EDITORIAL | Civil servants must heed the PSC’s ruling and shun ANC caucus meetings

The Public Service Commission (PSC), chaired by respected Prof Somadoda Fikeni, started this week on a high note.

On Monday it set the bar much higher in terms of how parties represented in parliament should manage the separation between professional civil service and political party caucuses.

Following complaints from the DA and the UDM, the PSC — a body set up in terms of section 10 of the Constitution — issued an “advisory note”.

The note stems from a study it conducted which found that it was constitutionally problematic for senior and professional civil servants such as directors-general and others to attend closed meetings of ANC “study groups” in parliament ahead of oversight committee meetings.

During these closed “study groups”, ANC MPs discuss political strategies in relation to how issues before open parliamentary meetings should be ventilated, while government officials favour them with privileged information from their departments, to the disadvantage of other parties not present at these partisan meetings.

Because the ANC enjoyed a parliamentary majority between 1994 and 2024, the study groups have somewhat become regarded as the norm.

Such participation may create governance and ethical risks that undermine the constitutional values and principles governing public administration, including impartiality, accountability, transparency, fairness and professional independence.

—  Public Service Commission

But thanks to the formation of the Government National Unity, this has been tested by a proper body and the public service watchdog, the PSC, has found that the ANC has been getting away with significant wrongdoing for all these years.

The irony is that the complaint was filed against the ANC’s GNU partners, the DA and UDM.

The PSC found that the ANC’s requirements for civil servants to attend political meetings of its caucus study groups were in breach of public service regulations derived from the constitution.

“Accordingly, the view of the PSC is that such participation may create governance and ethical risks that undermine the constitutional values and principles governing public administration, including impartiality, accountability, transparency, fairness, and professional independence.

“This will be in direct conflict with Regulation 13 (j) and (k) of the Public Service Regulations, 2016, which reinforce the constitutional requirement that public servants must remain politically neutral and must avoid conduct that creates an actual or perceived conflict between their official duties and political interests.”

Parliament has now been directed to develop a policy and legal framework to ensure the blurring of lines between party, state and parliament no longer takes place.

It’s a step in the right direction. It’s another victory in the ongoing struggle to strengthen the authority of parliament in the public accountability stakes and not reduce it to an ANC rubber stamp. It also goes a long way in fostering the professionalisation of the public service.

However, what is worrying is the reaction of Mdumiseni Ntuli, the ANC’s chief whip. His response was defiant, indicating that his study group will continue to invite government officials to its closed meetings, despite the PSC findings.

“The argument that study groups are not parliamentary structures is ill-informed,” Ntuli argued. “Caucuses are parliamentary structures, and study groups are sub-structures of caucuses. The composition is the same. The difference is the size.”

What Ntuli neglected to say is that caucus structures inherently toe party political lines and professional civil servants ought not be dragged into that dark corner.

We implore civil servants worth their salt to now shun ANC caucus meetings; the PSC has given them ammunition to do so.