Edition September 2026

Last year, during Public Service Month, I called on the public service to recommit itself to professionalism, integrity, and the Batho Pele principles of service excellence. I did so with a clear understanding that our people have grown impatient with empty promises. They want to see a state that works, responds to their needs and delivers services efficiently and with dignity.

Building a capable, ethical, and developmental state remains one of the priorities of this administration. This requires us to recruit and develop public servants who are not only skilled and citizen-centred, but who can also be trusted to execute their responsibilities with integrity and professionalism.

A year on, Public Service Month provides an opportunity to reflect on the progress we have made, the challenges that remain, and the work that lies ahead. More importantly, it is an opportunity for every public servant to consider the role they must play in building a state that serves its people.

Professionalising the Public Service

The signing into law by President Cyril Ramaphosa of the Public Service Amendment Act and the Public Administration Management Amendment Act marked an important step in strengthening the professionalisation of the public service.

The Amendment Acts reinforce ethical conduct and provide greater clarity on the roles and responsibilities of executive authorities and heads of departments. They also seek to address wage disparities, promote fiscal sustainability in conditions of service, and give effect to Constitutional Court findings concerning provisions of the Public Service Act. These legislative reforms are complemented by the Professionalisation Framework, which continues to guide recruitment and ensure that suitably qualified and competent candidates are appointed to positions within the public service.

Professionalisation, however, cannot end with recruitment. It must be supported by continuous learning, skills development, and a culture of excellence. The National School of Government remains central to this effort. More than 600 000 people have enrolled in its programmes since its inception, while the Nyukela Senior Management Service programme continues to expand compulsory training in areas such as financial management and digital skills.

The establishment of the 12-member Ministerial Advisory Committee, chaired by former Deputy President Dr Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, will further strengthen this work by providing strategic guidance on the curriculum of the National School of Government. Its contribution will be important in ensuring that public servants are equipped to respond to the increasingly complex demands of a modern, capable, and developmental state.

An Ethical and Accountable Public Service

Competence without ethics is not enough.

A professional public service must be ethical, accountable, reliable and worthy of public trust. It must embody the Batho Pele principles not merely as a policy framework, but as a standard of conduct in every interaction with citizens. For this reason, we have intensified lifestyle audits and consequence management as part of our efforts to prevent corruption, protect public resources and rebuild confidence in government. In 2026, we achieved a 93% compliance rate in lifestyle audits. This is encouraging progress, but it is not the destination. We are working with key stakeholders, including COGTA and SALGA, to develop regulations that will extend lifestyle audits to the local government sphere.

Accountability must also mean that misconduct has consequences. We will therefore intensify the monitoring of disciplinary case backlogs across national and provincial departments, in line with the objectives of the Discipline Management Strategy. The aim is to strengthen discipline management through clear norms and standards while building the institutional capacity required to deal with misconduct effectively and without unnecessary delay.

The Central Register for disciplinary cases will be operational across all three spheres of government from the beginning of the next financial year. This will strengthen accountability by preventing dismissed employees from simply moving between government institutions to evade the consequences of misconduct.

The Public Service Commission Bill, which is now before the President for assent, represents another important step towards strengthening the Public Service Commission and reinforcing its impartiality and independence.

These measures send a clear message: public service is a position of responsibility, not entitlement. Where public resources and public trust are placed in our hands, accountability must follow.

Improving Service Delivery 

Ultimately, the success of government is not measured by the number of policies adopted or strategies developed. It is measured by the experience of the citizen. A capable state is one that turns policy into tangible improvements in people’s lives.

Innovations incubated through the Centre for Public Service Innovation are already demonstrating what is possible when government combines public-sector expertise with innovation and technology. The award-winning Broselow Emergency Reference Tape, for example, helps reduce paediatric emergency errors and save lives in healthcare facilities across the Western Cape, Gauteng and the City of Tshwane. The Smart Agriculture Box is supporting Correctional Services and rural communities, while shared e-recruitment and citizen portal systems are helping government improve the way it interacts with citizens.

Government has also approved the Roadmap on Digital Transformation of Government, establishing a focused framework for modernising public services through investment in digital public infrastructure.

At the Department of Public Service and Administration, we have further embraced this digital transformation through the launch of the Batho Pele AI Chatbot. The tool provides public servants with instant access to public service policy updates, circulars, legislation and other critical information.

The initiative is the brainchild of a public-private partnership between the DPSA, Meta and Juicetel. It demonstrates how responsible innovation and strategic partnerships can help government improve access to information, strengthen institutional knowledge and support more responsive public administration.

Technology, however, is not a substitute for public servants. It is an enabler. The ultimate responsibility for service delivery remains with the people entrusted with serving the public.

Restoring Confidence in Government 

The work of building a capable, ethical and development-oriented state is ultimately about one thing: restoring confidence in government. Citizens must be able to believe that when they approach a public institution, they will be treated with dignity; that when government commits, it will act on it; and that when public servants fail in their responsibilities, there will be consequences.

This is not the responsibility of one department, one minister or one sphere of government. It is a collective responsibility. Every public servant has a role to play — from the frontline official assisting a citizen, to the manager making decisions, to the senior executive providing strategic leadership. Public Service Month must therefore be more than an annual commemoration. It must be a moment of recommitment.

We must recommit ourselves to professionalism over complacency, integrity over personal interest, accountability over impunity, and service over self. 

A capable state is built by capable people. An ethical state is built by ethical people. And a developmental state is built by public servants who understand that their authority exists not for themselves, but to serve the people of South Africa.

The responsibility is ours. And the work must continue.