ANC chooses cadres over country by ignoring Public Service Commission
3 October 2019
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has established that, since 1 January 2018, the government has implemented less than 10% of the 153 recommendations issued by the Public Service Commission (PSC) following investigations into misconduct and corruption.
According to the PSC, which is a Constitutional body with the mandate to promote measures to create a capable public service, the government only implemented 15 out of the PSC’s 153 recommendations over the past 20 months. The government only “partly” implemented another 18. This means that the ANC-led government, with the Department of Public Service and Administration at the forefront, has continued to roundly ignore the PSC’s recommendations in 78% of cases for the entirety of Cyril Ramaphosa’s presidency.
This disgraceful state of affairs reveals just how much contempt the ANC has for the PSC and the principle of accountability. It also reflects the fact that the Commission currently lacks the ability to enforce its recommendations by holding accountable senior public servants, when they simply ignore recommendations issued by this independent organ of state created by the Constitution.
For far too long, the ANC has been able to merrily implement its cadre deployment policy that has destroyed the South African public service. And for far too long, the ANC has simply ignored the PSC’s recommendations when its cadres are caught out.