The National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union [NEHAWU] is shocked by the statement made by the Minister of Public Service and Administration in relation to Discipline Management and Transfer of Public Servants.

The Minister when addressing at the launch of the Integrated Public Service Month said that “the department has ensured that while every senior qualified and competent officials are undergoing disciplinary processes, they do not just sit at home on suspension but they are transferred to another department or unit to use their skills and qualifications to benefit other departments, unit or entity within the public service”.

It must be noted that the suspension of employees in the public service is regulated by the collective agreement (PSCBC Resolution 1 of 2003) clause 7.2 which states that the “employer may suspend an employee on full pay or transfer the employee if:

• The employee is alleged to have committed a serious offence; and
• The employer believes that the presence of an employee at the workplace might jeopardise any investigation into the alleged mis- conduct, or endanger the wellbeing or safety of any person or state property”.

A suspension of this kind is a precautionary measure that does not constitute a judgement and must be on full pay. If an employee is suspended or transferred as a precautionary measure, the employer must hold a disciplinary hearing within a month or 60 days, depending on the complexity of the matter and the length of the investigation. The chair of the hearing must then decide on any further postponement.

It must be noted that in Section 1 of the Resolution there are principles that informs the whole process and one of those is that “Discipline must be applied promptly, fair, consistently and in a progressive manner”.

The fact that some of the employees suspended have spent more than a year at home is as a result of the same employer flouting the same collective agreement. Suspended employees are supposed to be suspended for not more than 60 days and the fact that it is happening and no consequence management is applied to epitomize management frailties.

The DPSA is supposed to act by holding those in management to account when employees are suspended in excess of 60 days. The DPSA is attempting to use the transfer portion of clause 7.2 and this approach is not going to help because it will become expensive for the department.

The statement made by the Minister is not going to help in what DPSA is trying to achieve instead they must capacitate their managers and hold them accountable if employees are suspended for more than the prescribed period. This point is also informed by the Public Service Summit resolution that was signed by parties in 2022 (PSCBC Resolution 1 of 2022) wherein the employer agreed that they will capacitate their managers.

Lastly, we find it shocking that the Minister would use the launch of Public Service Month to make such an announcement instead of using the correct and proper platform which is the Bargaining Council. This is a council matter and must be discussed in council not in the public domain.

END

Issued by NEHAWU Secretariat.

Zola Saphetha (General Secretary) at 082 558 5968; December Mavuso (Deputy General Secretary) at 082 558 5969; Lwazi Nkolonzi (NEHAWU National Spokesperson) at 081 558 2335 or email: lwazin@nehawu.org.za