Cape Town - To strengthen service delivery, employees of the government will be regularly subjected to upskilling and training, Deputy President David Mabuza told Parliament on Thursday.
Echoing the Cabinet’s recently published professionalisation of the public service framework, Mabuza was responding to a question by EFF MP chief whip Floyd Shivambu.
The framework came after a concerted effort by the DA in pressuring the government on cadre deployment.
Shivambu had asked whether Mabuza found that the framework nullified the cadre deployment policy, which President Cyril Ramaphosa defended before the Zondo Commission.
The commission had criticised cadre deployment as having allowed state capture to manifest.
“This framework is a concrete response to a discussion about reforming the public sector by enacting measures to advance its professionalisation,” Mabuza said.
He said the framework seeks to improve the recruitment and the quality of government employees, especially in senior management.
Though Mabuza said recommendations would be brought to a politician, who would make decisions, he said this takes away the ability of a politician to choose candidates favoured by him or her.
“Beyond the recruitment (in the new framework), there is very little that politicians will be able to change in the recruitment process because of the various steps that will be taken to support a candidature or to not support a candidature,” Mabuza said.
Asked whether he thought the ANC government had failed, Mabuza said he disagreed with the notion that the party had failed and improvements noted by Auditor-General Tsakani Maluleke’s office could back up his claim.
He said on Wednesday his office received reports from Tsakani’s office about the provincial and governments, which indicated to government leaders that they were on the right track.
soyiso.maliti@inl.co.za