President Cyril Ramaphosa acknowledged on Monday South Africa’s serious skills, competence and professionalism challenges in government departments twenty-seven years into democracy and is proposing reforms in the draft National Implementation Framework.

In his weekly newsletter to the nation, he conceded that people have been hired into and promoted to key positions for which they are neither suitable or qualified for, affecting government performance and contributing to nepotism and corruption.

The draft National Implementation Framework, which was approved by Cabinet last year, calls for the depoliticisation of public service and insulating government departments from politics.

“The draft National Implementation Framework towards the Professionalisation of the Public Service aims to build a State that better serves our people, that is insulated from undue political interference and where appointments are made on merit,” Ramaphosa said.

Public consultations on the new framework have been underway for two weeks and Ramaphosa is urging South Africans to be part of the public consultation process through the National School of Government’s website.

He reminded the nation that when he was elected as President, one of his priorities was to build an efficient, capable and ethical State free from corruption.

Some of the reforms proposed by the draft framework include the tenure extension of Heads of Departments based on merit and performance, occupation-based competency assessments and the involvement of the Public Service Commission during interviews of Directors-General and Deputy Directors-General.

“Introducing integrity tests for all shortlisted individuals will help so that we can recruit civil servants who can serve honestly. We also need to extend the compulsory entrance exams that we introduced in April 2020 beyond senior management. Successful developmental States have similar measures which help advance professionalism within the public service," Ramaphosa expanded.

He further acknowledged political interference in the administration of the public service and said that public servants must continue doing their jobs regardless of any changes to the executive or changes to political parties after elections.

The draft framework has also proposed a more rigorous recruitment and selection process for the appointment of public servants, as well as holding public servants accountable for any irregularities in their roles.                                                                                   

Ramaphosa said it was not necessary to reduce the size of public service and instead what South Africa needed was a fit-for-purpose public service with suitable skills and a commitment to serving the country.

“Only a capable, efficient, ethical and development-oriented State can deliver on the commitment to improve the lives of the people of this country. This means that the public service must be staffed by men and women who are professional, skilled, selfless and honest. They must be committed to upholding the values of the Constitution, and must, as I said in my inaugural speech, ‘faithfully serve no other cause than that of the public’," Ramaphosa said.