While millions suffered under brutal ANC lockdown, nearly 60% of government employees went on paid leave
12 October 2020
At precisely the moment that South Africans needed a capable state more desperately than ever to deliver everything from TERS unemployment payments to SASSA grants and emergency procurement of protective equipment, the ANC government decided to send nearly 60% of all public servants on paid leave. This shocking fact was revealed in response to a parliamentary question posed by the Democratic Alliance (DA) to the Minister of Public Service and Administration, Senzo Mchunu. According to Mchunu’s reply, 648 313 out of the 1 169 580 people employed by national and provincial government departments decided to take time off from work during lockdown level 3 between 1 June and 17 August 2020.
Half of all absentees – 327 836 – went on paid vacation during the most acute economic crisis this country has witnessed in at least a generation. A staggering 213 291 government officials also took fully paid sick leave during this period, equal to 18% of the entire government workforce. Another 72 911 public servants used the lockdown to take special paid leave to catch up on their studies and examinations as the private economy imploded due to the destructive lockdown.
Are South Africans supposed to simply believe the outlandish claim that nearly a quarter of the entire government workforce suddenly became ill or had exams scheduled right when the country needed true public servants more than ever?
If ever there was indisputable evidence that the ANC government’s cadre deployment and patronage politics are rapidly collapsing South Africa’s public service, it is this: while at least 2.2 million people in the productive private sector lost all they had during one of the world’s most brutal lockdowns, the government could not even be bothered to ensure that its fully-paid employees showed up for work.