Cape Town – Acting Public Service and Administration Minister Thulas Nxesi said the proposed 10-year term for heads of departments (HoDs) would potentially improve the stability at the leadership-level of the department.
“This is a policy position which is being considered as part of the professionalisation of the Public Service. There is no date at this stage for implementation and a decision regarding the tenure of HoDs needs to still be formalised.
“The work related to this is in progress and still being consulted,” Nxesi said.
He made the statement while responding to parliamentary questions from DA MP Mimmy Gondwe.
In February, former public service and administration minister Ayanda Dlodlo said her department would propose to the Cabinet to consider making the tenure of heads of departments 10 years, subject to performance.
Dlodlo said at the time the proposal would form part of reforms aimed at stabilising the political-administrative interface across the public sector.
Gondwe has since written to Nxesi asking what informed the policy proposal of increasing the term of office for HoDs from five to 10 years?
Gondwe also enquired whether Nxesi’s department had conducted a study in arriving at the policy proposal, and how the policy proposal would benefit the public service, among others.
In his written response, Nxesi said the National Development Plan recognised the importance of stability of the administrative leadership as well as a stable political-administrative interface to the performance of state institutions, and effective service delivery.
“The initial intent of a five-year contract was to ensure that there is synergy in terms of the MTEF (medium-term expenditure framework) and MTSF (medium-term strategic framework) to improve planning and the executive of budgets and strategy. “Experience has shown that this practice is often not aligned, as HoDs exit the system for various reasons and new ones come in more often than not in the middle of these cycles,” the acting minister said.
Nxesi also said the person appointed into an HoD post should exist beyond the tenure of the political head for purposes of business continuity, and delivery of the mandate.
“Building administrative capacity at director-general (DG) level should never be about preference or not for a DG, but their capability and their performance and capacity to deliver.”
The minister said research and extensive consultations have given rise to various recommendations regarding the retention of HoDs.
“A decision has yet to be reached and discussions around whether the tenure remains five years or is to be increased are still taking place.”
Nxesi also said research was conducted on the proposal and looked into data of DGs and HoDs from 1994 in terms of the measures that contributed to long lasting contracts, institutional performance and stability.
He stated that the research presented the option to keep the five-year contracts or increase them.
“This gave rise to considering the tenure with the options to retain the five-year contracts or consider longer contracts with stricter performance reviews.
“Benchmarking was also conducted on the tenure of HoDs around the world and the impact on service delivery and performance of both the institution and the HODs,” Nxesi said.
Cape Times
