The Ministry for the Public Service and Administration Inkosi Mzamo Buthelezi conceded what critics have long alleged: South Africa’s public service crisis is not a failure of policy but of political and administrative will.
The elephant in the room was that there was a lack of appetite in the Department to enforce consequence management… It did not matter how many times policies were reviewed or amended. If the Department was not intentional in terms of holding people accountable, it was just a waste of time.
IN A rare moment of unvarnished honesty before Parliament's Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration, Minister Inkosi Mzamo Buthelezi conceded what critics have long alleged: South Africa’s public service crisis is not a failure of policy but of political and administrative will.
The admission, made during a recent briefing on the 2025-2030 Strategic Plans and 2026/27 Annual Performance Plans of the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA), Centre for Public Service Innovation (CPSI) and National School of Government (NSG), casts a long shadow over every target, budget line and reform commitment tabled by the three entities.
Buthelezi’s words landed as committee members grappled with a disturbing reality: “The media had reported that R800 million was still paid to suspended people whose cases had not been concluded.”
