Commission for Gender Equality Q4 2021/22 Performance

Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities

31 May 2022
Chairperson: Ms C Ndaba (ANC)
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Meeting Summary

Video

In a virtual meeting, the Commission for Gender Equality (CGE) reported on its Quarter 4 performance for 2021/22. There was also a briefing by the Audit and Risk Committee (ARC) on the fourth quarterly report of the CGE for 2021/22. The ARC report included findings later corroborated by the Auditor-General of South Africa (AGSA).

There had been seven supply chain findings, such as purchase orders that were not signed. The asset findings revealed that there were inaccurate descriptions and barcoding problems. There had also been a surplus at the end of the financial quarter. The vacant positions should have been filled. It was recommended that financial planning and performance should be integrated. The targets were not aligned with the actual performance. Risk management should be monitored, so a chairperson of the ARC should be appointed to review the risks.

There was discussion on internal structures. It was established that the CGE was unable to report on the state of compliance with key laws and regulations relevant to the entity's mandate. It was recommended that the appointing authority appoint a chairperson and a third and fourth commissioner.

The CGE informed the Committee that daily updates were made to ensure that the recommended targets were achieved. Members were concerned that there were no follow-up dates to ensure the appointment of candidates for the available positions. This concern was related mostly to the chief financial officer position.

A report on the suspension of Commissioner Botha was not available, and the Committee was not happy about this. However, it accepted that the CGE wanted to produce a legally sound document. It was expected that the Committee would have a report on this matter by next week.

Meeting report

Opening remarks

The Chairperson raised concern about gender-based violence (GBV) issues. There have been many incidents reported on social media, and she referred to the high-ranking police officers who were allegedly involved in human trafficking. The floods in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) were also flagged as a concern. These floods affected women, youth, and people with disabilities. Commissioners must perform oversight to determine whether the funds made available to assist being used. There needed to be monitoring of these funds to ensure that people affected by the floods benefited. She acknowledged that commissioners participated and ensured that women and people with disabilities were supported.

She commented on the six vacancies that had to be filled by the Committee. The process had started -- the two part-time commissioner positions would be filled immediately and the other four would be after October 2022. The Committee would make recommendations, and Parliament would take these recommendations to the President to review and appoint.

Briefing by CGE’s Audit and Risk Committee

Ms Tamara Mathebula, chairperson, Commission for Gender Equality (CGE), extended a belated African Day wish to all Members of the Committee. She said that the commissioners were working towards addressing issues such as GBV.

The Chairperson asked that the Audit and Risk Committee (ARC) first present before the chairperson of the CGE took over.

Mr Duke Mathebula, Independent Member, ARC, took the Committee through the quarter four report that had been presented in plenary on 16 March and 4 May.

On 16 March, matters such as introducing the new senior manager, the new audit fee, the approved tariff increase, external audits, and projects undertaken were discussed. The CGE would not be subjected to material irregularities.

On 4 May, issues such as internal reports, risk management and compliance were discussed. There was the sudden resignation of the chairperson of the ARC. He said the performance areas were satisfactory. There were seven supply chain findings, such as purchase orders that were not signed. The asset findings revealed that there were inaccurate descriptions and barcoding problems. There was also a surplus at the end of the financial quarter. The vacant positions should be filled. It was recommended that financial planning and performance should be integrated. The targets were not aligned with the actual performance. Risk management should be monitored. Therefore, a chairperson of the ARC should be appointed to review the risks.

There had been a discussion on internal structures. It was established that the CGE was unable to report on its state of compliance with key laws and regulations relevant to the entity's mandate. The appointing authority should appoint a chairperson and a third and fourth commissioner. Currently, the minimum number of commissioners is three, and appointing one more would result in compliance with this requirement. Appointing a fourth commissioner would allow the CGE to comply with the minimum of three commissioners if one suddenly resigned.

Discussion

Ms F Masiko (ANC) took over as Acting Chairperson.

She asked if these were repeat findings from the previous financial year. Were they able to assess the audit action plans of the CGE? She asked what the issues about the payroll were, and for an example of the issues on payroll information.

Mr Mathebula said that these were repeat findings. There were five findings around inadequate documentation of employees, such as payroll information, housing allowances paid in contradiction with approved remuneration policy, a non-existent overtime policy, inadequate segregation of duties on the payroll system, and inadequate documentation or description of the payroll process flow. These were items prioritised in the internal audit plan for the current financial year. A lot of the items had not been completed according to the timelines stipulated. In the current financial year, it was clearly stated that the CGE would be held accountable and there must be strong oversight to ensure that the timelines were met. This would be monitored. He said that examples of the issues of payroll information could be shared in writing.

Ms Mathebula said three commissioners had been deployed after the floods in KZN to monitor how the floods were being dealt with. The same had been done in the Eastern Cape areas, which were affected by the floods. In North West, a dam started to overflow and affected houses, which was also monitored. A gender-effective plan would be established to deal with these provinces, and there would be a discussion around a disaster management plan in the three provinces.

Recruitment progress report

Commissioner Octavia Lindiwe Ntuli-Tloubatla guided the Members through the recruitment progress report. There were two candidates for the chief financial officer (CFO) position. The psychometric assessment would be done on 3 June, and thereafter, an offer would be made. There was one female and one male candidate. For the Head of Department (HOD) for Research, an offer had been accepted. The Parliamentary Liaison Officer candidate had accepted the offer. A human resource manager and financial manager were appointed. A legal research position had been advertised, and candidates would be short-listed and called for interviews. Three legal officers had been appointed. Only one position had been advertised, but two had been headhunted. A public education officer had been appointed. There was a vacancy for a personal assistant for a commissioner. There were daily updates to ensure that the targets recommended were achieved.

Discussion

The Acting Chairperson said that posts would be advertised, but there were no dates on when follow-ups would happen. She requested that these dates be made available to the Committee. After the psychometric assessments had been completed, when would the CFO be expected to start? The HOD: Legal position had been listed -- when would it be advertised? She asked about the post of the personal assistant to the commissioner -- which commissioner was it, as the Committee was unaware of this position?

Response

Commissioner Ntuli-Tloubatla said that finalising the appointment of the CFO would take about five to seven days. There was the question of vetting, which depended on the verification process. Any additional information needed could be made available. The male candidate would be employed soon and could accept the offer immediately. The female candidate had to serve only two weeks’ notice and could start thereafter, if an offer was made to her. She apologised for not having the dates available. This had been overlooked. The personal assistant was for Commissioner Nomasonto Mazibuko.

Report on Commissioner Mbuyiselo Botha matter

Ms Mathebula said that this report was not available and could not be tabled on that day. She apologised. The report had to be reviewed and given to the CGE’s lawyer to ensure that the document was legally sound.

The Acting Chairperson asked when the report could be expected.

Ms Mathebula said the report would be given to the CGE on Friday. On Monday, the Commission will discuss the document. The report could be made available to the Committee by next week Wednesday.

Report on implementation of the fourth quarter annual performance plan

Ms Jamela Robertson, Chief Executive Officer, CGE, went through the report that dealt with the introduction, strategic focus, outcomes, annual performance plan (APP) programmes, the summary of achievements and the quarterly comparisons.

She said 87 percent of the targets for quarter four had been achieved. For quarter one, 79 percent had been achieved. In quarter two, 84 percent had been achieved, and 95 percent had been achieved in quarter three. The CGE acknowledged that the fourth quarter target achievement had decreased compared to quarter three.

Six of the seven targets were achieved in the APP target for outcome one -- an enabling environment for gender equality. All targets were achieved for outcome two -- gender equality promoted and protected through information, education, investigations, and litigation. Nine of the ten targets for outcome three -- monitoring and research investigations on issues that undermine the attainment of gender equality and women’s empowerment -- were achieved. For outcome four -- an efficient, effective, and sustainable organisation that promoted good corporate governance -- ten of the 13 targets were achieved.

(See document for more details on the outcomes and achievements)

Discussion

The Chairperson returned and asked Ms Masiko to bring her up to date on what had happened while she was away.

Ms Masiko repeated what had happened in her absence.

The Chairperson said it was unacceptable that dates had not been made available. Enough time was given. Why were the reports not done? This meant that the commissioners had failed to execute their duties. She was not impressed with the reasons given by the ARC and the CGE.

Ms T Masondo (ANC) asked what progress had been made by the CGE to implement the recommendations outlined in the Budgetary Review and Recommendations Report (BRRR). Had there been any challenges? What were the outstanding investigations? What were the current investigations? How many of the recommendations outlined in the audit action plan must still be implemented? She asked that a list be provided of the vacant HOD positions and their impact on the delivery of the audit action plan. What were the proposed new time frames for implementing the outstanding items on the audit action plan?

Mr S Ngcobo (DA) asked what the outcomes of the high-level meetings had been. He said that in terms of systemic gender violations and shelters, the CGE had indicated that most entities had not implemented the recommendations provided in the report in quarter three. Has anything changed since then? What was the CGE’s strategic movement forward?

Ms Masiko raised concerns about the regression in how governance matters were managed in the CGE. There was a noted absence of information technology (IT) management plan. Why? It was also noted that a security test plan was absent. It was important to ensure that security measures were tight. There were issues of hacking, so this was important. There was a lack of staff education and awareness of information of security. This was important, because sensitive cases were being dealt with. The lack of documents on employee payroll information was a concern. An issue on the housing allowance was raised, which was in contradiction with the approved remuneration policy. She asked for clarity on the housing allowance. Who was this being paid to and in terms of which policy?

There were payroll findings on the non-existence of an overtime policy. Did it mean that there was no overtime being paid to employees? If overtime was being paid, in terms of which policy? There was an ineffective and inefficient programme on project management. Why was this the case? The supply chain management (SCM) findings revealed that two suppliers were sharing the same address -- was the CGE aware of this? Had the matter been investigated? If so, what were the findings? There had been an overachievement of the planned targets in quarter three, but no explanation was given. Were these overachievements due to going beyond the call of duty? Or was there a certain level of under-targeting? She asked for an explanation.

The Chairperson said the IT policies had been in draft form for a long time. Why was the approval of these policies delayed? The drafted policies had been presented in the plenary. Did the CGE not see how important these policies were? The issue of security of information was important. This meant that anyone could access their information. What was the problem?

Ms B Marekwa (ANC) suggested that deadlines or timeframes be given to CGE as to when they should report back. This would allow them to inform the Committee on whether they would be able to report in the timeframe given. This would be important to establish a proper timeframe and ensure that the reports requested were received. This would prevent a back and forth situation. There was lack of alignment in operations and activities to the strategic intention of the institution, which presented a deficiency. This was concerning. What was the process that was made to implement the ARC's recommendations? She asked how often the CGE sat and had strategic sessions to review the reports before they were submitted. The team should edit and comment on the reports.

The Chairperson said that there had been no indication of vacancies in quarter two and three when there were indeed vacancies. Why was this not reported?

Responses

Commissioner Ntuli-Tloubatla confirmed that they did have quarterly meetings and meetings in the event of urgent matters that needed to be discussed. The issue of outstanding posts had been revised after the meeting with Parliament. There were dates in the report -- it was only the two posts identified by this Committee lacked the information on dates. This had been overlooked, and she apologised. She informed the Committee that human resources were busy fixing the report, which would outline the sequence of events in those posts identified by Members and the specific date that explained the process in each post.

The Chairperson asked if the vacancies in the supply chain unit had been filled.

Commissioner Ntuli-Tloubatla explained that some posts had been filled, and some were outstanding.

The Chairperson asked how the CGE intended to correct the spending on the compensation of employees (CoE). The ARC had indicated that the CGE was at 69 percent, with no proper records. Did this problem start now, or had it been happening for a very long time? She did not want to hear any excuses. Mr Mathebula had left the meeting and could not hear the problems that the Committee had identified. She asked the CGE why he had been their first choice, and whether they had been informed beforehand that he would leave the meeting early. This was the first time that Mr Mathebula had presented to the Committee, and it was not right that he had left early. She requested that he return to the meeting.

The report was also unacceptable. It was not a complete report. The CGE chose members for the ARC, not this Committee. It was understandable when there were reasons why deadlines could not be met, but certain things were not understandable. Ms Marekwa recommended that if the CGE could not complete reports in time, they were responsible for requesting an extension. Were they fit and proper to be a governance structure? Were they up to this task? Should the Committee consider the CGE when vacancies were advertised? The CGE wanted the Committee to monitor them and provide recommendations, but it was not above board, and there was no indication to the Committee that this was happening, and this was what they needed help with.

The CGE was not meeting deadlines when it was its responsibility to do so. It was not doing what it was supposed to be doing. Why were there full-time commissioners? Why were they getting paid when there were outstanding reports? No extension for the report had been requested. This was unhealthy. This made the job of the Committee very difficult. The CGE’s information was not even protected. Were they sending information to just anyone on the streets? Whose responsibility was it to ensure that information was kept safe, as a governance structure? There needed to be an IT policy. Was there someone in charge of this? If so, what was this official being paid for? This official should explain to the Committee how they secure the institution's information. None of the answers given by the CGE were satisfactory. There were more than six full-time commissioners at the CGE, so there was no excuse to come to the Committee with half-completed reports.

Ms Robertson said that the CGE was worried about the IT department. There was a review of the whole process in the system, especially the payroll issues. One of the key systems that had been dormant was the Premier HR system, which no institution should be without. HR managed all the electronic information of the institution. Records had been misaligned and lost. Most of these documents were paper-based, which the CGE was trying to move away from. Unfortunately, it would take some time. Last December, 25 posts were advertised that the CGE was trying to complete and get out of the way. The filling of vacancies was something that the CGE was constantly working on. She emphasised that the IT issues would be addressed.

There were only a few staff members involved in SCM. There were challenges with delegation. There were instances where one person was executing duties that they ordinarily should not. One of the biggest output indicators for the APP moving forward was to produce a costed business plan with desired structure options to fill gaps that were weakening the performance of the CGE. The report clearly stated the percentage of what had been implemented and what had not yet been implemented in terms of outstanding action plans. The ARC said that the CGE focused on implementing the actions, not necessarily the internal audit plans. Ms Robertson said the CGE should be focused on the opposite. There must be fixing on the inside before the outside could be fixed.

Regarding the high-level meetings, once Parliament had reviewed the reports, the relevant Committee would request the CGE to present findings and recommendations to implement agencies or duty bearers. The Committee would come and hold them accountable. The CGE attempted to keep up with all the recommendations provided and implement them. There was a follow up being done on those recommendations that not implemented yet.

On the issue of housing, there was indeed a discrepancy on the historical staff webpage. There was a new policy, and the CGE was correcting this. The CEO believed that there was no overtime policy, but it had recently been discovered that there was one. The overtime policy needed to be reviewed. There would be a document management system so that staff could find exactly what they were looking for. In one of the meetings, there had been a discussion on having concept documents for different projects in the APP. Other things also related to the ineffectiveness of project management, where the CEO was the only one in office.

The issue of SCM was tricky, because unacceptable things were happening and mistakes were being made. Sometimes there was clear evidence that it was not a mistake. It was a question of one person working in SCM dealing with everything, and then things were falling apart. There were questions about whether things were being done deliberately or not in these situations. There were a large number of files to keep a record of things happening. Without electronic control systems that assisted in finding human errors, there were bound to be some errors.

The Chairperson agreed that receiving a number of files could add an element of confusion. Addressing the issue of IT was indeed important.

Ms Robertson said the IT person had received an offer letter, and the CGE was waiting on a response. It was operating in the past because a lot of the documentation was paper-based, and sometimes things could not be located. The CGE was trying to revive its IT system. Upon the recommendation of the ARC, it had decided to report cumulatively on targets that were over-achieved and give reasons why, and why there were no financial implications.

Regarding misalignment of non-financial information and performance information, the board had questioned how the total could be there, and the activities at the bottom. Last year, the CGE decided to start using the Treasury activity template so that the CGE could cost activities. It had not worked out, but this year people were assisting.

Mr Mathebula apologised for leaving the meeting early. He said he had been approached only last year for his speciality and expertise in IT. He had been actively advocating the policies and risks they imposed on cybersecurity. He had worked closely with the CEO to advise on matters of ICT around how to recapacitate, not just from an HR perspective, but for capability and strategic alignment of the CGE’s objectives to a roadmap and IT plan. An offer had been made to an IT person, and the CGE hoped that he would accept the offer.

The Chairperson thanked Mr Mathebula for returning to the meeting. It was his first time here and it was important that he understood and witnessed how engagements with the Committee were conducted. He had missed many issues raised in his absentia, but these issues raised could be made available to him. The CGE could not come here and present to Committee, and there was no improvement.

Ms Mathebula clarified that there had been the sudden resignation of the Chairperson of the ARC during the last month of the last quarter of the previous financial year. There had been negotiations. Initially, there were three positions within the ARC -- the position of the Chairperson, and two other members. A decision had been taken to appoint an interim chairperson. The interim chairperson had not been available to come and present. The recommendations for appointing members had been noted.

She clarified that a number of issues had been reported and the CGE was trying to address them. The recommendation of requesting an extension of deadlines has been noted. There had been delays with lawyers about the Commissioner Botha matter, which had not been expected. The CGE would report on this as soon as the CGE lawyers had completed the final report. The CGE wanted to report a legally sound document.

The Chairperson said that when a service provider was appointed, there must be terms and timeframes, and the service provider must deliver according to the expectations of the CGE.

Ms Mathebula said the current service provider had been appointed last year. After the recommendations made by the Committee previously, the CGE went back to the service provider and informed them to work on the report, review the report, and examine issues and current legislation. The CGE had reached out to the service provider to remind them of the report. In the future, tighter timeframes will be established. Next Wednesday, the report will be final and submitted to the Committee.

Dr Nthabiseng Moleko, Deputy Chairperson, CGE, said there had been engagements before submitting and presenting to the Committee. There had been an internal process, and the CGE did request late submissions. There was discussion of issues that the Committee might raise and therefore, it was advised that there were prepared documents or inputs from the institution to respond to matters raised in these meetings. So, there were engagements before presenting to the Committee. According to the guidelines handbook, there were limitations for commissioners, so when matters or issues arose, there was advice on the process and the procedural guidelines. There was a focus on the implementation of programmes and follow-up on the recommendations of the programmes.

She said the CGE was tired of reporting on reports that presented issues. There was now a simplified version of the monitoring and tracking tool, implemented next quarter. There was now a framework and template where reports had to be given quarterly to analyse outputs. The CGE was not happy with the information leaks or the poor document management system and IT failures. As an institution, there should be oversight that needs to be put in place and implemented to deal with failures and correct them. The CGE was not happy, but measures were being implemented to rectify failures.

The Chairperson said that the Committee wanted to see how her responsibilities were structured. How were the responsibilities delegated?

Dr Moleko clarified that she did not have any delegated duties or responsibilities. She was equal to the other commissioners, and she stepped in only when the chairperson was not available for a meeting.

The Chairperson said that this was the problem. Duties and responsibilities were not delegated. How could one person do everything when two people were in the institution? Some matters need to be dealt with specifically by the chairperson or the deputy chairperson. In Cabinet, there was the Chairperson, a Minister and a Deputy Minister with delegated responsibilities. Even in Parliament, there was the Speaker and Deputy Speaker. There was failure from the CGE's office. This recommendation will be made.

Commissioner Dibeela Gertrude Mothupi said that the problem with policies had a history. The policies needed to be finalised to go to plenary and then be presented to this Committee. Issues were making IT disorganised, and this would be addressed.

Finance report

The Acting CFO [Pearl, surname unconfirmed] presented the financial report for quarter four.

For the year under review (2020/21), National Treasury had granted the CGE an annual budget of R91.4 million from an adjusted baseline of R78.6 million received in the prior year, which increased 16 percent. The cumulative net surplus was sitting at R5.1 million. Compared to the same period last year, the reduced spending was due to vacancies and the slowdown in ordinary activities because of the COVID-19 national lockdown.

The CGE’s liquidity was good, above the current ratio norm. Of its liabilities, 99 percent were current at R8.5 million, which was a decrease from March 2021. This decrease indicated that it complied with the 30 days payment in National Treasury Regulations.

In quarter four, the cash and cash equivalent amounted to R26 400 268. This was due to contributors such as fixed savings on employees.

As planned, the asset verification exercise for all CGE locations was carried out during February and March 2022. There were additional laptops.

The CGE had duly submitted a procurement plan to National Treasury.

The CGE maintained a risk register closely monitored by the management team. Four meetings were held. No new litigations had been reported, but there were four ongoing litigations against the CGE.

Discussion

Ms Masiko addressed the issue of the deputy chairperson not having any delegated duties or responsibilities. The annual report of 2021 reflected that the deputy chairperson’s remuneration was more than the commissioners'. This caused some confusion. The Committee dealt with what was in front of them and what the deputy chairperson was saying. She asked for clarity. In the handbook, there was a form of assessment in terms of APP outcome four on the assessment of plenary effectiveness. However, there had been no activity throughout the quarters, but in quarter four, there was a fairness assessment of plenary. When such an assessment is made, it should indicate the delegated duties and responsibilities of the commissioners. Why was there suddenly a report on this when there were no activities in previous quarters? If an assessment had taken place, what had it said about the duties and responsibilities given to commissioners?

The Chairperson said this also applied to commissioners deployed to certain provinces but never went there but claimed that they had. So why were these commissioners compensated? There was always one person coming forward and apologising. There was poor leadership, and this was a problem. The Committee would be making recommendations on how this needed to be dealt with. The deputy chairperson was an educated person with skills and a doctorate degree in economics and finances. She was able to assist the institution with her expertise, but she was not being utilised by the institution. The CGE needed skills, but the person who could help was not delegated duties and responsibilities.

The outstanding reports should be provided. The Committee's report would mention that the CGE did not meet deadlines. A request would be made that a special presentation be made to the House so that there could be a resolution to have an action plan.

Responses

Commissioner O'Hara Ngoma-Diseko said that the report by the ARC had raised red flags. The CGE needed to have a plan on how they would address the different issues identified. After this, there could be a progress report. She appreciated the finance report made by the acting CFO. The acting CFO had really stabilised the function of the finance department. The position of the CFO had not been filled yet. Two competent candidates had achieved many great things. The CGE was confident that a CFO would be appointed soon. This would allow it to have an effective and efficient finance manager. The issues of under-spending and the issue of CoE, which affected its capacity, were being monitored. Next time, when CGE presented to the Committee, there would be a better report on better expenditure patterns. There were also other areas of under-expenditure, such as infrastructure and the IT department. The offices would be upgraded and improved to have an environment that encouraged performance across all offices. Some offices were not in a very good state. It was expected that there would be improvement.

It had been agreed in the plenary, based on the finance committee's recommendations, that the CGE should focus on the issue of under-expenditure. It was requested that the CFO develop an expenditure improvement plan that the finance committee would monitor very closely. In some areas, the CGE did fail to deliver its core mandate effectively. Financial resources had been put into core deliverables to ensure that systems were monitored and could be strengthened. The CGE took note of failures and recommendations and would do its best to deliver on its mandate.

The Chairperson said the issue of leases had been mentioned that and that the CGE had written to the Department of Public Works. However, it was not mentioned whether a response had been received. Previously, there was a case where new offices were supposed to be located, and there had been many postponements. The Committee did not want this to happen here. There was going to be a meeting next Friday with the Department of Public Works. She requested that the CGE submit issues to the Committee so that it could raise them with the Department of Public Works.

Ms M Hlengwa (IFP) said there seemed to be a silent conflict between the CGE chairperson and the deputy chairperson, because there was no position without delegation. Delegation was a duty, and the deputy chairperson could not be an alternative when the chairperson was not available. There must be a duty.

The Chairperson clarified that the deputy chairperson did have other duties, such as heading the research and development. One commissioner was now hospitalised, but he was here in the meeting. Some commissioners were not here, and the Committee could not understand why they were not here. The Committee suggested that responsibilities and duties should be delegated to the deputy chairperson. The duties and responsibilities should be divided between the chairperson and deputy. The CEO oversees the administration issues and the management of the finances and oversees the whole department. If the CGE was not performing, the leadership was also questionable. For instance, some vacancies had been open for two years. Reports on the performance of the commissioners should be available. The Committee should not be kept in the dark. They should be informed when contracts have ended or been extended. The CGE must present reports to the Committee that had been processed by plenary. She requested that the dates left out in the report be provided.

Ms Robertson said that the processes and appointments of positions should be finalised at the end of the second quarter. This was what had been discussed with HR. A report of the dates will be provided to the Committee.

The person in charge of HR was sending the updated report, but the Committee had not received it before the meeting was adjourned.

The Chairperson asked when the two outstanding reports would be provided. She said a letter should have been written to ask for an extension for these two reports.

Ms Mathebula said a week's extension would be requested for the matter of Commissioner Botha to ensure that the lawyer properly finalised documents. This was one of the duties that the deputy chairperson was heading in meetings with the lawyers. The deputy chairperson had actually volunteered to do this since Ms Mathebula had been too busy. This finalised document will be made available to the Committee next week Wednesday.

Regarding the issue involving Commissioner Busisiwe Deyi, the handbook talks about sanctions for the non-attendance of meetings. It recommends a meeting with the Chairperson to inquire and request a report from a commissioner who was willing to attend the meeting. The issue with Commissioner Deyi will be addressed and resolved in the next few weeks. She asked for a two-week extension on the report.

An email had been sent to the Committee to request an extension on the issue of the CEO. All the committee chairpersons had done assessments, and the CEO had been assessed. Seven key performance indicators had been agreed upon. The assessments were for six months, and the report could be made available. A twelve-month assessment had been done last year, and that report was also available and had been through plenary. The last assessment was a dialogue based on the six-month extension that the six chairpersons had agreed upon. In terms of probation periods, an assessment had been done, and the report was taken to plenary last week for approval. The report had been finalised.

The Chairperson asked for the dates. This was to see how the CGE could fit into the busy schedule of the Committee. It was important to finalise these reports, and it was important to see how this institution addressed the issues of inequality and of GBV. There needed to be a fast track of the licence of the commissioners, and it must be finalised before October 2022.

The full-time commissioners had a responsibility to ensure that critical issues affecting the institution's operations were being taken seriously and were being dealt with. She requested that the CGE provide the outstanding issues to the Committee before the end of the business day to send the letter to the Department of Public Works.

The meeting was adjourned.

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