President Cyril Ramaphosa says the draft legislation to professionalise the public service will help to improve the sector, strengthen accountability and increase efficiency.
The Public Administration Management Amendment Bill and the Public Service Amendment Bill — which the National Assembly has passed — are now set to go to the National Council of Provinces for consideration.
The president commended the department of public service & administration for having published a new directive to guide government departments in implementing the national framework for the professionalisation of the public service.
The ANC is facing harsh criticism from analysts and opposition parties over its cadre deployment policy. It has already been forced by the courts to avail documents from its cadre deployment committee meetings since 2013 to the DA.
However, in a separate court case, the high court in Pretoria dismissed the DA’s bid to have cadre deployment declared unconstitutional and unlawful.
“This directive, together with the draft legislation, will have a far-reaching impact on the functioning of the public service. They give effect to some of our most important tasks,” Ramaphosa said in his weekly newsletter on Monday.
The directive, for example, requires that a person can only qualify to be appointed to senior management in the public service if they have successfully completed the pre-entry programme, known as Nyukela.
The course, which is provided by the National School of Government and takes about 120 hours to complete, aims to ensure that all applicants to senior management posts have the knowledge and capabilities needed, Ramaphosa said.
“Firstly, these reforms will help ensure that the best people are appointed to the public service and that they are given support to perform effectively.”
The Nyukela programme aims to ensure that prospective senior managers are grounded in the values of good citizenship, ethical leadership and developmental public administration, he said.
The framework considers five areas: recruitment and selection; induction and onboarding; planning and performance management; continuous learning and professional development; and career progression, succession planning and managing the career incidents of heads of department.
In a circular, department of public service & administration director-general Yoliswa Makhasi said the directive, effective from April 1, was designed to translate the goals of the framework into “practical, measurable actions”.
Makhasi called on government departments to ensure provisions contained in the directive — aimed at improving service delivery in the public sector and jacking up state capacity — were complied with.
The national framework hopes to address consequence management, particularly with regard to mediocrity, unethical behaviour and corrupt and criminal acts.
Prospective public servants are urged to undertake integrity testing before joining the public service and suitable candidates identified by the selection panel must undergo a “competency assessment prior to being recommended for appointment by the executive authority”.
On Monday, Ramaphosa said the reforms contained in the draft legislation will “significantly reduce the potential for undue political interference in the administration of government”.
“The Public Service Amendment Bill makes a clear distinction between the powers of elected officials, such as ministers, and professional public servants, such as directors-general or heads of department. The elected officials, legally defined as the executive authority, provide strategic and political direction, while heads of department are granted full administrative powers to run their departments,” the president said.
“This clear delineation of powers will make for a more professional and efficient public service. It will also help to prevent the kind of undue political interference in the administration of the state that the state capture commission found sometimes enabled corruption.”
This, he said, will enable public servants to do their work without interference and with the necessary support. “And they will provide impetus to our collective efforts to build a capable state that is better equipped to fundamentally transform and develop our society,” Ramaphosa said.
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