SA’s civil servants coin it

Civil servants have been generously remunerated over the last five years – collectively taking home nearly R3 billion in performance bonuses and incentives.

Public Service and Administration Minister Noxolo Kiviet revealed the exorbitant figure during a recent question-and-answer session in parliament.

According to the Sunday Times, the figures were detailed in written replies submitted to parliament by Kiviet in response to questions from Democratic Alliance MP Leon Schreiber.

National departments reportedly spent more than R726 million in performance bonuses from 2019 to 2024, with almost half paid out in 2022.

Meanwhile, provincial administrations spent R2.2 billion in bonuses – twothirds of their total expenditure.

This went towards financing the 13th cheques of doctors, teachers and nurses, among other civil servants.

According to department of public service and administration spokesperson Moses Mushi, the government spent more than R2.4 billion just on performance bonuses in the last five years.

Justifying the expenditure, Mushi said the 13th cheque or “service bonus” was an incentive and “a standard remuneration philosophy across public and private sectors”.

The steep budget was currently being sliced in attempts to trim the public wage bill.

Additionally, he said, the number of staff members earning performance bonuses had declined from 218 792 in 2018 to 3 767 this year.

“This reflects a consistent management of the wage bill. But this is not the only intervention in the management of the national fiscus. Managing the wage bill continues to be aligned with the delivery of services.”

Kiviet said government employees earned their performance bonuses based on the audit outcomes of their departments.

Ironically, she revealed that 158 civil servants in national government had received a total of R21.8 million in pay while on suspension.

Furthermore, 237 suspended officials in provincial governments had received a total of R107 million.