Mungo Soggot
Justice Minister Dullah Omar has blocked attempts by hundreds of his long-serving officials to take voluntary retrenchment. His ministry confirmed this week that 742 of its 13 400 workforce had applied for retrenchment packages, but only 43 had succeeded.
Omar, who has been accused of gunning for white justice employees, told the Mail & Guardian he had spiked applications that did not meet voluntary retrenchment rules.
He said the figures confirmed he was not bent on a purge of old-guard civil servants. He has had to shoulder such perceptions since a high-profile court case brought against him last year by disgruntled white employees in the Department of Justice, who claimed they were victims of affirmative action quotas.
The Pretoria High Court sided with the employees and froze an appointment process in the justice department which saw white, male officials overtaken by black, less experienced women officials.
Omar said allegations that he had targeted old-guard employees were absolute rubbish. If anyone asks to leave, white or black, I intervene from the ministry to find out why.
The make-up of the justice department is testimony to Omars efforts to accommodate the civil service he inherited. The department is headed by Jasper Noeth, who was director general under the former minister of justice, Kobie Coetzee.
Noeth said this week most of the applicants for the retrenchment packages were attracted by the lucrative payouts and he did not believe the rush signalled widespread dissatisfaction.
Western Cape Attorney General Frank Kahn warned that unless prosecutors salaries were improved we are going to bleed. Its crisis management at the moment.
Two weeks ago Kahns office was forced to withdraw charges temporarily against alleged Cape Town drug baron Colin Stanfield after the prosecutor and investigating officer in the case quit. Kahn has been forced to rehire the prosecutor at private-sector rates.
The bottom line is you are going to get more Stanfield cases unless you increase salaries, he said. In the past eight months, five of his staff have left, three of whom were seniors.
The present salaries are not competitive you cant keep people on love, fresh air and promises. They become fed up, demotivated and they resign in the middle of a case knowing they will be retained.
Kahn said even the existing justice staff was insufficient, with some regional courts facing backlogs of thousands. Several state attorneys who have resigned have continued to work for the government, at considerable expense, on cases they were handling before they went to the private sector.
* Kahn has been mentioned as a possible candidate for the post of national director of prosecutions. The Bill creating the post was approved by Cabinet last week. Omar said his department had not considered candidates yet and was concentrating on getting the legislation passed.