MEDIA STATEMENT BY DR ZOLA SKWEYIYA MINISTER FOR THE PUBLIC SERVICE AND ADMINISTRATION

Issued by: Ministry for The Public Service and Administration

16 MAY 1995

It is with great concern that I noted the report in the Business Day of Monday, 15 May 1995, referring to a speech by Mr Tony Leon, MP, at the DP's KwaZulu/Natal Congress in Durban regarding the Public Service. The inaccurate picture that he presented of the Public Service is a disservice to the present complex initiatives on the transformation of the Public Serviced and if it was intended to inform the public at large, he has failed in this regard.

The facts of the matter are as follows:

According to the Statistical News Release of the Central Statistical Service the Public Sector employed 1 882 942 persons as at September 1994, which includes institutions (such as Local Authorities, Universities and Technikons, Agricultural Marketing Boards and Public Corporations) which are not Public Service Institutions. According to this News Release the number of personnel employed by the National Departments and Provincial Administrations (i.e. the Public Service) for September 1994 was 1 247 547.

The Office of the Public Service Commission only gathers information with regard to persons employed by departments/provincial administrations (as listed in Schedules 1 and 2 of the Public Service Act, 1994). According to the most recent information the number of persons in the Public Service as on 30 April 1994 i.e. just before the integration of the 11 public services, was 1 251 778. In relation to the figures from the Central Statistical Service it is therefore reasonable to assume that the number of personnel in the combined Public Service stayed more or less the same during April to September 1994.

According to payroll statistics, 216 686 persons were employed by the four former provinces as on 30 April 1994. The above-mentioned Statistical News Release of the Central Statistical Service places the number of personnel employed by the nine provinces as on 30 September 1994 at 723 238 persons. As a result of the restructuring process of the Public Service, the majority of personnel employed by the former self-governing territories (234 734 persons as on 30 April 1994) and former TBVC states (216 087 persons as on 30 April 1994), as well as personnel from the former RSA central departments were transferred to the nine new provinces. The higher personnel numbers in the provinces should thus mainly be ascribed to the transfer of personnel and not a growth in personnel numbers.

Mr Leon's statistics, as such, could not be checked, since the source of his figures is unknown. In comparison with the above figures his figures however are excessive.

With regard to the right-sizing of the Public Service, the following is of importance:

• In the creation of new Provincial Administrations, the various Provinces are restricted by a fixed norm limiting the maximum number of posts which may be created within the management echelon. This will inevitably result in organisational structures designed to cost-effectively address the identified needs of the community.
• The special measures issued by the Public Service Commission to guide departments/administrations in the filling of the rationalised structures of the Public Service, specifically provide for excess personnel to be declared redundant where their services can no longer be utilised efficiently in the interest of the state.
• The above-mentioned measures also provide for personnel in a certain category to request early retirement with the view to creating capacity to recruit new entrants to a representative public service. Departments have specifically been directed to determine departmental strategies to utilise the capacity thus created, to reduce the size of the Public Service.
• Standing measures relating to the selective filling of posts and in accordance with which either the relevant executing authority or the head of a department/administration, depending on the level of the posts, has to certify that the filling thereof is regarded as essential based on certain criteria which has been prescribed by Cabinet, have been put in place. These measures are intended to further utilise the capacity created through natural attrition, to enhance the right-sizing of the Public Service.

Whilst the Government is sensitive to maintaining stability in service rendering, certain measures have already been put in place to address situations where excess personnel might result from the rationalisation of the Public Service. It is now up to the relevant executing authorities to give effect to this.

Mr Leon's remarks relating to affirmative action in the Public Service, are grossly incorrect. Government's approach to affirmative action, articulated in its policy framework announced on 3 March 1995, does not entail job reservation as alleged by Mr Leon. The said policy approach, which was approved by Cabinet after an extensive consultative process with organised labour in the Public Service, was developed in strict accordance with the Constitution and the RDP. It entails in essence that areas of imbalance in the Public Service's composition, as it relates to the +-342 occupational classes in the Public Service and as they are spread over various post levels, be identified and prioritised for redress by means of purpose designed actions, measures and/or programmes. These will, true to the purpose thereof, be dictated by a thorough study of all possible causal factors of under-representivity, the prevailing circumstances within which representivity is to be effected and the means and options viable to the Public Service, with due consideration to the provisions contained in the Constitution, the Public Service Act, 1994, the Labour Relations Act, 1994, the Public Service Regulations and the Public Service Staff Code.

As regards Mr Leon's allegations with regard to the filling of 11 000 vacancies in the Public Service, it is also quite clear that he has not acquainted himself with the measures which are applied in the filling of these posts. The policy measures provide, among others, that the most suitable candidate who will promote representivity must be selected and appointed or promoted, unless special considerations apply, which may in particular cases in practice run counter to enhancing representivity. The measures do not state that only women and blacks should be considered. To the contrary, within the context of the Public Service's policy to promote representivity, Blacks, Coloureds, Indians, as well as females and disabled people (black and white) are all regarded as under-represented groups. Further, considering that there was no relaxation of qualification requirements whatsoever, it is inaccurate to allege that "merit was thrown out of the window". Similarly, the highly structured and clinically objective selection process and the use of fully representative selection committees provided for in the specially devised policy measures which all departments/administrations are required to adhere to are specifically intended to counter any possible "cronyism, nepotism and political favouritism".

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