Media release

Presidential Remuneration Review Commission media statement

20 May 2015

20 May 2015

The Presidential Remuneration Review Commission (the Commission) continued with its  inquiry into the remuneration, conditions of service for all employees in the Public Service and Public Entities as listed in Parts A and C of Schedule 3 of the Public Finance Management Act, 1999 and other matters by holding two  briefing sessions  in Pretoria today.

The briefings, held at the Holiday Inn Express Hotel in Sunnyside, marked the second and third  planned stakeholder consultation sessions in which the Commission  briefed its remaining stakeholders  about  its mandate as set out in its Terms of Reference, progress made  and the processes that the Commission would adopt during its inquiry.

Headed by retired Chief Justice Sandile Ngcobo, the Commission was appointed by President Jacob Zuma to inquire into remuneration and conditions of service for all employees in the Public Service and Public Entities as listed in Schedules 3A and 3C of the Public Finance Management Act – with the education sector receiving priority. Well-known public service administrator and academic Dr Vincent Maphai and Banking Human Resources Executive Ms Elizabeth Maepa are also members of the Commission.

Over the last couple of months, the Commission has undertaken a preliminary stakeholder consultation process in which key stakeholders in the public service including the labour movement, national and provincial departments, the Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council and the affiliated bargaining councils, the Chairpersons of the various Portfolio Committees as well as Ministers and MECs affected by the inquiry, were briefed and requested to avail to the Commission any document or study that my assist the Commission with its work.

In his address to delegates attending the briefing sessions today, Justice Ngcobo said broadly speaking, the Terms of Reference required the Commission to inquire into and report on four main areas.

“The Commission is required to investigate remuneration and conditions of service in the public service and public entities referred to in the ToR and thereafter make recommendations on the best practices in remuneration and conditions of service to be applied.

“Secondly, it is required to look into the efficiency and effectiveness of the public service and make recommendations on how to make the public service more effective and efficient. Thirdly, the Commission has to investigate the sustainability of the wage bill and make recommendations on mechanisms that can be put in place to guarantee fiscal stability and lastly, it is tasked to look at service delivery in the public service and in the public entities falling within the scope of its inquiry and make recommendations on mechanisms that can be put in place to ensure efficient and effective service delivery.”

Justice Ngcobo added that the importance of the inquiry could not be over emphasized: “The importance of this Commission cannot be gainsaid. The Commission is concerned with whether public servants receive a fair remuneration and conditions of service for their labour, whether the state is receiving value for its money and how to enhance service delivery and what mechanisms should be put in place to manage fiscal stability.

“Answers to these questions are vital to public servants, to the government and to the nation as a whole. The achievement of the objectives of the Commission’s mandate lies fundamentally in the co-operation that we will receive from stakeholders.”

Meanwhile, the inquiry into the remuneration and conditions of service of the country’s educators formally began on 11 March 2015 when the Commission held a briefing session in which stakeholders  were appraised on the Commission’s approach to its mandate as set out in its ToR and the processes that the Commission would adopt during its inquiry. The Commission is currently receiving written submissions from stakeholders in the Education Sector and the deadline for these submissions is 30 June 2015.

Justice Ngcobo concluded by informing delegates that the Commission would issue a call for written submissions from all employees in the Public Service and the prescribed Public Entities on 1 June 2015 and that stakeholders would be given a two months’ timeline within which to make their submissions. Alongside the call for written submissions, the Commission would also publish a Statement of Issues to provide guidelines on the focus areas that the Commission deems relevant to its mandate.

“What the commission expects from stakeholders is to come forward with accurate information and data so that it can in turn make accurate and sound findings and workable recommendations. Without accurate information and data, there is a real danger that the Commission’s findings and recommendations may be flawed and this will be to the detriment of the public as a whole,” said Justice Ngcobo.

For more information stakeholders can log onto: www.dpsa.gov.za/prrc

Contact:
Lulama Luti
Tel: 012 470 1590
Cell: 079 921 0921

Issued by the Presidential Remuneration Review Commission

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