• The Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) is set to abolish the work experience requirement for entry-level positions in public service.
• These will be Level 3 positions that only require a national senior certificate.
• DPSA minister Noxolo Kiviet has said that the change could be enacted as of November 2023.

The Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) is set to issue a revised directive before the end of the year that will make it easier for unemployed people to work in government positions. This directive, according to DPSA minister Noxolo Kiviet, will make work experience no longer a requirement for entry-level public services (government) jobs.

In an announcement on the DPSA’s official online publication, the minister described the directive as a way to address South Africa’s record unemployment rate, which sits around 32.6 percent as of August 2023.

“A revised Directive will be issued before the end of November 2023 with a clear criterion on how Executive Authorities may identify the entry-level posts,” Minister Kiviet told Parliament.

“The revised directive will highlight that experience is not required in all positions up until level 6, where such positions have no supervisory responsibilities,” she added.

Level 6 jobs are entry-level government positions are those that require a tertiary qualification at a minimum. These will still need work experience, however, Level 3 entry positions – that only require a senior certificate – will soon have no requirements for work experience.

These positions usually have a requirement like “Relevant experience needed.” This requirement may soon disappear from many government job listings.

During the same Parliamentary hearing, the minister also announced that the DPSA is looking on creating tools to verify the integrity of public service workers.

The scope of this verification will cover “all public servants” and will be in line with personality questionnaires and psychometric testing in order to discover if certain public servants are prone to corruption, or not.

“The vetting process will take into account various factors, including but not limited to the legality of the tests, the perspectives of organized labour, the necessity to validate the adopted selection instruments in accordance with the Employment Equity Act of 1998, and the consideration of cultural and contextual factors that may impact the assessment outcomes,” the minister explained.

[Image – Photo by Cytonn Photography on Unsplash]