Public Service Commissioners: process and adoption of Committee report

Meeting report

Public Service Commissioners appointment: Committee Report
The Chairperson tabled the Committee Report on the appointment process in respect of the Public Service Commissioners, and requested comment from the Members. She noted that one of the interviewees had been interviewed by telephone, since that person was at the time attending the International Monetary Fund meeting and was unable to be present.

Ms A Dreyer (DA) said that the process was easy as the Members concurred fully with each other. The Committee was fair and objective when selecting the candidates. The best candidates had, in her opinion, been selected.

The Chairperson concurred with Ms Dreyer’s sentiments and said that the process was indeed harmonious.

Mr E Rasool (ANC) also concurred with Ms Dreyer; he had been pleased that all four of those eventually selected had featured in every Member’s nomination list. At the end of the selection process the top two candidates differed by a matter of 2 % with regard to the scoring.

Ms F Bikani (ANC) said that lessons had to be learnt from the process, as this might not be the final time that this Committee, or indeed another Committee, had to go through a selection process of Commissioners. It was important to develop criteria and conditions of standards so that in future the mistakes that had occurred at the beginning of the process should not occur again. She suggested that a document be compiled setting out the process, and that this should also be approved by the Committee.

The Chairperson agreed that it was very important for Members to follow Ms Bikani’s suggestion, saying that this would certainly assist the Committee in future.

Members adopted the Committee’s report, with a few technical amendments.

Workshop discussions
The Chairperson asked the Committee to discuss the workshop scheduled for the following week. This workshop was important for the Committee as it would allow Members to discuss some of the important issues that they would be dealing with later in the year, such as the Sector Education and Training matters.

Ms Dreyer agreed that it was important to have a workshop, but she expressed reservations about the venue, asking whether it was appropriate that the Members spent a full week at a hotel, while the rest of the country was going through a recession, many people were unemployed and struggling financially and she thought the Committee should show appreciation for this and lead by example. Members did have accommodation in Cape Town, where the workshop would be held. The DA members would attend the workshop, but would not stay at the hotel.

The Chairperson replied that Members were encouraged to stay at home wherever possible, but there were issues such as traffic to consider. The workshop would begin each morning at 09h00. Any people who thought they could not attend in time should stay at the hotel.

Ms Dreyer replied that if the workshop took place at Parliament transport could not be seen as a problem.

Ms Razia January, Secretary to the Portfolio Committee on Public Service, said that the Committee was advised not to have the workshop at Parliament. There was a limit of R70 000 that the Committee could spend on the workshop. The Committee had in fact spent R42 000 on the workshop, including meals. She pointed out that if it were to cancel at this stage, it would lose the full money as a cancellation fee, then would also have to budget for meals at Parliament, which would end up by being more expensive.

The Chairperson also added that if Members held their workshop off site, they would not be interrupted by other business, nor asked to attend other meetings. However, she appreciated the remarks on savings.

The meeting was adjourned.