DA requests the Public Service Commission to investigate the over 2000 public service senior managers without qualifications

7 September 2022

The DA has today written to the recently designated Chairperson of the Public Service Commission, Professor Somadoda Fikeni requesting that the Public Service Commission (PSC) conduct an investigation into the over 2000 senior managers in the public service that do not have the qualifications for the positions that they currently occupy in terms of section 196(4)(b) of the Constitution which mandates to investigate, monitor and evaluate the organisation and administration, as well as the personnel practices of the public service.

In a recent written reply to a DA Parliamentary question, the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) revealed that as at 1 May 2022, there were a total of 2364 senior managers out of the 9309 senior managers employed in the public service with no qualifications for the positions that they currently occupy.

The written reply by the DPSA further revealed that half of the senior managers within the public service with no qualifications were employed in national departments and the highest number of senior managers with no qualifications, at a national level, were in the employment of the South African Police Service and the national Department of Justice and Constitutional Development.

At a provincial level, the provincial department with the highest number of senior managers with no qualifications were in the employment of the Eastern Provincial Department of Education followed by the Limpopo Provincial Department of Health.

Although the DA takes the point that this number has come down slightly since the DA first brought the issue to light in 2021, it remains concerned that more than a year down the line, 25% of the senior managers employed in our country’s public service still do not have qualifications for the positions they occupy and this may very well be having an impact on our public administration, in particular, on its ability to provide quality and efficient services.

It is for this reason that the DA took the decision to write to the Chairperson of the PSC and request that this matter be investigated.

If government is truly serious about building a capable, effective and efficient public service administration, then the people at the helm of the public administration must be qualified, experienced and competent enough to hold the positions that they currently occupy.

Issued by Mimmy Gondwe, DA Shadow Deputy Minister for Public Service and Administration, 7 September 2022