Makeshift trimming of public service jobs
Poor Ayanda Dlodlo, the minister in charge of the public service, is in a bind. She’s caught between her colleagues and powerful public sector trade unions over mooted — but long delayed — plans to reduce the number of state employees.
Since the plans were leaked in August, ANC politicians have struggled to speak with one voice on the issue. Dlodlo, one of a few genuinely likeable and unassuming ministers, has not emphatically denied that such plans are being considered.
All she’s said, so far, is that if there were such plans, proper consultations with unions representing affected workers would precede such cuts. That’s spin, suggesting that the government or her department — which has to have a robust communications plan — was caught unawares.
A few days ago, Deputy President David Mabuza spoke in plain English, in effect contradicting her, and sought to contextualise these as part of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s plans to reconfigure the size and form of the government, including the cabinet.
While Ramaphosa’s intentions were unveiled in his state of the nation address in February, no further details have been forthcoming other than that he’s still working on them. This suggests two things: first, that the restructuring is much more far-reaching than just merging the many cabinet portfolios that were taken apart by Jacob Zuma to placate his allies; and second, as a result of the preceding point this new reshape can only be unveiled after 2019’s general elections.
At just over 1-million people, the size of the public service is not big for SA’s population of almost 60-million people.
However, there are several other problems that are rarely discussed, if at all. First and perhaps the biggest one, is productivity. Unions opportunistically argue that their members are overworked and underpaid. Instead of cutting numbers the workforce should be increased to cope with the workload. This is debatable, to say the least.
Second, the quality of work isn’t consistently high. This is partly the result of apartheid education’s legacy on the black child. As a result, few public servants can complete a crossword puzzle, let alone fill in their own forms. Anyone who has ever given a police statement will testify to these effects. And third, public service salaries have overtaken those of big private sector companies.
Without significant productivity improvements, this is problematic. More worrying, wage settlements in the public sector are still too generous.
In and of itself, the size of the public service shouldn’t be a problem. It becomes a major problem when one looks at the structure of SA’s economy.
As Small Business Institute president Bernard Swanepoel has observed, SA is a country of big things — big government and big business. If the small business sector was properly understood and appropriately incentivised to play its rightful role in the economy, it would help solve several of SA’s problems. The sector would employ more people who pay their share of taxes.
So what’s to be done? That Dlodlo denies any immediate plans to cull the public service doesn’t mean that nothing is happening. Some of her colleagues are pressing ahead with a headcount reduction, using other means to contribute to the cost-cutting. Vacant posts are being left unfilled in some departments, while others are offering long-serving employees, who are considered expensive, early retirement.
Simultaneously, large stateowned firms are continuing with plans to reduce headcount through so-called early retirement, voluntary severance packages and natural attrition.
These “retrenchments”, which are being done through stealth and out of the glare of newspaper headlines, are complicating Dlodlo’s life.
Even though her colleagues, such as mineral resources minister Gwede Mantashe, have reacted with outrage to the retrenchment plans of private sector players, there has been no constructive suggestion to synchronise these plans (where retrenchments are unavoidable) or to roll out thoughtful social plans to cushion workers against the harsh impact of being laid off. The blame for this is for all social partners, not only the government.
Worse, there are other factors that are completely outside Dlodlo’s control.
The most important variable is an economy that has been drifting for a while amid rising living costs and is now showing signs of tanking.
Ramaphosa’s plans to attract $100bn in foreign direct investment over the next five years are noble, but they cannot dig us out of the quagmire.
Also, the pressure of winning next year’s elections makes it incredibly difficult for Ramaphosa to do what is needed before the polls: take bold, decisive and unpopular action that serves the long-term interests of all South Africans, not only the ANC’s allies.
The president could use the jobs summit, one of many such talk shops, to wring out meaningful but unpopular concessions from all sides, including new players such as Zwelinzima Vavi’s SA Federation of Trade Unions. Or we can continue sleepwalking, while the economy is in recession.
SOME OF DLODLO’S COLLEAGUES ARE PRESSING AHEAD WITH A HEADCOUNT REDUCTION USING OTHER MEANS TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE COST-CUTTING
Dludlu is a former Sowetan editor.