Letter from the President lagazzettadelsudafrica.net - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from lagazzettadelsudafrica.net Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
CYRIL RAMAPHOSA: Moving towards a professional and capable public service
OPINION
When I was elected to the position of President of South Africa, I said that building an efficient, capable and ethical state free from corruption was among my foremost priorities.
Only a capable, efficient, ethical and development-oriented state can deliver on the commitment to improve the lives of the people of this country.
This means that the public service must be staffed by men and women who are professional, skilled, selfless and honest.
They must be committed to upholding the values of the Constitution, and must, as I said in my inaugural speech, “faithfully serve no other cause than that of the public”.
President Cyril Ramaphosa says that his government is working on an important policy document that aims to root out corruption amongst public service officials.
Ramaphosa to shake up Public Service appointments with new Framework polity.org.za - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from polity.org.za Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Unfortunately, there is a long and difficult road ahead. Much of this budget is treading water.
Debt-service costs are increasing as a percentage of the budget. Though this is increasing at a lower rate than previously predicted which will reassure the ratings agencies the size of the total debt is heading for an enormous R5.23 trillion by 2023/24.
Those debt costs are slowly edging out social spending. In 2019/20, debt-service costs (R205bn) were less than spending on health (R222bn) and social development (R285bn), but by 2023/24, debt-service costs (R339bn) will be higher than spending on both health (R245bn) and social development (R325bn).