The Department of Communications and Digital Technologies (DCDT) looks to speed up the process of filling its vacant director-general (DG) post, the most senior public servant after the minister and deputy minister.
This information came to light during Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Communication and Digital Technologies oversight visit to the DCDT’s headquarters in Pretoria.
In a statement, the portfolio committee says it welcomes the undertaking made by communications minister, Mondli Gungubele, to fill the vacant position of DG in the department.
Gungubele told the committee the recruitment process is currently underway and that the department plans to conduct interviews in May, according to the statement.
Says committee chairperson Boyce Maneli: “We are not here to arbitrate on labour-related matters or play the role of the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration. Ours is to understand the issues because they impact on the performance of the department and its entities.”
The last official to hold the permanent post of DG at the department was Robert Nkuna, who moved from the DCDT to join the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation in July 2020.
Nkuna served as DG in the Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services from 2016, and into its subsequent reconfiguration as the DCDT in 2018.
Since Nkuna’s departure as DG, the position has been held by Nonkqubela Jordan-Dyani in an acting capacity.
The committee notes that its oversight visit is to meet with members of organised labour from the department and its entities, to understand key challenges facing the workforce.
Some of the issues raised by organised labour include the department’s obsolete organisational structure, which has since been approved in 2018; security concerns at the South African Post Office outlets in rural communities; ghost workers; and unpaid pensions, according to the committee’s statement.
The committee will continue its oversight visit to the Northern Cape to interrogate the department’s SA-Connect programme in Steynville on Thursday and Douglas on Friday.