City Press reports that the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) has begun mooted plans to cut the public service wage bill starting in the new financial year in April.  

The move is expected to save about R20.3 billion of the public purse in the next two years.  However, the plan will cost the government an estimated R16 billion over the medium-term expenditure framework, with savings to be realised as departments fill the vacant posts by bringing in a younger and less-costly employee cohort.  The department said last week that the penalty-free early retirement enticement to public servants aged between 55 and 60 years would run from April until the end of September, targeting up to 30,000 of those who met the criteria.  The savings would be unlocked, the department said, if each sector managed its human resources efficiently by filling the resultant vacancies “to yield these savings according to the guidelines provided”.  In a bid to allay union concerns, the department claimed that early retirement without penalty was different from a voluntary severance package because the vacancies would still remain after the process and would need to be filled.  “As this is not a severance package, there is no provision for it to go to collective bargaining.”  Nonetheless, the department will, out of goodwill, share information with the unions.

• Read the original version of Setumo Stone’s report on this story in full at City Press

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