Premier
With regard to Western Cape Children’s Commissioner and her office:
(1) (a) What is the staff structure (organogram) of the office and (b) which positions (i) have been filled and (ii) are currently vacant;
(2) whether premises for her office have been secured; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details;
(3) whether the necessary equipment and furniture have been procured; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details;
(4) whether (a) the office has been equipped with (i) telephone lines and (ii) an internet connection and (b) such details have been published publicly; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?
(1)(a) The staff structure (Organogram) for the Office of the Children’s Commissioner is attached at Annexure A.
(b)(i)(ii)
Two sub directorates within the office are provided for: “Investigations and Advice” and “Monitoring and Awareness”.
The Commissioner will focus on Monitoring and Awareness.
Thus, funding was secured to fill 3 posts in the Investigations and Advice sub directorate, i.e. 1 x Deputy Director (DD), 1 x Assistant Director (ASD) and 1 x Children’s Commissioner (CC) Officer. All three posts were advertised towards the end of 2020. While the recruitment processes for the DD and ASD have not been concluded, the appointment of the Children’s Commissioner Officer post has been made with a commencement date of 1 February 2021.
Administrative, secretariat and operational support, as and when required, continues to be provided by the International and Priority Programmes unit and Strategic Programmes - Programme Support.
(2) The physical office for the Office of the Children’s Commissioner is currently at Norton Rose House which is leased by Department of Transport and Public Works (DTPW). The process of identifying suitable permanent accommodation is underway.
(3) The office of the Children’s Commissioner is fully furnished.
(4)(a)(i)(ii)(b)
The Children’s Commissioner has been provided with the necessary IT equipment and a cell phone allowance to enable the CC to make use of a mobile phone. The contact details of the Children’s Commissioner have been made publicly available on social media via Twitter and Facebook.
The Email address for the Office of the Commissioner is Childrens.Commissioner@wccc.gov.za and the mobile number is 083 776 7067.
You may find the Children’s Commissioner on Facebook at @ChildrensCommissionerWC and a page has been added to the Western Cape Government website detailing her contact details. You can find it here: https://www.westerncape.gov.za/general-publication/western-cape-commissioner-children
Electronic posters have also been circulated by the Office for the Children’s Commissioner that outline the Children’s Commissioner’s mandate and email address. The process of securing a toll-free number is being pursued.
