Open letter to the President: Major reforms in the public service are critical to the future of South Africa

An open letter from the Public Affairs Research Institute to President Cyril Ramaphosa arguing that South Africa's public service requires structural reforms to appointment and removal processes to eliminate political interference and corruption.

• The current structure of South Africa's public service grants political office bearers excessive and largely unchecked powers regarding the appointment and removal of staff. While these systems were originally designed to transform the apartheid-era administration, they now facilitate corruption and the prioritization of political connections over professional expertise and integrity.
• The Public Affairs Research Institute contends that the draft National Implementation Framework towards the Professionalisation of the Public Service is insufficient because it does not clearly define the mechanisms for appointing and removing the head of the public service, directors-general, and their deputies.
• To ensure institutional independence, the Public Affairs Research Institute proposes amending the Public Service Commission Act. This would grant the Public Service Commission control over senior appointments to its own office and empower it to manage the appointment of the head of the public service, directors-general, and deputy directors-general via selection committees of subject matter experts.
• The document argues that a capable and ethical state is essential for South Africa to resolve its current social and economic crisis and to address future threats, specifically highlighting climate change.

APA

Buthelezi, M. (2021). Open letter to the President: Major reforms in the public service are critical to the future of South Africa. Public Affairs Research Institute. https://pari.org.za/open-letter-to-the-president-major-reforms-in-the-public-service-are-critical-to-the-future-of-south-africa/

Chicago

Buthelezi, Mbongiseni. Open letter to the President: Major reforms in the public service are critical to the future of South Africa. Public Affairs Research Institute, 2021. https://pari.org.za/open-letter-to-the-president-major-reforms-in-the-public-service-are-critical-to-the-future-of-south-africa/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Buthelezi |first1=Mbongiseni |title=Open letter to the President: Major reforms in the public service are critical to the future of South Africa |publisher=Public Affairs Research Institute |date=5 March 2021 |url=https://pari.org.za/open-letter-to-the-president-major-reforms-in-the-public-service-are-critical-to-the-future-of-south-africa/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{buthelezi2021open, author = {Buthelezi, Mbongiseni}, title = {{Open letter to the President: Major reforms in the public service are critical to the future of South Africa}}, publisher = {Public Affairs Research Institute}, year = {2021}, month = mar, url = {https://pari.org.za/open-letter-to-the-president-major-reforms-in-the-public-service-are-critical-to-the-future-of-south-africa/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }