THURSDAY, 10.30AM:
A DRAFT white paper covering affirmative action in government requires the public service to have 50% black managers and 30% women by 1999. At present 38% of managers are black and 11% of middle to senior managers are women. Although 79% of public servants are black, only 38% at the level of director or above are black.
The white paper calls for tough guidelines, which hold individual department heads responsible for implementing affirmative action, failing to do which can result in charges against them.
Each department will be required to draw up targets, including time frames, evaluation procedures and dispute resolution.
The white paper also considers human resource management, noting that ” turning the vision of a diverse, competent and well-managed workforce … into reality, will require something close to a managerial revolution within the Public Service. Central to this revolution will a shift from administering personnel to managing people.”