The Public Service Commission this week told Parliament that the system of recruitment of heads of government departments needed a "rethink".

In a letter to the president and the DA, the national co-ordination committee of the national Imbizo asks politicians to start using public services.

DA leader Helen Zille has called on the Public Service Commission to probe allegations the ANC is interfering in public-service appointments.

President Thabo Mbeki has opened the Public Administration Leadership and Management Academy in Pretoria.

Last year's bitter public sector strike lives on in the unexpected multibillion-rand increase in the civil service pay bill announced this week.

The proposed 10,5% salary increase for public servants is technically correct, the National Professional Teachers' Organisation of South Africa said in Pretoria on Thursday.

The South African Democratic Teachers' Union on Thursday rejected the proposed public-service annual increase of 10,5%.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) on Wednesday welcomed the announcement of a pay increase for public servants. On Tuesday, Minister of Public Service and Administration Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi said public-sector workers would receive a wage increase of 10,5% with effect from July 1.

Public servants may be in line for a double-digit pay increase this year. Briefing the media at Parliament on Tuesday, Public Service and Administration Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi said the current wage agreement stipulated an increase of CPIX plus 1%.

Cases of corruption in the public sector reported to the National Anti-Corruption Hotline increased by 46% between 2004 and 2007, the Democratic Alliance (DA) said on Sunday. DA spokesperson on public service Karel Minnie said this was according to a 2008 report released by the Public Service Commission.