PROFESSIONAL CUBANS IN THE SOUTH AFRICAN PUBLIC SERVICE Presentation: Portfolio Committees on Public Service and Administration and Foreign Affairs PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION 23 February 2005

2 Structure of Presentation Introduction Investigation approach Findings Response to the questions posed

3 Introduction Mr PJ Groenewald (FF) requested Minister Fraser-Moleketi to appoint a Commission of Enquiry into the appointment of Cubans in the Public Service (PS) Min deemed it appropriate to undertake an investigation and referred matter to PSC Investigation had to respond to the ff questions: i. Number of engineering posts vacant in the Public Service? ii. Number of engineering posts in the Public Service filled by foreigners? iii. What are the qualifications of the Cuban engineers and whether they are up to standard with the qualifications in SA?

4 Introduction (cont.) iv.Are Cubans being directly remunerated for their services or remunerated via Cuban government? v.The remuneration they receive for their services? vi.How widely have the engineering posts been advertised and how many affirmative action posts have been advertised? vii.How many applications were received for the advertised posts? viii.Number of Cubans in service of the Public Service and in which occupations? ix.Number of Cubans on ground of bilateral agreements being employed in the Public Service and in which occupations?

5 Investigation Approach Identification of affected Depts and governmental systems Vulindlela - PERSAL The Department of Foreign Affairs was also approached with the objective of obtaining the names of departments involved in the appointment of Cubans and the relevant contact persons in those departments and the required information was received from the department The national Departments of Housing, Water Affairs and Forestry and Health were also requested to provide information on the above questions

6 Findings Approach of SA gov: Encourage closer ties with Cuba Facilitate the exchange of knowledge and expertise Individual Ministries and Depts take responsibility for inviting Cuban professionals (engineers and architects)

7 Findings (cont.) South African Housing Programme: Bilateral agreement 30 December 2002 Aim: strengthen co-operation in identified areas on housing and develop a comprehensive programme for housing cooperation Areas of co-operation: Skills transfer and empowerment Assist with the development of housing education training curriculum Explore establishment of partnerships in the housing sector

8 Findings (cont.) There are several areas that currently limit the participation of certain professions in low cost housing delivery process, some lie beyond the control of the department: little undergraduate training on engaging with the needs of poor clients who represent their needs as a collective rather than as individuals. Many tertiary institutions are correcting this tendency and offering programs that will improve negotiation and need assessment skills. Designing is also a challenge. Provinces have mentioned difficulty in filling posts advertised for architects

9 Findings (cont.) Department of Water Affairs and Forestry: The Cuban professionals are not employed by the department but are seconded The Cubans are assisting the department with the following services: The provision of geohydrological specialist and engineering services to rural and other disadvantaged communities within areas where such services are inadequate The development of sustainable approach to the use of available water resources and the promotion of proper operation and maintenance of water supply infrastructure

10 Findings (cont.) The promotion and support of proper sanitation The training, support and transfer of skills to local staff Department of Health The department’s conditions of employment for Cuban technicians are the same as those for Cuban doctors Receive direct remuneration from the department

11 Response to the questions posed i.Number of engineering posts vacant in the Public Service PERSAL recorded a total of 1,734 vacant engineering and related posts in the Public Service ii.Number of engineering posts in the Public Service which are filled by foreigners PERSAL recorded a total of 1,482 engineering and related posts filled in the Public Service of which 53 posts are occupied by foreigners = 1.65%

12 Response to the questions posed (contd) iii.What are the qualifications of Cuban engineers and if they are up to standard with the qualifications in South Africa? Department of Housing Cuban professionals have architectural and civil engineering qualifications Consultations with Professional Bodies in South Africa to assess the qualifications of Cuban professionals is underway Currently Cuban engineers are not involved in certifying of projects.

13 Response to the questions posed (contd) Department of Water Affairs and Forestry Cuban nationals are seconded to the department Their qualifications were not therefore assessed by SAQA All the secondees have academic qualifications in the fields of Geohydrology Operations and Maintenance (Mechanical Engineering) and Water Quality Management

14 Response to the questions posed (cont.) Dept of Health: Cuban clinical engineers and technicians do training equivalent to training offered at only one institution in the country After that initial training they do further studies specialising in particular areas (diagnostic equipment) Their training, experience and expertise puts them at Control Technician Level The SA Engineering Council has only just recently created a Clinical Engineering Category under which these highly qualified engineers and technicians fall

15 Response to the questions posed (contd) iv.Are Cubans being directly remunerated for their services or remunerated via Cuban government? Housing Programme In terms of the cooperation agreement signed between the South African and Cuban governments, provincial housing departments employ and remunerate Cuban professionals on contract basis for three years Department of Water Affairs and Forestry In terms of the agreement reached between the South African and Cuban government, Cuba pays the salaries to the secondees and the department pays a monthly stipend of R3 300

16 Response to the questions posed (cont.) Department of Health Clinical engineers receive direct remuneration from the department v.Remuneration received for their services PERSAL recorded a total of 26 Cuban engineering and related personnel with a gross annual income of R4.68 million per annum

17 Response to the questions posed (cont.) vi.How widely have the engineering posts been advertised and how many affirmative action posts have been advertised? Department of Housing Department only advertised the engineering posts in Cuba Department of Water Affairs and Forestry Department did not advertise any posts because the Cuban nationals are seconded

18 Response to the questions posed (cont.) Department of Health: Permanent shortage of clinical engineering technicians and engineers Posts regularly advertised but quality of applicants do not meet the criteria Clinical engineering = very scarce skill, further training is required, over and above the normal electrical engineering that is done by Technikons Only one institution is accredited by the SAQA to offer clinical engineering in the country

19 Response to the questions posed (cont.) Department of Health: A shortage exists of instructors that could train medical equipment specialists The department only has 10% clinical engineering staff capacity that is required in accordance with the norms recommended for the country As a result, the status of medical equipment in public hospitals has deteriorated to alarming levels

20 Response to the questions posed (cont.) vii.How many applications were received for the advertised posts? Department of Housing 158 applications were received for these posts Senior officials at both the national and provincial departments went to Cuba to interview the applicants

21 Response to the questions posed (cont.) Department of Water Affairs and Forestry The posts were not advertised because of the seconding arrangement Department of Health The department did not provide any information at the time of the gathering of data, because it was still compiling statistics and gathering information from the provinces in this regard

22 Response to the questions posed (cont.) viii.Number of Cubans in service of the Public Service and in which occupations PERSAL recorded a total of 388 Cuban Employees in the Public Service and they belong to the following occupational classes: Educators 1 Architects 13 Engineers and related 25 Medical Practitioners 339 Health Science and related 2 Emergency Services and related 1 Mining and Geology 2 Other occupations 5 Official PERSAL stats: Sept 2003

23 Response to the questions posed (cont.) ix. Number of Cubans on ground of bilateral agreements being employed in the Public Service and in which occupations As at 30 Nov 2003: Housing – 62 Architects and Engineers DWAF – 8 Engineers and Technicians (was 9 – 1 returned home) Health – 4 Clinical Engineers

24 Response from the Cuban Embassy Stats received from the Cuban Embassy as at the end of December 2003: 407 Cuban experts were listed: Doctors314 Architect and engineers 62 Engineers in Water Affairs 7 Tutors of South African teachers 24 (Math, Chemistry and physical science)

25 Response from the Cuban Embassy (contd.) Stats received from the Cuban Embassy as at the end of October 2004: 290 Cuban experts were listed: Doctors220 Architect and civil engineers 33 Engineers in Water Affairs 13 Tutors of South African teachers 24 (Math, Chemistry and physical science)