The Minister of Public Service and Administration, Noxolo Kiviet, has welcomed the decision by the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) to adopt the National Framework Towards Professionalisation of the Public Sector.
This follows Cabinet’s adoption of the framework on 19 October 2022.
The adoption of the framework by SALGA was informed by presentations made by the National School of Government (NSG) at various consultative forums, as well as the congruency of the framework with the Local Government Professionalisation Model.
The Minister said she was committed to ongoing dialogue and collaboration between the Ministry and SALGA.
“Local government, being at the coalface of service delivery, remains absolutely critical in ensuring professional, ethical, efficient and effective services reach the masses of our people,” Kiviet said.
The Minister reiterated the calls by President Cyril Ramaphosa, during his State of the Nation Address (SoNA) and subsequent debates on SoNA, that government must employ the right people in the right jobs.
She confirmed government’s position that the public service should be based on merit and that it be insulated from party politics.
“The bureaucracy must continue to loyally and diligently implement the political mandate set by voters and the government of the day but refrain from being political actors themselves in the practice of statecraft.”
The five critical professionalisation pillars are:
- Pre-entry recruitment and selection within the public service.
- Induction and on-boarding.
- Planning and performance management.
- Continuous learning and professional development.
- Career progression and management of career incidents.
In the coming months, the Minister will also pronounce on further professionalisation interventions, as the relevant policy and implementing departments develop their implementation plans.
These plans will support the skills audit as announced by President Ramaphosa.
Key among these is the adoption of the amendments to the Public Service Act which has been submitted to Parliament for further processing. – SAnews.gov.za
