DA: Put service delivery first

2003-12-22 17:43

Cape Town - Government should urgently develop a strategy to address the problem of filling thousands of senior vacancies in the public service, the Democratic Alliance said on Monday.

"The government must put service delivery first," DA public service and administration spokesperson Richard Ntuli said in a statement.

"The ANC's obsession with the outcome of transformation instead of the process is one of the reasons for the unacceptably high number of vacancies in the public service," he said.

ThisDay newspaper reported on Monday that about 75 000 top-level public service jobs were vacant, resulting in a "governmental capacity crisis that is threatening delivery targets and election promises".

No data from department

The public service and administration department would not provide data on employment and vacancy levels in government, but according to senior trade union officials, tens of thousands of posts were vacant.

Most of these were at levels six to nine - the range covering skilled workers, professionals, and some managers, the newspaper said.

Ntuli said instead of focusing on ensuring that there were enough qualified graduates and skilled people to be able to fill these posts, government merely set pre-determined quotas, and "then wonders why it does not get enough suitably qualified applicants from designated groups".

It was also unacceptable that the department could not confirm the number of vacancies, when it was responsible for developing and implementing strategies for recruiting and retaining high quality public servants.

Quotas

Public Service and Administration Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi should commission an audit of all vacant posts and the skills and qualifications required to fill those posts, and then develop a strategy to address the matter, he said.

"In the meantime, the government must stop enforcing quotas for professional and skilled jobs, and fill whatever posts can be filled from all available applicants."

While the DA supported the broad goal of transformation of the public service, this should not be at the cost of service delivery.

"The South African public should not be made to suffer poor service because the government does not have an appropriate recruitment and retention strategy, and because it has failed to produce enough skilled people to meet demand," Ntuli said.

- SAPA