Mercedes BesentThe South African Human Rights Commission has told Parliament’s Justice and Correctional Services Committee that it is battling to retain critical staff.
The commission was briefing the committee on its annual performance plan and budget for the next three years. Human Rights Commission Chairperson Professor Bongani says the lack of salary increases is one of the reasons why the commission is unable to retain employees.“We had, for example, three provincial managers or two provincial managers who have decided to go into private practice because of the glass ceiling in the commission. We couldn’t increase salaries for staff [for] quite a long time because of the limited resources that we have had. And we lost that.
“Then we asked that we should be given a monthly report. The monthly report on departures, indicated sometimes that the staff were not willing to say why they were leaving, but [in some] instances they simply say that we got better opportunities elsewhere.”