Ella Smook
1 October 2008
Cape Town — The opposition DA has pledged to block a recruitment drive by the Western Cape ANC government to fill vacant posts in the department of the premier, claiming it was an attempt to "pack" the department with new staff loyal to the ANC before 2009's election.
The Cape Argus reported that the department of the Western Cape premier had launched into an extraordinary recruitment drive to fill its vacant posts over a three-year period, after several weekend newspapers carried advertisements for about 75 vacant positions.
As the positions advertised are permanent public service positions and not dependent on the incumbent administration, staff employed by the ANC administration during the current recruitment drive will remain in their posts, should the DA take office after the next election.
A number of plum jobs are up for grabs at an annual salary package of more than half a million rand.
The director general of the department, Virginia Petersen, said filling the posts would take pressure off the current staff who have had to, in some instances, perform the tasks of more than one person in order to get the job done.
The department of the premier had had a 31 percent vacancy rate for the past year, as it was not fully funded by the provincial treasury in respect of staffing, Petersen said.
The department therefore had to allocate additional functions and responsibilities to current staff.
However, the provincial treasury had since provided the money needed to implement a previously agreed plan that the department would be allowed to fill vacant posts over a three-year period, said Petesen.
But the DA plans to unveil its plans to halt the recruitment drive at a media briefing today.
"With only six months to go before the next general election, this represents a blatant attempt on the part of the ANC to load the provincial administration with staff members loyal to the incumbent party, at a massive cost to the taxpayer," the party said in a statement on Tuesday.
The DA was tight-lipped before the briefing about its position and plans , but said DA federal council chairman James Selfe and DA provincial leader Theuns Botha would be highlighting "the problems with these appointments, outline the estimated cost to the public purse (and) set out the steps that the DA will be taking in order to prevent the Western Cape government from going ahead with this process".
The department of the premier has said it hopes to appoint the first successful applicants to assume duty on November 1.
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