South Africa’s Public Servants Association (PSA), representing more than 235,000 policy-makers, teachers and health workers, says it is ready for a strike vote after talks on pay and conditions broke down.
The PSA’s threat comes just a day after Minister for Public Service and Administration, Senzo Mchunu (pictured) slammed Government employees for being “lazy, incompetent and corrupt”.
The Association said it had filed a formal dispute with the Public Service Coordinating Bargaining Council; if no agreement is reached within 30 days of the filing, a strike can go ahead.
The Government and unions in the Public Service have been locked in wage discussions for the past few months, with little sign that they are getting any closer to a resolution.
Earlier, Mr Mchunu said the quality of the Public Service required consistent and sustainable improvement.
“There have been louder, more decisive calls for accountability, transparency, improved performance, citizenry satisfaction and Government legitimacy,” Mr Mchunu said.
“This will require a sober and well-balanced approach, which will enable us to advance and meet the expectations placed on the Public Service from all perspectives,” he said.
“The Public Service must come of age and be accountable on its own.”
Mr Mchunu went on to say the Public Service was tainted “by several negative perceptions”.
These he listed as “low professionalism, low innovation and productivity, low level of skills and qualifications, laziness incompetence and corruption…it has traits of low capacity to translate public pronouncements into actionable policy and delivery in the interests of the people”.
The Minister said if a transformed Public Service was to be realised “the current situation of a declining economy, and the state of the fiscus, need to improve for the better”.
Pretoria, 7 June 2021
