Department of Defence Annual Report 2008-2009

| Department of Defence |
Part 3: Organisational Structure and
Human Resource Management
Chapter 10
Organisational Structure and Human Resources
Overview
During FY 2008/09, the implementation of the
DOD’s Human Resource Strategy 2010 continued
to guide human resource strategic direction in the
Department, with specic reference to the ongoing
rejuvenation of the South African National Defence
Force’s (SANDF’s) human resources and rightsizing
of the Department’s human resource composition.
A total of 4 334 young members were appointed
in the Military Skills Development System (MSDS).
The sustained implementation of the MSDS has
led to 52,8% of Privates and equivalent ranks in the
Regulars having complied with the ideal rank-age
norm of between 18 and 24 years, at the end of FY
2008/09. The average age of Regular Privates and
equivalent ranks during FY 2008/09 was 29 years.
As part of the Department’s continued efforts to
rightsize, 562 members and 121 employees took
the opportunity to exit voluntarily by means of the
Mobility Exit Mechanism and Employee-Initiated
Severance Package, respectively. In addition to
facilitating the Department’s rejuvenation efforts,
these voluntary exits also gave further impetus to
improved race and gender representation in the
Department.
During FY 2008/09, the acquisition and retention
of scarce combat, technical and professional skills
remained a daunting challenge. While it continued
to pursue remunerative retention incentives for the
above scarce skills categories, the Department also
developed a strategy to address the non-remunerative
factors that impact on the acquisition and retention
of scarce skills in human resources.
The review of the DOD’s Human Resource Strategy
2010 was concluded during FY 2008/09. This has
led to the development of a new Departmental
overarching human resource strategy with three
strategic goals, namely to ensure human resources
of appropriate quality, quantity, composition
and cost; to ensure accountable human resource
administration and to ensure that commitments in
pursuance of Government’s human resource policy
and strategy are met. The new human resource
strategy is aligned with the Department’s top-level
strategic goals and was in an advanced stage of
approval at the end of FY 2008/09.
The current structure of the DOD’s Organisational
Design is presented in Figure 1.1
| Organisational Structure and Human Resources |
143 Annual Report FY 2008 - 2009