Chapter 2 - P rogramme 1 - Department of Defence

| Chapter 2 - Programme 1: Administration |
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employed by the DOD to Armscor, with effect
from 1 September 2007.
Since the implementation of HR Strategy 2010
throughout the DOD, the rank-age compliance
of privates has improved by 40,5%. This has
had a major impact upon the medical fitness
and combat-readiness of members within this
rank group, specifically within the SA Army.
A DOD HR Risk Management Committee was
established under the auspices of the Chief
Directorate HR Strategic Direction and Policy.
Flowing from this has been the compilation of
a DOD HR Risk Management Register.
The Chief Director HR Management, Major-
General L.S. Mollo, was appointed as the
chairperson for the International Military
History Congress that was held in Cape Town
during August 2007. The congress was voted
a huge success and was attended by delegates
from all over the world.
The HR Division, through the offices of the
Chief Directorate Human Resource
Development, is in the process of reviewing
and implementing the Human Resource
Development Strategy for the DOD,
initiating the alignment of this strategy with
Government’s Resource Development Strategy
as pronounced by the Department of Public
Service and Administration as being the focus
during 2007/2008. This strategy has, as one of
its end states, the building of the DOD into a
learning organisation, an end state that will be
realised in the foreseeable future.
The HR Division has engaged in various
interventions to embrace and augment
Government’s ASGISA objectives. One of
these interventions includes an intake of
voluntary interns to provide unemployed
graduates with between three and 12 months’
relevant occupational work experience. A pilot
project of eight interns was launched during
2007/2008. Two of the initial four interns were
appointed in permanent posts in the DOD and
a third is in the process of being appointed. The
planned intake of interns for 2008/2009 is 60.
As part of the newly-established HR Division, the
Functional Competency Authority for Human
Resource Practitioners and Education, Training
and Development Practitioners was activated
Annual Report FY 2007 - 2008
| Department of Defence |
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with effect from 1 April 2007. Achievements of
the Functional Competency Authority include
awarding a first Human Resource Management
Certificate to a core group of human resources
practitioners to facilitate the accreditation of
Personnel Services School. A competency profile
for the Human Resource Practitioners Corps
was also developed to assist with the acquisition
of members into the corps. The syllabus for the
training of human resources practitioners was
expanded with new modules of training such
as the service delivery module, thus enhancing
service delivery improvement amongst human
resources practitioners in the DOD.
The fledgling Warrant Officers Academy
achieved full accreditation status with the South
African Qualifications Authority, which means
that all training presented at the unit will be
credit-bearing training, which is transportable
to the civilian sector should members exit the
DOD.
The DOD Youth Foundation Training
Programme gave the DOD the ability to create its
own pool of suitable candidates for employment
by lifting disadvantaged learners who did not
qualify for initial entry into the DOD up to a
level where they did qualify for entry into the
DOD. The 2007 programme was successfully
completed, with 240 learners completing the
programme, of which 180 learners were taken
into the full-time employment of the DOD, with
the remainder being released into the open job
market with a better chance of employment. For
various reasons this programme was curtailed
at the end of 2007 within the DOD, although
the reinstitution thereof, perhaps in a different
format, is currently under investigation.
The Service Corps succeeded in achieving its
objectives through providing portable skills
to beneficiaries to enhance their employability
and entrepreneurial competencies. The eight
regional offices of the Service Corps facilitated
training for DOD members who opted to
take the Mobility Exit Mechanism (MEM), the
Employee Initiated Severance Package (EISP),
or departmental transfer to the South African
Police Services (SAPS), as well as providing
support to military veterans. The Service Corps
provided and facilitated training for 2 380
beneficiaries.