Professionalising South Africa’s Public Service
In 2022, the South African Government approved its long-awaited National Framework Towards Professionalisation of the Public Sector. Yoliswa Makhasi, Director General of the Department of Public Service and Administration, talks to Governance Matters about what this means for reforming the country’s civil service.
Governance Matters: Why is South Africa instituting a new Professionalisation Framework for the Public Service?
Yoliswa Makhasi: Under the leadership of President Cyril Ramaphosa, the South African Government has recognised the need for strategic interventions to professionalise the public sector. For the past 10 years, the bureaucracy has been far too focused on internal processes such as achieving clean audit outcomes. This comes at the expense of prioritising our public service delivery objectives. As the civil service, we sometimes come across as caring more about the views of the Auditor General than the communities that we should be serving.
A lack of professionalisation has permeated the public service system in many ways and it has led to some terrible consequences For instance, the South African police reported a total of 909 protest actions about service delivery that took place from August 2020 to January 2021. These protests turned violent at times and resulted in casualties, loss of life, and the destruction of property.
Pockets of excellence do exist in certain areas of service delivery, however a lack of professionalism has been evident with instances of fruitless expenditure, poor execution, nepotism, non-meritocratic appointments, and the recruitment of people who simply do not meet the relevant minimum requirements. For instance, an estimated 1,200 senior managers are reported to not have the required qualifications for their role. Poor levels of accountability, low staff morale, and growing levels of corruption have also been prevalent.
To address these and other areas, the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) and other partners in government are now implementing the Professionalisation Framework approved by Cabinet in October 2022. This framework is aligned with our country’s National Development Plan, which includes policy guidelines aimed at delivering a “capable, ethical, and developmental state”. Through this framework, the President and Cabinet have set a high standard for the civil service to reach.
What does the new Professionalisation Framework entail?
It sets out a series of fundamental public sector reforms which include:
- Stabilising the political-administrative interface by establishing a Head of Public Administration (HOPA) who shall play an active part in appointing and managing heads of departments
- Strengthening and institutionalising merit-based recruitment and selection
- Reviewing all public sector legislation governing professionalisation and amending and harmonising it in accordance with the framework
- Strengthening consequence management policy frameworks
- Developing guidelines on utilising distinguished former public servants as mentors and coaches
The Framework embodies a total-game approach to building human capital throughout the public sector and is based on five pillars. These are pre-entry, recruitment, and selection; induction and on-boarding; planning and performance management; continuing learning and professional development; and career progression and career incidents.
With respect to the first pillar, we must bring in the right people in terms of their values, attitude, experience, and qualifications, otherwise we will have problems throughout the whole value chain. Our country’s constitution is very clear that public service recruitment must be fair. Departments advertise every position publicly and verification checks for appointed candidates focus on personnel suitability, criminal record checks, and financial interests, among other things. This verification process is time-consuming, but it is weeding out candidates who provide false information such as fake qualifications. The new Framework also introduces integrity assessments to help build an ethical state, as well as entry exams across all levels.
Regarding the first and third pillars though, we are mostly reliant on paper-based manual processes which are not yet automated digitally, and naturally this causes inefficiencies. There is pressure on our HR personnel to do manual administrative work focused on compliance, and this takes away the opportunity to focus on more strategic HR-related matters. This burden of excessive administration is hindering opportunities for advancement and professionalisation. To counter this and build an integrated HR management system, we are prioritising the digitalisation of these processes.
Tightening pre-entry requirements for meritocratic appointments at the middle and senior management levels
Workplace orientation for employees to better understand the culture and dynamics of the workplace
Improved planning, performance management, and appraisal systems, including performance standards and assessment instruments for different categories of employees; performance management can be aligned with professional body/association registration
Periodic assessments of senior managers against the Senior Management Service (SMS) competency framework will be required for certain categories of employees (specialists, technical appointments, and some key functions in supply chain management, HR, finance, and planning)
Consolidation of decision-making processes within the career system; standardisation of career management; internal and external candidates will be tested against objective criteria
What steps under the new Professionalisation Framework is the DPSA putting in place to reform how public servants are trained and reskilled?
We are first conducting a skills audit of all departments, working together with the National School of Government. We are also considering the idea of conducting a skills survey across all departments. Reported biannually, it will help us understand which skills are becoming obsolete and which new skills are to be brought into the system. Our sister organisation, the Public Service Sector Education and Training Authority (PSETA) is conducting related research on the future of work, amongst other things, and this research will inform the kind of skills we bring into the public sector. This will further inform HR planning and how to recruit for specific skills. We are also working with the universities and schools of public management to influence curricula to align with future work competency requirements. The National School of Government is a department that also reports to the Minister for Public Service and is entrusted with continued training and development for public servants.
One of the best practices we have in South Africa is that 1% of our wage bill is dedicated to training public servants. Many people within the civil service are highly educated – holding an average of two or three degrees. However, there is a shortage of the skills required for the execution of our policies. We are particularly looking to build more capabilities in project management and related disciplines.
How does the new Framework impact how performance management will be conducted?
For a performance management system to be effective, people need to buy into it. In South Africa, the unions are very active in the public service, and this can pose a threat to managers who may end up awarding inflated performance grades to their employees for fear of retribution from unions and employees at large. We also have a challenge with managers and supervisors who do not want to take decisions that put them in a bad light. Again, this comes back to professionalisation and the need for strong leadership development.
The new Framework recognises the need to clearly delineate the roles of the political leadership from those in the senior civil service. How can leaders on both sides navigate the tensions of where politics and policy meet?
As a head of department, I have sometimes found myself in tricky situations regarding the political-administrative relationship, where it has not worked perfectly. When friction occurs, I always remind myself that I am in public service to serve, implement the policies of our democratically elected government, and support the delivery of services to South Africans. I am not in the public service for self-aggrandisement or to please individuals, but to contribute effectively to improving the lives of the people.
One specific example of how the system itself can make it difficult is that we operate under two major pieces of legislation – the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) and the Public Service Act (PSA). The PFMA delegates responsibility for financial management of the department to the civil service head of department. However, the PSA delegates responsibility for senior recruitment to the political head of the department. This system can be subject to abuse if there is a disagreement between the two heads and if hiring is blocked, which creates administrative instability. Consequently, amendments to this legislation are currently under review in Parliament as part of the professionalisation agenda.
The fifth pillar of the Professionalisation Framework looks at career progression, succession planning, and particularly how to manage the careers of senior managers. A big concern is that heads of department tend to stay in the system only for very short periods. They are appointed on five-year contracts, but reports have shown that during the previous two administrations the average time served was only two or three years. Many leave due to the poor relations between the political and administrative sides, the pressures of the job, and a lack of support, among other reasons. The new appointment of a HOPA, under the Presidency, should assist in resolving the career issues facing our most senior public service leaders.
What guides your approach to implementing the Professionalisation Framework?
The values of our Constitution have been translated into Batho Pele – a programme and campaign that integrates the ethos of the public administration into eight principles. Batho Pele is a phrase in the Sesotho language that means “People First” and refers to an initiative first launched in 1997 to transform public service delivery at all levels. The DPSA and partners continue to be guided by these principles in implementing the new Professionalisation Framework.
Upholding some of these principles requires investing time and effort in, for example, going through several rounds of public consultations during policy formulation and decision-making. But it is worth it because these principles help us to improve. For example, the principle of “redress” states that when services do not meet standards, civil servants must be able to offer citizens an apology, an explanation for what went wrong, and the solutions for remedying and rectifying the situation. It helps us to learn lessons and ensures we find solutions to problems.
The ‘Batho Pele’ Principles
In 2022, you founded the Public Sector Women in Leadership Network to help empower women across the public sector. What practical steps has the network taken so far to help achieve its mission?
This community of practice has been growing across several provinces since last year. The idea is to encourage women in the public sector to speak up and share best practices with one another. South African society is still ravaged by patriarchy. This network provides a platform for women to share notes and support each other in their work and their experiences. During Women’s Month in August, we introduced the “Leadership Retreat” for women leaders in the public service. This retreat was supported by learning platforms in line with our drive for greater professionalisation and to support women to be better leaders at work and in other spheres of influence.
Endnotes
