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%.
The CPIX, or consumer price index excluding bond costs, was pegged at 10,1% in March this year.
”There is agreement that we have reached, which is the multi-term [wage] agreement … that says we need to look at an increase that is CPIX plus 1% for this year.
”This is clearly a matter that we need to consider, and we will resolve it accordingly,” Fraser-Moleketi said.
She was responding to a question on whether public servants’ expectations of a double-digit wage increase were realistic.
According to a document distributed at the briefing, the public service was battling to keep staff beyond the five-year service mark.
”There is a significant decline in employees who have been employed for six to 10 years, indicating that the public service has difficulty retaining staff beyond an initial five years of service.
”The evidence seems to indicate that within the last ten years people have used the public service to obtain experience and then leave for other sectors,” it stated.
Responding to a question on the cost of establishing a single public service — by unifying national, provincial and local government administrations — Fraser-Moleketi said she had received a technical report on this, but could not immediately give the figure.
”We are studying it [the report]. It needs to be taken to Cabinet for deliberation, so we will be able to provide those details at the time.
”This … will also deal with the question of harmonisation of remuneration, looking at the broader macro-benefits and so on.
”But we have never [said] we’re going to take a big-bang approach on how we harmonise. I think we’re probably going to take an incremental approach … but this information should be available quite soon,” she said. – Sapa