The Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) is currently reviewing regulations for all entry-level posts in the public service.
In a statement released on Monday (19 November), the DPSA said the review would allow for the recruitment of new entrants – without prior experience – into entry-level government jobs.
It added that the amended regulations will take effect as of 1 April 2019.
The DPSA said that this initiative will enhance the government’s human resource development capacity and achieve the following outcomes in the recruitment process of government:
- Alleviation of high levels of unemployment especially among the youth in South Africa;
- Removal of unnecessary barriers to entry into the public service;
- Provision of a platform for new graduates to acquire the required experience in their lifelong career paths.
- Attracting new and innovative blood into the public service
Minister for the Public Service and Administration, Ayanda Dlodlo, said these changes will not do away with the inherent requirements of professional fields such as engineering, science and medicine.
“This exercise will be structured in such a way that it does not compromise the professional and technical requirements for various fields, all we want to do is to streamline career paths and align skills which will make the public service fit for purpose,” she said.
She added that the focus of recruitment will now be on minimum academic qualifications obtained from appropriately registered training institutions in terms of the National Qualifications Framework Act and the pre-employment verification as specified in the Public Service Regulations of 2016.
Minister Dlodlo has consequently instructed the Department to issue a circular to the public service mandating the Heads of Departments in both national and provincial spheres of government to ensure a state of readiness towards a phased implementation by 01 April 2019.
The minister said she is also determined to introduce a paperless administration across the public service, and to this end, an e-recruitment system will be rolled out as from next month.
“As government, we are concerned that we took long to evolve in this process, resulting in young people, who mostly are techno-savvy, enduring the burden of incurring unnecessary costs when applying for positions in the public service.
“The world has moved on and the public service needs to keep up and embrace the digital age in all its processes,” said Dlodlo.
The minister emphasized that applications for jobs in the public service will still be accepted through the Z83 forms to accommodate those who do not have access to the internet.
“We understand the challenge of internet access for some of our communities especially in the rural areas, so we will not close anyone out through this e-recruitment process,” she said.
She also said that the department will be engaging local government authorities to expedite the infrastructure rollout for Wi-Fi hotspots across all municipalities.
This article was sourced from BusinessTech; for the original article, click here.
