NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
QUESTION FOR WRITTEN REPLY
PARLIAMENTARY QUESTION NO.: 619

DATE OF QUESTION: 09 MARCH 2012

619. Ms M Smuts (DA) to ask the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development:

(1) Whether, in light of the time it would take a certain person (name furnished) to serve on the task team that has been established by a certain political organisation (name furnished) to probe the disruption of a memorial lecture address by the President of the Republic, the said person was required to obtain permission before he agreed to serve on the task team; if so, what are the relevant details; if not, how did he assess the estimated impact of this private work on the said person's official duties;

(2) whether the said person has discussed his position on the task team with him; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what are the relevant details;

(3) whether he granted the said person permission to serve on the task team; if not, (a) why not and (b) why is the said person serving on the task team; if so,

(4) whether, given the workload of the Justice Department in the Western Cape, all of a certain person's (name furnished) obligations in respect of the task team were required to be met outside of his normal working hours; if not, (a) why not and (b) how many hours did the specified obligations take up during the said person's working day; if so, how did he monitor this;

(5) whether (a) he and (b) the said person took any steps to ensure that he fulfils all his departmental responsibilities and obligations while serving on the task team; if not, why not, in each case; if so, what are the relevant details in each case?

NW785E

Name of person referred to: Adv Hishaam Mohamed

REPLY:-

(1) The Public Service Act 1994 as amended provides in Section 30 that :

"(1) No employee shall perform or engage himself or herself to perform remunerative work outside his or her employment in the relevant department, except with the written permission of the executive authority of the department.    

(2) For the purposes of subsection (1) the executive authority shall at least take into account whether or not the outside work could reasonably be expected to interfere with or impede the effective or efficient performance of the employee's functions in the department or constitute a contravention of the code of conduct contemplated in section 41 (1) (b) (v). 

(3) (a) The executive authority shall decide whether or not to grant permission, contemplated in subsection (1), within 30 days after the receipt of the request from the employee in question.  (b) If the executive authority fails to make a decision within the 30 day period, it would be deemed that such permission was given. "

I am advised that the ANC in the Western Cape requested Adv Hishaam Mohamed in his private capacity to assist a task team that was formed to investigate the disruption of a memorial lecture addressed by the President of the ANC on 23 February 2012 in Cape Town.

I am also advised that Adv Hishaam Mohamed is not obliged to obtain permission from his employer or myself in this instance as required by the Public Service Act 1994 as outlined above for the following reasons:

(a) the task that he was requested to assist with is to be performed on a voluntary basis for which he will not receive any form of remuneration;

(b) the work and time spent in assisting the said task team is of a private nature and is to be conducted during his private time (i.e. after official work hours and weekends);

(c) The assistance required from him was of an administrative nature (i.e. drafting) and would not affect public policy or government work; and

(d) The task to be performed by him together with other task team members will be a shared-responsibility and for a short time period.  It will therefore not affect his performance as a Public Service Manager in any way.

(2) For the reasons outlined in paragraph 1 above, there was no reason for Adv Hishaam Mohamed to discuss this matter with me.

(3) The situation in this instance does not arise where I have to grant Adv Hishaam Mohamed permission to serve on a task team of a political party as set out in paragraph 1 above.

(4) As indicated in paragraph 1 above, the work required will be performed after official working hours and over weekends and will not affect his work obligations.          Adv Hishaam Mohamed's performance track record is exemplary in that the Western Cape, and under his leadership, has achieved a No Audit Qualification from the Auditor-General for many years.  His work ethic and performance is beyond doubt, which has been acknowledged by the community as exemplary over the last 15 years.

(5) I, through the Director-General, have the necessary standard management measures in place that ensure that all managers fulfill their management responsibilities and obligations.  To this effect, all Senior Managers of the Department are required to attend executive meetings where they have to report on their performance against set targets as outlined in a Performance Agreement. Adv Hishaam Mohamed's energies and management team in the Western Cape have often exceeded their set targets outlined in their Performance Agreements.

Issued by Parliament, April 11 2012

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