Ramaphosa Says Politics Should be Kept Out of the Public Service

Ministers, MECs and mayors should stay out of the administration of public services and let public servants do their work, and appointments should be made on qualifications not political considerations, according to a letter by President Cyril Ramaphosa to mark the start tomorrow of Public Service Month.

“The civil service must be seen as a career destination of choice by those who want to make a difference in the life of their country, and not merely as a comfortable 9-to-5 desk job or a place to earn a salary with minimal effort,” he said.

Ramaphosa said the country needed a streamlined, efficient and well-integrated civil service, that few callings were more important than the call to public service, and the performance the wider population received from public servants largely determined how they viewed the state.

“The experience of our people is that in several areas, the state is falling short of expectations,” he said. “If we are to build a more capable state we have to seriously and urgently address the shortcomings in the organisation and the capacity of the public service.”

He said the issue was not that the public service was bloated, given the size of the country, but whether it was performing as it should.

He said one of the biggest problems was that the line had become blurred between politial and administrative people.

Political office bears such as ministers, MECs and mayors sometimes “veered towards” getting involved in administrative matters that should be left to public servants.

“Public service managers must be given the space, the means and the resources to manage.”

“Senior appointments are sometimes made on political considerations rather than expertise. This severely limits the capacity and effective functioning of the state,” he said. “The civil service should attract high-calibre and qualified candidates.”