PSC launches investigation into the over 2 000 senior managers with no qualifications in the public service

9 October 2022

Note to Editors: Please find attached soundbite by Dr Mimmy Gondwe MP.

Following submissions made by the DA in September this year, the Public Service Commission (PSC) has agreed to launch an investigation into the over 2 000 senior managers employed in the public service with no qualifications for the positions that they currently occupy.

This was confirmed in a letter, dated 6 October 2022, from the Chairperson of the PSC, Professor Somadoda Fikeni.

The investigation by the PSC comes after the DA wrote to the PSC and requested that it conduct an investigation into these senior managers and the circumstances surrounding their employment in the public service.

Subsequent to the confirmation by the PSC that it has commenced an investigation into the matter, the DA has proceeded to submit additional information contained in a recent written reply to a DA Parliamentary question, to the PSC, as supplementary evidence in aid of its investigation in this regard.

According to the written reply, by the Department of Public Service and Administration, out of the 2 364 senior managers, employed in the public service with no qualifications, 1 819 were appointed before the Public Service Regulations of 2016 (2016 Regulations) came into effect.

This effectively means that almost 77% of the senior managers employed in the public service with no qualifications were appointed before the 2016 Regulations came into effect.

In its latest submission to the PSC, the DA has requested that the PSC determine if the appointment of these 1 819 senior managers was done in line with the Public Service Regulations of 2001, which were the applicable Regulations before the 2016 Regulations came into effect.

The DA maintains that if government is serious about building a capable, effective and efficient public service administration, then it has to ensure that the people appointed in that administration are qualified, experienced and competent enough for the positions that they currently occupy.

Issued by Mimmy Gondwe, DA Shadow Deputy Minister for Public Service and Administration, 9 October 2022