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Parliament report shows drinking on the job and bonuses for underperformers

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 Parliament secretary Gengezi Mgidlana who received R71 000 shortly after he was appointed:  PHOTO: Leánne Stander
Parliament secretary Gengezi Mgidlana who received R71 000 shortly after he was appointed: PHOTO: Leánne Stander

Disciplinary action against staff at Parliament are not just related to labour disputes about performance bonuses and conditions of employment, but employees who enjoy the occasional tipple on the job.


At least three employees of Parliament have been subject to disciplinary processes over the past year for drinking while on duty.


According to Parliament’s annual report, 12 cases of misconduct were reported and 11 disciplinary hearings were held.


Two employees were fired after their disciplinary processes, but it is not clear what they were found guilty of. No details on the “drinking on duty” cases are provided in the report.


The annual report was tabled in Parliament yesterday, amid labour grievances that saw employees affiliated to trade union Nehawu down tools again late last week.


The strike was suspended yesterday and the dispute is now with the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration.


A number of Nehawu members were suspended earlier this year and face disciplinary hearings after being accused of disrupting staff meetings addressed by secretary Gengezi Mgidlana.


In the annual report for the financial year 2015-2016, it is also confirmed Nehawu claims that Parliament made discretionary ex gratia payments worth R249 000 to top management, including to Mgidlana who received R71 000 shortly after he was appointed.


The report distinguishes ex-gratia payments from performance bonuses.


The report states that about R400 000 in bonuses were budgeted for 12 senior officials but according to parliament spokesperson, Luzuko Jacobs it was not paid out. 


The largest budgeted bonus, of R51 000, would have been paid to the deputy secretary of Parliament, and the smallest, of R28 000, would have been paid to the acting human resources manager. Jacobs however made it clear no manager received a performance bonus.


“Parliament implemented a decision not to pay bonuses to Managers and reviewed all performance scores to reflect institutional performance as reflected in the Audit Report,” Jacobs said.


The total allocated amount budgeted for performance bonuses for the 1287 parliament employees, including managers, was about R21.3 million, the report states. Only about R16,1 million in performance bonuses were paid out to below D-level (non managerial) employees in the 2014-’15 financial year.


The ongoing labour dispute between Nehawu and Parliament management relates to the calculation of these bonuses which could be even more for some employees based on their individual scores.


Despite the bonuses and ex-gratia payments, Parliament still missed some targets and recorded an overall performance of 46% – something Mgidlana attributed to the Nehawu labour dispute and the treasury’s fiscal austerity regulations, among others. Mgidlana also argued that Parliament’s overall performance was “not representative of the totality of the work the institution is doing because it excludes reporting on operations”.


Targets missed include those for institutional support services pertaining to catering and interpreting services, as well as targets for procedural advice on the rules of Parliament.


Other targets that are also important for the sittings and committee meetings to run smoothly such as the provision of legal advice were not achieved as it was not provided within the prescribed seven days.


The department heads of these units still received bonuses and ex-gratia payments were also paid out.

Parliament still received a clean audit opinion.

  • This article was amended on September 16 2016 to reflect that the amounts for bonuses are budgeted amounts. The bonuses were not paid out but Parliament's accounting systems require that they are noted.
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