Pretoria - The Presidential Remuneration Review Commission (PRRC) into public-sector salaries is forging ahead with its work, the Presidency said on Tuesday.
The commission was established by President Jacob Zuma in August 2013 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.
According to the terms of reference, matters being probed include organisational development, job evaluation and grading, recruitment, appointment and promotion, human resource planning and performance management systems, policies and practices in the public service.
The original term of the commission was eight months which was then extended to April 2017. The commission is required to report to the President by 7 August 2017.
In October, last year retired Chief Justice Ngcobo, who chaired the commission, requested to be released from his duties.
President Zuma then appointed Retired Deputy President of the Supreme Court of Appeal, Justice Kenneth Mthiyane as the new Chairperson of the commission.
Since his appointment, the Presidency said, Justice Mthiyane has been “hard at work studying the volumes of information already gathered by the commission in order to map the way forward”.
The Presidency said the commission is currently completing its second stage which involves the gathering of information, data and evidence using methodologies such as written submissions, researching and analysing existing and other data.
The commission has received a total of 218 written submissions - 78 are from the education sector, 119 from public sector, 21 from public entities, and one from South African Police Service (SAPS).
Submissions have been received by from five provinces. The provinces who submitted in time for the 31 December 2015 deadline were the Free State, Northern Cape, Gauteng, Eastern Cape and the Western Cape.
The commission will soon commence with the third phase which includes verification and clarification of issues.
“This phase will involve 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.”
The next phase will be the publication for comment of a provisional report setting out the commission’s findings and recommendations on the key issues on which the commission is required to report.
Phase five will be the submission of the final report to the President. - SAnews.gov.za
