Question NW3856 to the Minister of Public Service and Administration

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06 December 2022 - NW3856

Profile picture: Gondwe, Dr M

Gondwe, Dr M to ask the Minister of Public Service and Administration

(1)With reference to his reply to question 2349 on 25 August 2022 that as at 1 May 2022 a total of 2 349 senior managers within the Public Service do not have the qualifications for the positions that they currently occupy, what has he found are the reasons that the number of senior managers without qualifications is so high especially in critical national departments such as (a) Justice and (b) Police; (2) whether, the fact that senior managers are not adequately qualified, he has found that it has an impact on the public administration, more especially on its ability to deliver quality services to the citizens of the Republic; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, what are the relevant details; (3) whether his department will request the Public Service Commission to investigate the issue; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?

Reply:

1. As of the end of September 2022, the number of SMS members whose requisite qualifications are not reflected in the PERSAL has gone down to 2188 from 2349 in May 2022. This is due to the fact that most departments are now updating this data onto the PERSAL since the Director-General issued a Circular HRD0301 in this regard. The fact that it is not yet mandatory to reflect the qualifications in the PERSAL when SMS members are appointed, could be one of the reasons why the numbers may seems high in certain departments, although that may not be the case.

2. The issue of poor service delivery in the public service is multidimensional and systemic and therefore, cannot be attributed to the less than 25% of the SMS members without the required qualifications within a staff complement of 1,3 million public servants. Most of them have acquired lots of workplace experience and knowledge that is contributing to service delivery improvement. There are continuous development initiatives that are mandated for senior managers to remain relevant in their scope of practice, thereby improving service delivery.

3. The Public Service Commission (PSC) is currently investigating this issue and has written to the Acting Minister for the Public Service and Administration, requesting some additional information on the subject matter and the department have responded accordingly. The PSC findings will therefore provide a clearer picture in this regard.

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