment for women and gender equality in the workplace. 10

11. GENDER MAINSTREAMING INITIATIVES (2)
Principle
PSC Initiative 1
Transformation for non-sexism
The PSC is addressing the provision of reasonable accommodation for women whilst its offices are relocating to alternative accommodation. 2
Establishing a policy environment
The PSC has the following policies that address gender mainstreaming issues:
Gender Policy
Sexual Harassment Policy
Mentorship Policy
All other policies in the PSC (such as SCM and Recruitment and Selection) address gender mainstreaming issues. 3
Meeting equity targets
As at 20 August 2015, the Office of PSC, had -
55% women at SMS level
4 PWDs. This translates to 1.46%. 11

12. GENDER MAINSTREAMING INITIATIVES (3)
Principle
PSC Initiative 4
Creating enabling environment
Women employees continue to serve and chair various committees, e.g. Bid Adjudication Committee, Fraud Prevention and Risk Management Committee
Bids awarded to women owned companies who meet the standard requirements.
Establishment of the Task Team on Gender.
Opportunities for internal promotion.
Training and Bursaries 12

13. GENDER MAINSTREAMING INITIATIVES (4)
Principle
PSC Initiative 5
Gender mainstreaming
The PSC decided to accelerate the appointment of females at both SMS and MMS level. This has led to the PSC exceeding Public Service representivity targets.
The focus on the appointment of females at the MMS level enables the PSC to achieve succession planning for females in the PSC.
Involvement of male colleagues in the Task Team in order to raise awareness of the importance of gender mainstreaming.
Learning networks were established to share information and lessons learned on the work of the PSC.
Future initiatives include hosting Diversity Management Workshops and training all staff on Gender Mainstreaming. 13

14. GENDER MAINSTREAMING INITIATIVES (5)
Principle
PSC Initiative 6
Empowerment
Workshops were held to empower staff, e.g. on the Sexual Harassment Policy.
Focussed training on women in leadership in the organisation.
Training on Conversations with Women in Leadership and Emotional Intelligence. 7
Providing adequate resources
In the 2014/15 financial year, 36 bursaries were awarded to women. Female employees were also identified to attend an International Programme for Development Evaluation in Canada. 8
Accountability, Monitoring and Evaluation
The work of the Task Team is mainstreamed into the work of the PSC.
The Task Team reports are tabled at management and PSC meetings on a quarterly basis.
Tool developed to monitor and evaluate the impact of courses/ workshops. 14

15. GENDER MAINSTREAMING INITIATIVES (6)
The PSC also mainstreams gender when implementing its oversight mandate in the Public Service.
In this regard, when assessing the merits of grievances of public servants, the PSC conducts a gender analysis of the issue at hand. An analysis is also conducted whether departmental policies, such as recruitment and selection policies and sexual harassment policies are in place and are appropriately gender sensitive.
The PSC has over the years conducted research on employment equity in the Public Service and has published reports on Affirmative Action (2006), Gender Mainstreaming Initiatives in the Public Service (2006) and the Assessment on Disability Equity in the Public Service (2002). In particular, the PSC had at the time found that there was not a strong enough commitment within the Public Service, beyond numerical targets, to create the necessary enabling environment for gender mainstreaming and gender equality. 15

16. GENDER MAINSTREAMING INITIATIVES (7)
The PSC also conducts service delivery inspections, which amongst others, assess issues of gender sensitivity, especially in ensuring that facilities addresses the constitutional right to privacy and dignity.
The PSC’s draft performance expectations with regard to the values in Section 195 of the Constitution and the indicators against which departments will be evaluated include the following indicators in respect of the value of a representative public administration:
To assess compliance with the representativeness profile to ensure a Public Service based on fair employment practices.
To assess whether good management tools are in place to ensure that employees are empowered and provided with the necessary support to contribute to the achievement of the department’s objectives (The Eight Women Empowerment Principles are applied in the department’s action plan towards gender equality). 16

17. GENDER FOCAL POINT IN THE PSC
The work on gender mainstreaming issues is included as part of the duties of the Special Programmes Officer.
Due to the size of the organisation and budgetary constraints the PSC does not have a dedicated unit for Gender Focal point. As such a Task Team has been established and is chaired by the Deputy Director-General: Corporate Services, with membership from all levels.
The DG reports to the PSC on the progressive realization of gender equity in the Office. 17

18. EMPLOYMENT EQUITY TARGETS
Vacancy rate in the Office of the PSC as at 7 March 2016 was 10.4%.
All posts of Commissioner are filled.
Representivity profile of the PSC and its Office:
Females in the PSC
Commissioners
43% (6/14)
SMS
51.2%
People with Disabilities
Commissioners
7.1% (1/14)
OPSC employees
1,87%
The Office of the PSC has exceeded the target of appointing females at SMS level. Furthermore, out of the 3 filled DDG posts, 2 are female.
Although, the PSC forwards all advertisements to the Organisation for Disabled People South Africa, the PSC is still having difficulties recruiting PWDs. Hence the target of 2% has not been achieved. 18

19. EMPLOYMENT EQUITY TARGETS (2)
EE trends analysis
Females
Note: From 2013, separate statistics for Commissioners and staff
Disability 19

20. CONCLUSION
The PSC has managed to exceed the employment of women in SMS positions and has increased its internal target to 55% to minimise under performance in the event of resignations or retirement and other service termination circumstances.
The PSC is also outward looking in that it monitors the Constitutional values and principles in the Public Service. Under the principle Representivity, the PSC has indicators in respect of female representivity and employment of PwD.
The PSC also quality assures the Performance Agreements of Heads of Department. The PSC ensures that gender mainstreaming issues are reflected in such Agreements. 20

21. Thank you Enkosi PSC Website: www.psc.gov.za
National Anti-Corruption Hotline for the Public Service:
Thank you
Enkosi 21