Chairperson, earlier on, a number of members congratulated me on my appointment and I just want to express appreciation for those comments.
The answer to hon Van Schalkwyk is yes, we are taking steps to ensure that officials are not suspended with full pay for extended periods of time. This is one of the commitments that we have to make as the Ministry for the Public Service in the signing of our delivery agreement with the President in respect of Outcome 12, of which the Department of Public Service and Administration, DPSA, co-ordinates.
The commitment that we have given is that we will reduce the time that it takes to finalise disciplinary processes by, amongst others, developing a strategy to ensure that suspensions with full pay are finalised within a 60- day period. To this end, the department has developed draft guidelines on precautionary suspensions emanating from the recommendations of the research which was conducted by the department in 2010. Currently, the department is busy consulting with various other departments and key stakeholders within government before a Cabinet submission can be made to get Cabinet's approval. Thank you.