Reforming Appointment and Removal in the Public Service and Municipalities

This policy brief by the Public Affairs Research Institute (PARI) argues that the deterioration of the South African state is rooted in the politicisation of personnel appointments and removals in the public service and municipalities. Despite constitutional requirements for non-partisan administration, the author contends that a lack of independent checks allows political office-bearers to appoint allies and remove non-aligned officials, facilitating corruption and patronage. The brief proposes a reform model based on the segregation of duties—separating process planning, administration, short-listing, and appointment—and suggests a 'covering in' mechanism to implement these changes incrementally to reduce political resistance.

• The deterioration of the South African state and its inability to address social crises are institutionally rooted in the processes used to appoint and remove personnel within the public service and municipalities.
• While the South African Constitution and legislation like the Public Service Act formally prohibit political criteria in personnel decisions, the lack of rigorous, independent checks allows politicians to pervasively include such criteria in practice.
• Political office-bearers routinely use their appointment powers to install aligned individuals in key positions and use removal powers to intimidate or sideline officials who are not personally or politically aligned.
• The politicisation of the public administration has led to the downplaying of technical criteria, the overlooking of competent candidates, and the circumvention of procedural controls to facilitate self-enrichment and patronage.
• The author proposes a reform model based on the principle that no single person or group should control all stages of the appointment process. This involves separating the process into four distinct stages: process planning, process administration, short listing, and final appointment.
• For the national and provincial public service, the Public Service Commission (PSC) should be the central agent of reform, taking over the administration and short-listing of high-level appointments to act as a check on political manipulation.
• To reform municipal administrations, the brief suggests either bringing local government into a single public service under the PSC or empowering independent professional associations (e.g., in law, engineering, or accounting) to nominate selection committee members.
• Because patronage is central to power in South Africa, the author recommends a 'covering in' mechanism—where a law is passed but applied to departments and municipalities incrementally via presidential proclamation—to minimize political resistance.

APA

R., B. (2021). Reforming Appointment and Removal in the Public Service and Municipalities. Public Affairs Research Institute. https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/20210512_Policy-Brief-Reforming-Appointment-and-Removal-in-the-Public-Service-and-Municipalities-v2.pdf

Chicago

R., Brunette,. Reforming Appointment and Removal in the Public Service and Municipalities. Public Affairs Research Institute, 2021. https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/20210512_Policy-Brief-Reforming-Appointment-and-Removal-in-the-Public-Service-and-Municipalities-v2.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=R. |first1=Brunette, |title=Reforming Appointment and Removal in the Public Service and Municipalities |publisher=Public Affairs Research Institute |date=May 2021 |url=https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/20210512_Policy-Brief-Reforming-Appointment-and-Removal-in-the-Public-Service-and-Municipalities-v2.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{r2021reforming, author = {R., Brunette,}, title = {{Reforming Appointment and Removal in the Public Service and Municipalities}}, institution = {Public Affairs Research Institute}, year = {2021}, month = may, url = {https://pari.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/20210512_Policy-Brief-Reforming-Appointment-and-Removal-in-the-Public-Service-and-Municipalities-v2.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }