Corruption has penetrated the core of public service: Fikeni

The scorecard of the state of the public service in South Africa has worsened after the first decade of democracy.

This is the view by the chairperson of the Public Service Commission (PSC) Professor Somadoda Fikeni.

The PSC chairperson was responding to media questions during the second day of the SADC Public Service Commissions meeting being held in Cape Town.

Fikeni cited previous positive highlights on the work of government in providing service delivery in the early years of the democratic dispensation. However, he says wrongdoings such as State Capture and corruption are just some of the reasons for the deteriorating state of the public service.

“We seem to have taken a detour, where you see the appointment of people in public services in terms of loyalty in terms of services, where you see some weaknesses which led to corruption being so rampant. Hence we have investigations such as your State Capture, such as Nugent Commission and others like the PPE scandals where corruption had penetrated into the very core of the public service.”

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