Public sector leave payouts could drain R16 billion from state coffers
Image: Ntswe Mokoena/GCIS.
The Public Service Commission has revealed that government is sitting on a backlog of more than R16 billion in unpaid leave benefits owed to almost 190,000 public sector employees.
According to the entity, the money is linked to more than nine million days of vacation leave that were accumulated before July 1, 2000, when the policy still allowed employees to keep unused leave and convert it into cash later.
In an interview with public broadcaster SABC earlier this week, PSC Commissioner Anele Gxoyiya said that the figure reflects a potential future cost, not money that has already been paid out or lost.
'The money that we're talking about, the R16 billion that we're talking about, is the contingent liability, which means the leave that was accrued, if you convert it into cash, for now, it amounts to that R16 billion,' Gxoyiya told the public broadcaster.
'So it's not actually the rands and cents that have been lost by the state, but rather the money of the state or the money of the employees that is in the state.'
He said this only applies to leave that was saved before the new policy was introduced in July 2020.
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'After 2020, then, they are compelled to take that particular leave every year before the end of June,' he said.
'All employees who have not taken their leave before the end of June, then they will have forfeited their leave.'
Gxoyiya confirmed that the money would only be paid out if employees retire, resign, or die.
'That's exactly what it means when we speak about the contingent liability. It's the eventuality. So it's not the money that has already been lost.'
He also said this is not a result of mismanagement, but was allowed under the law at the time.
'The monies that were accumulated it was within the rights of the employees to do that,' he said. 'I wouldn't call it mismanagement, because at that time, they were legally allowed to do that.'
mthobisi.nozulela@iol.co.za
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