Public servants were, and are, hard at work

WE ARE appalled by a recent media statement insinuating that public servants were on holiday during the Covid- 19 lockdown while the rest of South Africa was contemplating on how to save the country from economic disaster.

Responses provided by the minister of public service and administration to parliamentary questions were misconstrued and resulted in an unfortunate impression that public servants were “on holiday” during the lockdown.

This notion is untrue as most of the public servants rendering essential services, including police services, the department of correctional services, emergency services and health workers were on duty to combat the pandemic.

The absurd notion by the media statement of a “mass exodus” by public servants when South Africans needed government workers, is unfounded.

Most public servants were on duty to perform vital functions to save lives and ensure that wheels of the economy kept moving.

Any plans to reduce the SAPS workforce will place a tremendous strain on these employees. In addition, the department of correctional services is severely understaffed and needs some 20 000 additional posts.

The Public Servants’ Association, although aware of government’s plight and the current economic situation, calls on President Cyril Ramaphosa to move the narrow focus on government employees’ remuneration and address the real cost of litigation, corruption and fraud, consultants, irregular and fruitless expenditure, as well as unnecessary foreign missions.

Apart from no clear indication of the amounts lost in the current financial year, there is also no indication of plans to recover money splashed out in irregular and wasteful expenditure, fraud, corruption and frivolous litigation.

Rather than tabling a decisive plan and clear proposals on addressing state inefficiencies to manage its budget, public servants, are again, used as a scapegoat.

Public servants’ negotiated benefits, remuneration and pension funds are not up for sale for state bailouts or to compensate for losses incurred owing to government inefficiency.

REUBEN MALEKA | Public Servants’ Association