By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Department of Defence reported the highest number of invoices paid after 30 days at 35 517 invoices, amounting to R350 million, Pulse of Public Service bulletin revealed.
The Public Service Commission (PSC) held a media briefing on the Quarterly Bulletin from 01 July to 31 December 2024, on Wednesday, 18 December 2024.
The Report titled: The Utilisation of Categories of Leave in the Public Service: Facts, Observations and Recommendations is expected to be released in 2025.
The Commission has reiterated its commitment to accountability and professionalisation within the public service.
According to the PSC, the number of invoices paid late by the department stood at just over 35 500, totalling almost R350 million in value.
Commissioner Anele Gxoyiya says while there has been a slight improvement by national government overall, there is a need for greater compliance.
“The number of invoices paid after 30 days, which means the invoices were paid but were paid late, by the national departments was 40 562 – and the rand value of those invoices is R752 million as at the end of the second quarter. The number of invoices older than 30 days but not yet paid at that time by the national departments at the end of the quarter was 2 133 invoices with a rand value of R265 million. Which means that is the number of people who have been disadvantaged.”
At the same time during the period under review, 275 grievances were registered with the commission and 62% of them resolved by the end of September.
Gxoyiya says about 95% of grievances referred were referred by employees with cases of unfair treatment often involving issues such as harassment or bullying.
The commission has also called for National Treasury to conduct a cost-based analysis to understand what the cost of capped leave will be over the next 3 to 5 years as it stood at more than R16.2 billion as at December last year.
According to Gxoyiya, they were finalising a study on the utilisation of specific categories of leave in the Public Service.
As at December 31, 2023, the number of employees with capped leave is 189 039, roughly 14% of employees in the Public Service.
The greatest cost was within the national government at just under R4bn, followed by the Eastern Cape, then Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal.
The department with the highest rand value of capped leave is the SAPS with 29 989 employees who have capped leave amounting to 1 489 663 days. The top three national departments with the highest number of employees with capped leave are from the Justice, Crime Prevention and Security (JCPS) sector.
The commissioner was considering the option of allowing employees with capped leave to buy back pension with the current value of capped leave credits they hold, with due consideration to the Government Employee Pension Fund (GEPF) rules.
Another option was a once-off payout now of two thirds of the employees’ capped leave now to reduce the future financial impact of paying later.