TRC Final Report

Volume 6

Section 6

Part Managerial_Reports

Subsection 7

Problems encountered and measures taken

38. The CEO/CAO, assisted by the finance and support services director and the rest of management, were guided by the Commission's fiscal policy. A few of the problems encountered in the Commission and the measures taken to solve them are listed below.

39. Ever conscious of the lack of funding and the fact that taxpayers’ monies were utilised to fund the activities of the Commission, the CEO, management and the finance department were constantly looking for and implementing mechanisms to effect savings. These measures proved to be effective and resulted in the Commission being able to fund many of its activities out of savings. Measures that were adopted included the following:

a mechanisms to curb the expenses incurred as a result of the public hearings into amnesty applications;

b proper co-ordination of arrangements relating to public hearings;

c stricter control with regard to travel and accommodation expenses as well as the use of telephones and cellular phones, and

d a structured and effective reduction in the staff complement of the Commission.

Satellite offices

40. The regional offices of the Commission closed down on 30 June 1998. Satellite o ffices were then established in Johannesburg, Durban (Pinetown) and East London to co-ordinate work still to be done in the regions. These offices were staffed by a total of thirty-seven employees. An office administrator was appointed in each office to manage these offices and report to the CEO.

41. The main task of the satellite offices was to render support services to the reparation and rehabilitation and amnesty processes. The satellite offices also served to make the processes of the Commission more accessible to all South Africans, particularly victims.

Human resources

42. All human resources - related activities were dealt with by the financial director assisted by the regional manager.

43. At its peak the Commission had 438 employees. By November 1998 this number had decreased to 188. From then on the total kept decreasing as a result of resignations and/or a so-called staff ‘roll-out’ The latter was to alarge extent a direct result of budgetary constraints. The Commission’s total staff complement for December 2001 was thirty-one and this number was reduced to nine employees for the months of January to March 2002.

44. Terminating a staff member’s contract of employment was never easy. Although the CEO was of the opinion that government should accept some responsibility for those individual staff members who have dedicated years of their lives serving the national process of truth and reconciliation, this view was unfortunately not supported by government. For instance, notwithstanding sincere requests to provide funding for an incentive bonus or some form of gratuity, government remained adamant that no funds were available. In order to see whether staff could be accommodated elsewhere when their contracts were terminated, various gove rnment departments were informed of the availability of competent workers. Unfortunately this was to no avail. At the time of writing this report there are still a number of former employees who have not yet been able to secure another job.

Handover of assets to the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development

45. The Act provided for a committee to be responsible for overseeing the handover of the assets of the Commission to the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development. Although the committee was established during 2000, this process only really commenced during October 2001.

46. At the time of writing this report almost 99 per cent of the Commission’s assets have been handed over to the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development. These assets include 339 computers, forty-two motor vehicles, seventy-two cellular phones and no less than 3094 pieces of office furniture and equipment.

47. In addition, 1330 linear metres of documentation, comprising amnesty-related documents, statements, video and audio collections and other miscellaneous documentation, were transported from Cape Town to Pretoria over a period of 6 weeks.

48. All documentation relating to reparation and rehabilitation that has been in the possession of the Commission was handed over to the President’s Fund based in Pretoria. This Fund will also deal with issues relating to reparation and rehabilitation