12 Dec 2019

The task team assigned to look into the secretarial cadre competency-based career path (CBCP) experienced some challenges which contributed to the delay in completing the exercise, says the Assistant Minister in the Ministry for Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration.

 Mr Dumizweni Mthimkhulu told Parliament that the task team comprising of the employer and the union parties started work in March this year and had been reporting to a reference committee that also comprised of the employer and the Unions.

“Concerns were raised on whether it was helpful to have officers who had a direct and personal interest in the matter. 

When the meetings resumed in April 2019, it was resolved to remove members who were conflicted from the task team since their participation stalled the progress of the exercise,” he said.

    He said the applicants and other officers falling in the secretarial cadre were consulted by the task team on major issues such as job profiling and validation, development of job effectiveness descriptions (JEDs), development of competencies and the development of draft CBCP.

    Mr Mthimkhulu said during the processes, there were some misunderstandings in terms of the applicant’s role and that of the employer which contributed to further delays. 

He, however, said such issues had since been ironed out and the CBCP had been developed.

    Mr Mthimkhulu said he could not give a definite date of implementation of the revised CBCP since the issue was still before the courts.

 Nata-Gweta MP, Mr Polson Majaga had wanted an update on the progress on the implementation of the Court Order issued on January 27, 2017, regarding the disputed Directive No 1 of 2015 secretarial CBCP. 

Mr Majaga’s question was a follow up to the then minister’s response to a parliamentary question on December 14, 2018.

    He also asked if the minister would agree that the matter took too long and that the cadre continued to suffer injustice and/or prejudice as a result of unfair administrative decisions made by the DPSM when reviewing the Scheme of Service in 2015 and to provide a definite date of effect of the CBCP. ends