Only Western Cape files all performance agreements

The Western Cape was the only province to file all of its performance agreements with the Public Service Commission (PSC) by the June 30, 2011 deadline, MPs hear.

"It is important for us to congratulate the Western Cape - it was the only province to be 100% compliant," public service and administration portfolio committee chairwoman Joyce Moloi-Moropa said after a briefing by the PSC on Wednesday.

According to the commission, all 13 of the Western Cape's heads of departments filed performance agreements  by the due date. The Northern Cape filed two out of 12 agreements. The worst performer, the Free State, filed only one out 12.

PAs are signed between officials and their supervisors in the public service to ensure they know what is expected of them.

Some 69 national and provincial PAs had so far been filed, while 59 were still outstanding -- a compliance rate of 54%.

The public service had 158 HoD posts, 47 at national level and 111 in provincial departments at June 30 2011.

Charmaine Julie, chief director of leadership and human resource reviews at the PSC, told the committee the commission believed the performance management process was simply "not treated as a high priority".

"We were very disappointed with the compliance for the year 2010-2011. There are no clear reasons for non-compliance, but the PSC is of the view that the performance management process is simply not treated as a high priority.

"There may also be poor administrative support in the offices of the political and administrative principals. Such support is particularly important for executive authorities and heads of departments who may not be familiar with the process."

She said almost half the PAs did not properly identify mediators, as required by the performance management development system. This could lead to delays in dealing with disputes when they arose.

The requirement for a "five-day deployment at the coalface" was also not complied with in most cases.

"Departments sometimes even argue that HoDs do not have time for this," Julie said.