Pretoria - The Department of Labour's Compensation Fund (CF) is undertaking a major decentralisation drive in an effort to improve the fund's operational efficiency.
Under the initiative, the services of the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act (COIDA) will be extended and rendered at provincial level, rather than be solely provided at the CF's head office in Pretoria - a move intended to improve the turn-around time in processing claims.
In 2009, decentralisation was piloted in Limpopo, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape. In December 2010, the Fund decided to expand the pilot to the remaining provinces of Gauteng, North West, Northern, Western Cape and Mpumalanga.
The Fund will hold road shows across the country - to be spearheaded by CF Commissioner Shadrack Mkhonto and CF board chairman Mongezi Mngqibisa - to promote the initiative.
"The decentralisation process is expected to be implemented in the new financial year, which starts in April 2012," Mkhonto said.
He estimated that the cost of decentralisation would be about R274 million.
Mkhonto reassured employees of the Fund that no retrenchments would occur from the unfolding process.
"This restructuring will instead result in a number of employment opportunities including contract workers," he said, emphasising that the headcount would be increased from the current 711 to more than 1 000 employees in the new structure.
"The CF is in the process of delivering letters of placement to employees, who would be transferred to provinces where delivery takes place."
Mkhonto expects the operations at CF head office to be streamlined. He said the speed of rolling out decentralisation would be determined by the readiness of the provinces.
"Prior to the decentralisation's pilot process, all information and documentation had to be sent to the national office for registration, adjudication and payment. We felt from the feedback of the stakeholders and clients that this arrangement was frustrating.
"Before the decentralization, the turnover time for registering and adjudication was about 90 days and this has now been reduced to 60 days, and we feel that there is still room for further improvement," he said.
According to Mkhonto, another element in the decentralisation process has been the move away from manual processing to the introduction of an electronic system since October 2011.
The road shows are planned as follows:
Emalahleni, Mpumalanga - February 8
Western Cape - February 10
Limpopo - February 14
Northern Cape - February 17
North West - February 21
Free State - February 24
Gauteng - February 29
Eastern Cape - March 6
KwaZulu-Natal - March 13
The purpose of the road shows is also to address provincial management and COID staff about the CF decentralisation process and other developments that are taking place at the Fund.
