The public service restructuring process is nearing the end and phase two, which deals with excess employees not placed during redeployment, has begun, says Public Service and Administration Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi.

These employees would be placed in a special programme and assigned to defined centres by the employer, she told journalists at Parliament yesterday.

According to current data, government had 20 958 excess employees, and 20 313 vacancies.

Most excess employees were from the agricultural sector, predominantly less skilled and lower paid, and most vacancies in the health sector, she said.

The special programme would focus on re-skilling workers and facilitate their absorption into future departmental vacancies, based on an analysis of requirements for vacant posts.

This process would run until May 31, 2004, and employees unsuccessful in this programme would be eligible for employer initiated severance packages.

However, employees could leave earlier by applying for voluntary severance packages, Fraser-Moleketi said.

Turning to disputes related to the restructuring, she said to date the South African Police Service had referred 305 disputes to the Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council for mediation or arbitration.

This process should be completed by the end of November.

Most of the disputes resulted from the integration of special units, such as the drug unit, into service delivery units at station level, and most were in Gauteng and the Eastern Cape.

"We can confidently state that restructuring has succeeded in integrating the public services and practically promoted representivity.

"We have also succeeded in ensuring that all departments (nationally and provincially) have strategic plans that correspond with their human resources plans, while taking into account employment equity," she said. – Sapa.