Sowetan reports that ministers and deputy ministers will be breaking the law if they leave behind big personal staff complements in government departments when they are reshuffled or fired.
This new law, gazetted by public service and administration minister Ayanda Dlodlo this month, seeks to reduce the size of the bloated civil service. Ministers and deputy ministers are allowed to have 10 and six personal staff members respectively in their offices, but many of them violate this rule. And when ministers are axed or removed from their positions, they insist that their personal staff remain in the civil service and earn from the public coffers even though they usually do not have a job function. Dlodlo’s spokesperson Mava Scott said the new law “stops ministers from saying come hell or high water my staff will be absorbed in the department”. Scott indicated that some ministers leave as many as 12 people who are then transferred to the department from the ministry, further stretching the public purse. “This law ensures when you leave, your staff leaves too and their term is linked to the political term of office,” he explained. The effect of this law is likely to be felt after the elections in May when the size of the executive is expected to be slashed and many ministers and deputy ministers will be sent packing.
- Read more of this Sowetan report by Qaanitah Hunter at SA Labour News
Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page