BusinessLive reports that the government is to develop a remuneration strategy in all its three spheres and in public entities to help provinces and national departments cope with the added financial burden of footing public servants’ wage increases.  

The Department of Public Service & Administration (DPSA) said this strategy, among other interventions, would ensure that the public sector wage bill remained within the budget ceiling.  Finance Minister Tito Mboweni wants the provinces and national departments to absorb the R30bn government wage bill increase emanating from the 2018 agreement with organised labour.  He announced during his medium-term budget policy statement last Wednesday that the Treasury did not have additional funds to add to the wage bill.  The DPSA called on government employers to implement strict management of overtime, performance bonuses and leave.  Mboweni suggested natural attrition as one of the ways the government could deal with the hefty wage bill, which he said was not sustainable as it could eat into funds used for service delivery.  His sentiments were met with outrage by organised labour, with trade unions such as the Public Servants Association (PSA) saying the Treasury’s inability to foot the bill would unsettle labour relations between the government and its employees.

• Read this report by Theto Mahlakoana in full at BusinessLive

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