35% of senior government officials not qualified for their jobs

12 April 2021

The DA will write to the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) to request an investigation regarding the fact that nearly 35% of senior managers employed by national and provincial departments do not have the required qualifications and credentials for the positions they currently occupy.

The Minister of Public Service and Administration, Senzo Mchunu, revealed in a written response to a parliamentary question posed by the DA, that of the 9 477 senior managers listed on the Personal and Salary System (PERSAL), 3 301 do not have the required qualifications. Of these, 1 987 officials are employed in national departments.

Middle management positions in national government typically pays between R779 802 and R922 750, with senior management earning between R1 078 267 and R1 974 067, depending on their level of employment.

The main culprits are the Departments of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development (DALRRD) with 227, Police with 228, Justice and Constitutional Development with 189, Trade, Industry and Competition with 128, and Environment, Forestry and Fisheries with 107 senior managers that do not have the necessary qualifications.

How much longer must South Africa suffer under this incompetence? Some of these are key to the country’s economic and food security, yet cadre deployment is more important to the ANC government than good governance and the well-being of its people.

The DA’s End Cadre Deployment Bill (formally called the Public Administration Laws General Amendment Bill) seeks to enforce the appointment of civil servants to be wholly based on merit and not political loyalty. Our Bill was recently published in the government gazette for public comment. We invite South Africans to read and comment on the Bill by going to the following link.

All comments on the Bill must be emailed to [email protected] and copied to [email protected] before the end of April.

South Africa won’t survive if this trend of cadre deployment continues much longer. Ordinary South Africans have suffered under this corruption en masse for years and unless urgent action is taken the country will devolve into the banana republic some already view us as.

Issued by Michele Clarke, Shadow Deputy Minister of Public Enterprises, 12 April 2021