Secretaries Sue DPSM For Contempt

Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Monday October 23, 2017 14:51

This comes nine months after the High Court gave DPSM eight months to implement, through various directives, a clear career progression structure for the secretarial and executive office management cadre.

Earlier this year the secretaries across government ministries and departments had succeeded in their bid to force the employer to set aside the Competency Based Career Path (CBCP) scheme, which DPSM introduced in 2015. The CBCP scheme was introduced via a Directive No. 1 of 2015. The scheme introduced new academic requirements and competencies for progression and elevation from lower to higher offices. “It is true we met as the national coordinating committee for secretaries last Wednesday. The government has not done anything after the court order.

As the committee we had submitted proposals on the new CBCP scheme but DPSM has since ignored us or not responded to what we suggested. We had thought Ruth Maphorisa will call a meeting with us to discuss but she failed to do so,” said Onkgopotse Ntatane, the chairperson of the national committee of secretaries.

In the new proposed scheme, the secretaries have enhanced their progression level from D3 to E1 in the upper salary scale and have also upgraded the lower salary scales from B3 to B1 level as entry point for certificate holders in the cadre.  Another noted development is that secretaries have adopted the genetic model whereby the cadre is now regarded as a single entity known as secretarial and office administrative support services.

The new and enhanced scheme of service which secretaries across the spectrum believe is suitable for them as evident in the communication to DPSM on September 8, 2017, provides in unambiguous terms a clearly defined career structure as set at Clause 2.5 of the draft scheme, which will attract, retain and motivate experienced suitably qualified human capital of high moral and calibre in the entire public service.  When they appeared before court in January, Justice Lakvinder Walia and the two parties’ attorneys struck a consent settlement agreement for the suspension of the scheme until further consultation.

In the settlement agreement which was made, the secretaries and their employer agreed that Directive No. 1 of 2015, which effected the introduction of the scheme, be reviewed and set aside.

The secretaries said the scheme had altered the terms of progression in the cadre with the new qualifying criteria (rating system), which they found “strange”. This means for us to qualify for progression/advancement, we will have to satisfy additional competency based requirements that were not originally there. This is a variation of our existing contracts of employment and it was done without consulting us or giving us the opportunity to give representations as the affected parties, as has always been the standing practice,” said Ntatane.

The secretaries argued that their toil, loyalty and service were being overlooked and downgraded when the new conditions of service were applied, as academic requirements and com.