The recent mid-year Cabinet Lekgotla has noted good progress in the implementation of Resolution 7, the restructuring plan for the Public Service.

Speaking in Pretoria this morning, Public Service and Administration Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi said the majority of Government departments had completed their internal matching and placing processes and the inter-departmental processes were proceeding well. Minister Fraser-Moleketi said however there were 24 000 employees still in excess in the Public Service and 15 000 vacancies. The minister said 80% of the vacancies were at skilled levels, mostly in the health sector, while 70% of the employees in excess were at the lower levels.

In a move aimed at maximising the redeployment chances of lower level staff, Cabinet had approved that a closed advertisement system be retained for levels one to four for the last three months of the agreement, the minister said.

“In addition, Cabinet considered the position of employees who are unsuccessful in the redeployment process and decided that they will be placed in a special programme and retained within the Public Service for a further nine months until June 2003,” explained Fraser-Moleketi.

The minister said these employees would be assessed and retrained and where possible absorbed into posts that became vacant within the nine months. “Only at the end of this period will employees who have not been redeployed be retrenched,” she assured.

The minister said Cabinet also approved that a new framework for ongoing restructuring be developed, which might be used by departments once Resolution 7 had ended.

Meanwhile, plans are proceeding well for the e-Government Gateway project, a multi-access electronic system to provide people with improved access to information on government services, to be launched in October. - BuaNews.