SASSA vacant posts and unspent recruitment budget, Digi Mart USA News (South Africa): Minister of Social Development Dina Pule has revealed that R147.2 million allocated to fill 228 vacant posts at the South African Social Security Agency (SASSA) remains unspent, as offices continue to face staff shortages and long queues.
Pule made the revelation in a written parliamentary reply to a question from Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) MP Paulnita Marais, who sought answers about the vacancies, the reasons for the recruitment delays and the impact on service delivery at SASSA offices.
“SASSA currently has 228 vacant posts. Of this number, 84 are for SASSA regions and SASSA Head Office, while 144 are for the Local and District Offices,” Pule said.
She said R147.2 million had been allocated to fill the vacant positions, with R72.3 million set aside for regional and head offices and R74.9 million for local and district offices. Pule confirmed that the full allocation remained unspent.
She added that the delays were due to the implementation of the Compensation Job Evaluation and Grading System, which requires funded vacancies to undergo job evaluation before recruitment can proceed. “This required all funded vacancies to undergo job evaluation before being filled, while Programme 1 posts also required consultation with the Department of Public Service and Administration,” she said.
“The recruitment was further delayed by difficulties in attracting suitably qualified candidates to meet the employment equity targets set out in SASSA’s Employment Equity Plan. It is worth mentioning that any promotion from within SASSA subsequently creates another vacancy while the advertised post was filled accordingly.”
Pule said SASSA was prioritizing the filling of funded vacancies through a Critical Posts Committee appointed by the agency’s chief executive officer. She said the agency aimed to fill all vacant posts within the prescribed 120-day turnaround time set out in its Annual Performance Plan.
“As an interim measure, additional contract workers have been deployed to offices experiencing high service-delivery demands and queue pressures to support queue management, beneficiary enquiries, grant applications and reviews, verification, records management, and the resolution of outstanding administrative matters,” she said. “SASSA has also resolved to replace Local Office posts as they become vacant to improve service delivery and maintain staffing capacity above 75% in high-density offices and at least 50% in low-density offices.”
SASSA will deploy 1,038 contract workers for 12 months to help reduce long queues, process grant applications and address beneficiary queries. The source report notes the programme is expected to cost more, but the full cost figure was not included in the supplied text.
