Issued by: Gauteng Provincial Government
In the last quarter of 1996, the Gauteng Department okages to slightly more than 2 000 of its 53 000 workers - that is, to about 4% of its staff. It refused approximately 1 000 additional applications for packages according to criteria that were fair and justifiable and would stand up in any labour court.
Many experienced and skilled staff have taken packages and their loss will be felt. But the Democratic Party's Health spokesman, Jack Bloom, is wildly exaggerating the impact by using terms such as "a disastrous exodus" and the "appalling mishandling" of the process.
Severance packages were agreed to in the Central Bargaining Chamber as a way of downsizing the public service nationwide by voluntary measures. In Gauteng, in all departments, any public servant was entitled to apply for the package and the only valid reason for tuning down an application was that the loss of staff member would cause "unrecoverable" harm to the service.
In the Department of Health we translated this reason into a clear set of criteria.
In all cases, hospital management was consulted. Furthermore, hospital managers were required to ensure that the timing of the departure of staff was carefully managed. Staff could be asked to postpone leaving for anything up to 18 months in order to allow for the development of fresh capacity to ensure continuity of work.
In most institutions, this aspect of the severance scheme has been appropriately managed. In a few hospitals, however, departures of clusters of senior staff have not been staggered as they should have been. One of these, as mentioned by Mr Bloom, is the senior administrative component at Baragwanath Hospital.
The Department did an audit late last year to establish if there were institutions where administrative and management crises might develop due to rapid implementation of the severance scheme. It identified three or four institutions where it would be necessary to second staff from other institutions to prevent the collapse of certain functions.
The impact of severance on various categories of staff is being continually reassessed and it is likely that additional groups of workers will be added to the list of "exclusions". For instance, the administrative component has been disproportionately affected by the first round of severance packages and we are fast approaching the point in this area where no more packages will be granted.
Mr Bloom's figures sound alarming precisely because he does not put them into context. Many of the institutions cited are very large hospitals, with a depth of experienced staff that will enable them to weather the losses due to severance, Johannesburg Hospital has 00 nurses - but it has about 1 800 nursing posts.
For Mr Bloom to suggest that the process was haphazard is simply to reveal his ignorance of the plan that was put into action and of the legal requirements for evenhandedness and consistency in the handling of all personnel matters.
By Mr Amos Masondo MEC for Health
20 January 1997