Ramaphosa’s plan to professionalise public service will be met with resistance

Not only will professionalising the public service take time and determination, but experts believe President Cyril Ramaphosa should expect  resistance from those who are incompetent and unqualified for their present government positions.

In his weekly letter to the nation, Ramaphosa emphasised that government departments needed to be “insulated from politics”.

Ramaphosa said professionalisation was necessary for stability in the public service, especially in the senior ranks.

Also Read: Public service must be depoliticised, says Ramaphosa

The president also lamented the appointment of unqualified people to key positions.

“Twenty-seven years into democracy, it can be said of the public service that while several pockets of excellence exist, we have serious challenges in many government departments with regards to skills, competence and professionalism.

“All too often, people have been hired into and promoted to key positions for which they are neither suitable nor qualified.”

He suggested that it is time for change and hopes the draft National Implementation Framework towards the Professionalisation of the Public Service would rectify things by ensuring a state that “is insulated from undue political interference and where appointments are made on merit”.

Easier said than done

“It will start with a lot of resistance and this will be coming from people on the exit. The ANC has encouraged people to study and improve their skills and competencies. The party also made available opportunities to learn. Those who did not take up those opportunities will be on the exit,” political science and public policy expert Levy Ndou said.

He said the discussion was about moving South Africa to a developmental state and the situation where ministers have powers or are allowed to appoint whoever they want to key positions without proper qualifications must change.

“The mphasis is now on qualification. Because we want to do things differently, our approach needs to change and that is what Ramaphosa is coming up with,” Ndou said.

He, however, said to achieve this, the key question is whether the country’s universities could produce the calibre of graduates the public service needs for transformation.

“This will require serious adjustment to our qualifications setting at universities. They must equip the government with the right people to do the job,” Ndou added.

Time to do away with politics in appointments

Ramaphosa also emphasised that government departments needed insulation from politics.

He referred to the related problem of political and executive interference in the administration of the public service.

“One needs only to look at the instability in government departments when senior managers are swopped or replaced each time a new minister is appointed. Public servants must be able to continue doing their jobs regardless of any changes of ministers, members of the executive council or councillors’ party in charge of the administration, or changes to political parties after elections,” the president said.

Though this was a huge task considering the entrenched culture of patronage and cadre deployment in the public sector, public governance project manager at the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) Thabile Zuma said the work must start now.

“The framework is necessary. It is not going to be an easy task and likely take time before we can experience the needed change but it’s a process that we need urgently,” she said.

Zuma, however, said the time for throwing around ideas was long past, saying what SA needs is a concrete and extremely urgent plan by the government to professionalise the public service. This plan must recognise how much public money has been wasted on the salaries of middle- and high-earning individuals who are either corrupt, apathetic or incompetent.

“The result has been economic decline and a lack of trust and satisfaction in public services,” she said.