The Star reports that Public Service and Administration Minister Senzo Mchunu said on Monday that government would urgently be finalising the reconfiguration of government, which would include trimming the numbers of public servants and easing the burden on the public service wage bill.  

He was addressing a strategic planning session of the Public Service Commission (PSC).  During his budget vote speech in Parliament last week, Mchunu said that the public service was not bloated in size of employment but that the wage bill and the overall cost to run it was bloated.  The government has already introduced its plans at the Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining Council (PSBC).  Senior public servants have also been encourage to take early retirement.  Other cost-cutting measures would include the phasing out of several public entities.  At the PSBC, labour has demanded that the state as the employer should introduce a comprehensive human resources plan indicating the extent to which employees would be affected in each government department.  Mchunu also warned at the PSC session that the public service would degenerate into a shambles if the fight against corruption in the sector was not intensified.

• Read the full original of Siviwe Feketha’s report on the above at Security.co.za

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