The Public Service Commission (PSC) have been dealing with hundreds of grievances filed in relation to unfair treatment, filling of posts, performance assessments and salary problems among public servants.

According to the latest PSC quarterly report for the period of July 1 to September 30, 302 grievances were registered.

Commissioner Anele Gxoyiya said the referral of grievances by employees was an indication that departments have failed to resolve these grievances internally within the prescribed time-frames.

Of the 78 unfair treatment grievances, 45 (58%) were from national departments and 33 (42%) were from the nine provinces.

Unfair treatment cases mostly emanated from strained relations between supervisors and employees, resulting in employees perceiving any action by supervisors, such as questioning the employees’ failure to meet deadlines or quality of work, as victimisation or bullying.

Gxoyiya said other cases of unfairness emanated from employees not understanding that they may be assigned to do certain ad hoc functions, while some were not happy about not being appointed into positions in which they were acting.

“In providing outcomes on the investigated grievances, the PSC assists aggrieved employees in knowing whether or not there was substance in their grievances. They are then able to decide whether to accept the outcome or declare a dispute with bargaining councils if they still feel dissatisfied.

“With the PSC intervention, departments and aggrieved employees are able to resolve grievances, and this contributes to enhancing sound labour relations between the parties,” Gxoyiya said.

In view of the number of cases that were internally resolved after the PSC’s intervention, departments and organised labour were encouraged to consider mediation as an alternative means of resolving matters of conflict “as this is mutually beneficial for the relationship between the parties”.

Additionally, in its report, the PSC reiterated the importance of paying government suppliers within 30 days, as required by law.

The PSC found the departments most to blame for late or non-payment of invoices at national level were the departments of Home Affairs, Correctional Services, Defence, Military Veterans, South African Police Service, Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, Transport, Water and Sanitation, Public Works and Infrastructure, Health, and Tourism.

The Department of Health consistently remained the department with the highest unpaid invoices.

The most common reasons provided by both the national and provincial departments for the late or non-payment of invoices were interruptions caused by poor internal controls, internal capacity, and budget constraints.

Gauteng had the highest number of invoices paid after 30 days, which amounted to 45,538 invoices to the value of R3.5 billion in the first quarter of the 2023/24 financial year.

North West provincial departments reported the second highest invoices paid after 30 days, amounting to 12,988 invoices to the value of R880 million during the same period.

In contrast, the Eastern Cape provincial departments reported the highest number of invoices older than 30 days amounting to 25,789 invoices at the value of R2.3 billion at the end of June 2023.

"The PSC would like to reiterate the importance of paying government suppliers within 30 days as required by law. This will assist small businesses to stay afloat and to also minimise closing businesses, thereby adding to the already high rate of unemployment,“ Gxoyiya said.

kailene.pillay@inl.co.za

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