Two years after it was “first announced”‚ the Presidency said a commission of inquiry to look into public service remuneration and the fiscal sustainability of the wage bill has made “some progress…in its work”.An update from President Zuma’s office said the commission is “currently wrapping up” the second of five phases of its probe.“The commission was appointed by the president to investigate remuneration and conditions of service in the public service and public entities listed in Schedule 3A and 3C of the Public Finance Management Act with the remuneration of educators receiving priority attention‚” the statement reminded.Zuma first made mention of the commission in his 2013 State of the Nation Address of February 2013‚ then appointed it in August that year – originally giving it eight months to complete its work‚ but this “has since been extended” to June 4‚ 2017.The Presidency noted that retired Chief Justice Ngcobo in October last year “had requested to be released from his duties”‚ and was replaced by retired Deputy President of the Supreme Court of Appeal‚ Justice Kenneth Mthiyane‚ as the new commission chairperson.“Since then‚ Justice Mthiyane has been hard at work studying the volumes of information already gathered by the commission in order to map the way forward – now that he has officially assumed the position of chairperson of the commission‚” it said.The second phase “involved the gathering of information‚ data and evidence” and the commission has received a total of 218 written submissions – including 78 from the education sector; 119 from the public sector‚ 21 from public entities and one from the South African Police Service.“The commission is currently wrapping up Phase II and will be commencing with Phase III immediately thereafter‚” the Presidency said.That phase involves the "clarification and verification of issues raised in the written submissions‚ which will be conducted mainly through consultations with affected stakeholders; focus groups‚ site visits and public hearings”...