Freeing up time, cash

NEW RULING: CERTIFICATION UNNECESSARY FOR GOVT JOB APPLICATIONS

Puts police officers back on the beat to stamp out crime, rather than papers.

Desperate South Africans applying for public service jobs have been given relief. They will be no longer have to attach certified copies of their qualifications to their applications.

Instead, they will only be required to submit a completed Z83 form and a curriculum vitae in their applications.

Hundreds of thousands of unemployed people would have had to spend money on making copies of their certificates and then go to a police station or post office to have them certified by a commissioner of oaths.

The change will also free the police for their normal crime fighting duties instead of spending time in charge offices certifying copies of job seeker’s qualifications.

Police officers have had to do this administrative task in addition their normal policing duties, despite numerous complaints about the shortage of police boots on the ground to fight crime.

The department of public service and administration (DPSA) has issued circular 19 of 2022 to all national and provincial government departments and entities, instructing them not to demand certified copies from job applicants anymore.

DPSA said the certified copies of qualifications would only be required once an applicant had been shortlisted for an interview. The changes were implemented from 1 May.

Department spokesperson Moses Mushi confirmed the circular and the changes issued.

The new approach has taken the burden off unemployed job seekers.

In the circular, DPSA’s acting director-general Yoliswa Makhasi also introduced changes to Parts B and E to G of the Z83 form in order to assist the applicant.

An attached CV would replace parts E to G entirely. The CV must contain all the information required in parts E to G, otherwise the applicant may be disqualified.

Similarly, all applications must be on the most recent Z83 employment form. Many police stations had turned their criminal case processing booths into commissioner of oath points.

Often the queues were long.

At the Johannesburg Central Police Station alone, 10 to 15 officers would perform job certifications the whole day, rather than keeping streets safe.

In some police stations separate offices were opened for certifications, which embroiled SA Police Service officers in administrative work.

DPSA said the changes to the Z83 form were introduced in order to “improve the financial and administrative challenges both for human resources in departments and more so for the citizens”.

“There was a need to clarify matters in an effort to improve the recruitment process,” it said.