JOHANNESBURG - Public Service and Administration Minister, Ayanda Dlodlo, on Monday said that government was in the process of reviewing regulations for all entry-level posts in the public service, to allow the recruitment of new entrants without prior experience into entry-level jobs.
Dlodlo has taken the initiative to review the application of the current legislative framework in order to facilitate the implementation of this new dispensation in a bid to enhance government's human resource development capacity. The amended regulations will take effect on April 1, 2019.
This is seen as part of an effort to address the challenge of high rate of youth unemployment in the country.
In a statement, Dlodlo said these changes will not do away with the inherent requirements of professional fields such as engineering, science, and medicine for an example.
"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," Dlodlo said.
According to new regulations, 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.
Dlodlo has instructed her 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.
She also said that she 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. Dlodlo has instructed the department to introduce a digital Z83 application form as an additional platform for job seekers in the public service.
"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," Dlodlo said.
"The world has moved on and the public service needs to keep up and embrace the digital age in all its processes."
Dlodlo said the decision to create a digital Z83 form was a direct response to job seekers in South Africa who have used various platforms, including social media, to inform the her about how cumbersome and unaffordable the paper Z83 application process is.
She said 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," Dlodlo said.
Dlodlo also said that the department will be engaging local government authorities to expedite the infrastructure roll-out for Wi-Fi hotspots across all municipalities, including the enhancement of Thusong Service Centers to provide internet access especially for the youth around communities.