Almost a quarter of all government posts are unfilled. The Mail & Guardian‘s Matuma Letsoalo asked Public Service and Administration Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi how she plans to address the problem
President Thabo Mbeki indicated in his State of the Nation address that government will fill all vacant posts within the public service in six months. Are you confident this will happen?
The president’s reference relates to funded vacancies. These are vacancies that can be filled. Those that cannot be filled will be because of the skills shortage.
Are you able to provide accurate figures on the vacant posts in the public service?
The Persal data system shows the vacancy rate of 24%. This figure varies from month to month. The Persal system also shows that the public service’s underspending in remuneration last year was 2%. This shows you that some of the vacancies are underfunded posts.
In your presentation to the standing committee on public accounts (Scopa) last October, you mentioned 336Â 000 vacancies — 24% of all public service posts. Is there a particular reason why so many posts remain vacant?
We are going to engage the treasury and see if those unfunded posts that are not included in the new organograms should be abolished. What we are saying is that what you have seen on Persal are dormant posts. We always indicated that the Persal data system needs to be updated on a regular basis. We are finalising the appointment of a new vendor to implement a new human resource system and ensure that we have credible data for the public service.
Your report to Scopa shows that some departments take as long as 17 months to fill posts once they become vacant. Is this because of poor management and what are you going to do about it?
We now have a collective bargaining agreement to do it [fill the posts] in six months. The president announced that this must be done within six months and we will ensure it happens. Already we have trained human resource managers to look at recruitment and retention strategies. We are going to submit regular reports to Cabinet, the presidential coordination council and Parliament on progress regarding filling vacancies. We will name and shame those departments that do not comply and take action against the officials responsible.
A capacity assessment study conducted by the government between 2005 and 2007 found that, although there were enough public servants, many of them, including those in management, lacked the necessary skills. Is this a concern to you?
There is concern, but this is an ongoing issue. We need to ensure that each and every staff member spends at least 14 days a year in training to ensure that people keep up with the changes in the public service.
Could it be that many public servants got their jobs through connections with other government officials and not on merit?
It’s difficult to generalise. You might have instances where there might have been problems in recruitment. The context could also relate to the fact that we have the numbers, but not in the areas or sectors that require particular professional skills. What we have is a pyramid that has a larger number at the bottom. We might need numbers at the middle and top.
The public service is losing quite a number of experienced people in critical positions, mainly for financial reasons. How are you going to ensure that people stay in the public service?
The turnover rate in the public service is only 11,5%. We need to ensure that we become an employer of choice through sound human resource management strategies.
Skills shortage is one of the main reasons some critical vacancies are not filled. How are you planning to attract highly skilled people in the space of six months if you failed to do this in the past few years?
We have a new remuneration framework in place. We trust that human resource managers are trained to look at recruitment and retention strategies. In many instances the issue of remuneration is not the [reason people are leaving], but the work environment is. We need to improve that.
We must bear in mind that vacancies are not static as there will always be staff turnover. We have a lot of mobility in and across the public service.
Have you considered importing skills in areas such as information technology, engineering, technology and medicine?
Yes. We have been doing that for the past few years. Bear in mind that the skills challenge and quest are not unique to South Africa. It happens everywhere around the world.