NATASHA MARRIAN: Bills to professionalise public service await Ramaphosa sign-off

Legislation that bars accounting officers and senior public servants from doing business with the state is finally on President Cyril Ramaphosa’s desk for sign-off.

The amendments to two key laws seek to professionalise the state and dilute the paralysing and parasitic influence of politicians over the public service.

The genesis of the legislation is the recommendations in the final report of the state capture commission chaired by former chief justice Raymond Zondo. The reforms they contain are crucial to averting a repeat of the systematic capture of sections of the state to enable extraction and corruption.

A key feature of state capture and corruption in the state in general was the “strategic positioning of individuals in positions of power through the abuse of the public sector appointment and dismissal processes”.

The two pieces of legislation — amendments to the Public Service Act and the Public Administration Management Act — are hailed as groundbreaking and aimed at professionalising the public service, combating corruption and limiting executive influence by politicians over key administrative functions.

Despite their genesis in Zondo’s final report, the changes to the legislation were first suggested in the National Development Plan more than a decade ago.

After the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) passed the Public Service Amendment Bill and the Public Administration Management Amendment Act two weeks ago, the legislation has now made its way through and been approved by both houses of parliament.

Crucially, the former addresses key recommendations from the Zondo commission, as highlighted in Ramaphosa’s latest progress report on its implementation. The recommendations addressed include the devolution of administrative powers from the executive authorities or politicians to heads of department and the establishment of the director-general in the presidency as head of the public administration.

The amendments include provisions on the way directives from political heads should be channelled — mainly through accounting officers — and a requirement that executive authorities record directives in writing. It ensures that appointments are based on merit, instead of political connections or loyalty, and prescribes a rigorous induction programme for public servants.

However, the game changer in the Public Service Amendment Bill is that it bans any accounting officer or anyone reporting to them directly from holding office in a political party, whether in a permanent, temporary or acting capacity.

The Public Administration Management Amendment Bill goes further by preventing employees from doing business with the state through criminalising it. It introduces a “cooling off” period of 12 months for employees involved in procurement decisions. It bars them from working with related service providers immediately after their tenure, a key intervention to finally shut the damaging revolving door between the public and private sectors, which in many cases enables corruption and patronage.

However, the game changer in the Public Service Amendment Bill is that it bans any accounting officer or anyone reporting to them directly from holding office in a political party, whether in a permanent, temporary or acting capacity.

The Public Affairs Research Institute highlighted this provision as a key remedial measure to depoliticise the state. The same provision in amendments to the Municipal Systems Amendment Act, which would have applied at the local level, was struck down by the courts after an application by the South African Municipal Workers’ Union.

It is likely that the provision set to affect the public service nationally may also be subjected to the courts by organised labour. Reversing this key provision would be a huge setback in the urgent fight to depoliticise the public service.

‘Major omission’

The provision in the Public Administration Management Amendment Bill that criminalises officials doing business with the state and deems it a dismissable offence is a crucial intervention, but as the institute notes it is limited in that it does not extend to officials in state-owned entities, a “major omission”.

Yet, the amendments to both laws mark a solid start on the long road to professionalising the public service, curbing corruption and preventing a recurrence of the debilitating capture of the state under former president Jacob Zuma.

The amendments, once signed into law, would mark a crucial move towards improving state capacity, arguably the most meaningful since 1994. It has only recently been passed by the NCOP, but Ramaphosa could have signed it by now.

It is, after all, a quick, solid win for his administration.