The Public Service Commission (PSC) has rapped the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) over the knuckles for the appointment of a 69-year-old retiree.
The commission found the department already knew that it wanted to employ Brian Schreuder, who was singled out as the sole shortlisted candidate out of 19 applicants, despite his retirement status and concerns raised by officials in the department.
The commission launched an investigation into the appointment of Schreuder after a complaint was made in December.
Schreuder was appointed to the position on a one-year contract in June shortly after he retired at the age of 69. The salary was just over R500 000 for the year.
After launching the probe, which included interviews with some key officials in the department, the PSC said it found the department’s claim that it had no idea who would be applying for the position implausible.
“Given the very serious need identified by the HOD (Head of Department) and the weight of the risk of the departure of key officials posed for the department, why allow a narrow window period of five calendar days to fill such a critical role?
“A reasonable assumption is that the department already knew who would be applying and who it wanted to employ,” the report said.
The post was created at the request of the new Head of Department, Brent Walters, who had shadowed Schreuder between January and March last year after senior managers dealing with examinations and assessments all left the department in succession.
Walters also told the commission that he initiated the creation of the post while still shadowing Schreuder as he had concerns about the loss of knowledge and skills.
However, he emphatically stated that he did not ask Schreuder to apply for the position, the commission’s report noted.
The commission also learnt that the official overseeing most of the functions of the new post had not identified the need and was also not consulted.
The post was advertised on April, 7 with a closing date on April 12.
Officials told the commission that the three working days deadline had never happened before in the department.
The advert also excluded a requirement for a South African Council of Educators (SACE) registration.
A total of 19 applications from among others, African and coloured women and men, were received but only Schreuder’s was shortlisted after he was deemed to have met the requirement, despite the department’s Employment Equity Plan recommending that preference be given to persons living with disabilities, African men, African women and coloured women when making appointments at Post Level 6.
Schreuder was interviewed on 17 May and was given a rating of 78% by the internal interview panel of four officials.
However, a Recruitment and Selection official did not support the short-list based on the process and best practice while another from Corporate Services red-flagged Schreuder’s age as a potential liability to the department.
But the commission found that the motivation for the creation of the post was plausible even though the process followed lacked proper consultation.
“The fast time-line raises suspicion that the likely candidate was ready and waiting and that the obligation to fulfil a requirement process was done in a perfunctory manner,“ read the report.
The commission noted that it was an indictment on the department’s human resources planning and leadership succession planning that it found itself in a stop-gap situation where Schreuder was employed at the age of 69.
But it found the decision to deviate from the SACE requirement not illegal.
Schreuder told the Weekend Argus he was appointed by the department after due process and declined to comment further.
Trade union federation Cosatu welcomed the findings and called for further investigation.
“A remedial action needs to be undertaken by the department and we call on it to reopen the appointment process for a permanent incumbent to the position,” said provincial chairperson, Malvern de Bruyn.
ANC spokesperson on education, Khalid Sayed, also called for further investigations as well clear remedial actions from the department.
Education MEC David Maynier said the department noted the commissions findings and was considering the recommendations made.
The recommendations included:
* the WCED undertake a proper analysis of its critical staffing requirements so as to ensure proper succession planning;
* the creation of posts to benefit from a proper analysis of needs, competencies required, and assessment of the likely pool of candidates available in the market;
* that line managers be involved as far as possible in the process of needs identification
and:
* that the outcome of the report to be made available to the political and administrative leadership of the department as part of a commitment to transparency and openness.