More brawn than brains in SA
South Africa has a unique problem for a developing economy - more muscle than brains. It has more cash than it has quantity and quality of public servants to spend it.
That, says National Treasury, is in sharp contrast to economies such as India and China, where education and skill levels among public servants are high.
Government has consistently increased social spending year on year at a higher rate than economic growth. However, good news Budgets aren't translating into equally impressive expansions in services and efficiency.
A lack of skilled specialists, a high staff turnover, what's thought to be a high vacancy rate and what's known to be a befuddled human resource management system all have Cabinet worried. SA's 1.1m public servants can't do what's required of them - to manage the money they receive and put it to optimal use.
National Treasury chief director: expenditure planning Neil Cole says: "It's definitely a huge challenge." He cites a "lack of capacity" to use the money as one of the main reasons why the recent medium-term Budget Policy Statement didn't hand out more than the R80bn that was added to the public expenditure pot.
A study of the 2005/2006 annual reports submitted to parliament by national government departments show that some have more than 40% of all their approved posts vacant. Of 26 national departments, only eight have vacancy rates of less than 20% and only two departments have a single digit vacancy rate.
The sport & recreation department is currently running the highest vacancy rate. Of most concern, say Treasury officials, are those departments crucial to delivering basic services, key to the success of infrastructural projects such as Asgisa and the 2010 Soccer World Cup - including the departments of transport, trade & industry and public works.
Overall, it would seem that government is looking for 40 000 people to fill approved posts. But a study of government's personnel database or Persel system suggests that the number of vacancies stands at 318 000. The bottom line is that nobody really knows.
Bad financial management
Warnings concerning how badly finances are managed are a recurring feature of annual audits. In his assessment of 32 national departments, Auditor-General Shauket Fakie was able to give just three an unqualified thumbs up in 2005/2006.
Fakie says the root cause is people related: the lack of skills - especially in the financial sector and at senior management level. He calls for extensive training and skills building. "Currently, there's little guidance, monitoring and checks and balances. Performance management systems are an issue, since inadequate weight is placed on the system and isn't taken seriously."
The Democratic Alliance blames government's rigid affirmative action drive for the fact that it can't find enough competent people to do its work.
In September Minister of Public Service & Administration Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi reported that a national skills database will create a picture of the skills profile of the public service and inform redeployment of scarce skills to where they're needed and guide capacity building programmes.
Each cluster of departments will then design and monitor its own skills acquisition projects and programmes. That will go hand in hand with plans to increase the pool of middle managers who can apply for more senior positions.
However, the question is whether government packages and employment conditions will ever match the private sector's, especially in hard technical skills and management that private companies also seek more of.
The first is to ensure that professionals don't have to move into managerial positions in order to earn more. Coupled to professional career-pathing is the proposal to make professional remuneration packages market-related. Given the growing demand for some specialists, the key issue concerning that will undoubtedly be affordability - even for a government that's flush with cash.
Enter SA's education system. Engineering bodies estimate that the number of engineers leaving tertiary institutions is going to have to double (at least) to meet demand. However, last year's matric results highlight how the system is currently producing way too few potential engineers. Last year, 508 363 students wrote matric. Of those, 347 184 passed but only 86 531 received exemptions.
Meanwhile, the Joint Initiative on Priority Skills Acquisition (Jipsa) is expected to present a detailed skills and business plan to Cabinet this month. It will include proposals to recruit South Africans living overseas and draw from the retired pool of professionals. That's intended to be an interim measure until the education system's plan starts producing enough of the skills required. Read more
That, says National Treasury, is in sharp contrast to economies such as India and China, where education and skill levels among public servants are high.
Government has consistently increased social spending year on year at a higher rate than economic growth. However, good news Budgets aren't translating into equally impressive expansions in services and efficiency.
A lack of skilled specialists, a high staff turnover, what's thought to be a high vacancy rate and what's known to be a befuddled human resource management system all have Cabinet worried. SA's 1.1m public servants can't do what's required of them - to manage the money they receive and put it to optimal use.
National Treasury chief director: expenditure planning Neil Cole says: "It's definitely a huge challenge." He cites a "lack of capacity" to use the money as one of the main reasons why the recent medium-term Budget Policy Statement didn't hand out more than the R80bn that was added to the public expenditure pot.
A study of the 2005/2006 annual reports submitted to parliament by national government departments show that some have more than 40% of all their approved posts vacant. Of 26 national departments, only eight have vacancy rates of less than 20% and only two departments have a single digit vacancy rate.
The sport & recreation department is currently running the highest vacancy rate. Of most concern, say Treasury officials, are those departments crucial to delivering basic services, key to the success of infrastructural projects such as Asgisa and the 2010 Soccer World Cup - including the departments of transport, trade & industry and public works.
Overall, it would seem that government is looking for 40 000 people to fill approved posts. But a study of government's personnel database or Persel system suggests that the number of vacancies stands at 318 000. The bottom line is that nobody really knows.
Bad financial management
Warnings concerning how badly finances are managed are a recurring feature of annual audits. In his assessment of 32 national departments, Auditor-General Shauket Fakie was able to give just three an unqualified thumbs up in 2005/2006.
Fakie says the root cause is people related: the lack of skills - especially in the financial sector and at senior management level. He calls for extensive training and skills building. "Currently, there's little guidance, monitoring and checks and balances. Performance management systems are an issue, since inadequate weight is placed on the system and isn't taken seriously."
The Democratic Alliance blames government's rigid affirmative action drive for the fact that it can't find enough competent people to do its work.
In September Minister of Public Service & Administration Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi reported that a national skills database will create a picture of the skills profile of the public service and inform redeployment of scarce skills to where they're needed and guide capacity building programmes.
Each cluster of departments will then design and monitor its own skills acquisition projects and programmes. That will go hand in hand with plans to increase the pool of middle managers who can apply for more senior positions.
However, the question is whether government packages and employment conditions will ever match the private sector's, especially in hard technical skills and management that private companies also seek more of.
The first is to ensure that professionals don't have to move into managerial positions in order to earn more. Coupled to professional career-pathing is the proposal to make professional remuneration packages market-related. Given the growing demand for some specialists, the key issue concerning that will undoubtedly be affordability - even for a government that's flush with cash.
Enter SA's education system. Engineering bodies estimate that the number of engineers leaving tertiary institutions is going to have to double (at least) to meet demand. However, last year's matric results highlight how the system is currently producing way too few potential engineers. Last year, 508 363 students wrote matric. Of those, 347 184 passed but only 86 531 received exemptions.
Meanwhile, the Joint Initiative on Priority Skills Acquisition (Jipsa) is expected to present a detailed skills and business plan to Cabinet this month. It will include proposals to recruit South Africans living overseas and draw from the retired pool of professionals. That's intended to be an interim measure until the education system's plan starts producing enough of the skills required. Read more
posted by Jopie Fourie at 2:30 AM
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