Sunday Independent reports that an inquiry by the Public Service Commission (PSC) found that some 180 senior government officials do not meet the national qualifications framework (NQF) requirements for the posts they occupy.

The PSC report on the qualifications of senior managers in the public service, was initially published in April but updated last month, with responses from all government departments required to make inputs and submissions. According to the report, 96% of the 3,966 senior management service (SMS) members from the 37 national departments that were required to respond to the PSC’s inquiry were qualified for the positions they occupy. However, only 11 of 37 departments said 100% of their SMS members were qualified for their posts. There were only 176 SMS members (4% of the 3,966) who did not meet the NQF requirements, and of these 114 (2.9%) were appointed before the introduction of the 2015 directive on minimum entry requirements. The remaining 50 (1.26%) were appointed after the directive introduction. Information relating to appointment dates was not provided for 12 (0.30%). SMS members refer to officials occupying the positions of director, chief director, deputy director-general or equivalent and director-general/ head of department. ”The DPSA (Department of Public Service and Administration) must direct all departments with SMS members who still do not meet the minimum qualifications requirements to submit plans on how the gaps will be addressed with clear time frames to enable proper monitoring of those plans," the PSC stated. The report also detailed the situation in provincial government departments.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Loyiso Sidimba at Sunday Independent

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