South Africa’s public sector wage bill is among the highest in the world.
The government says the voluntary early retirement programme will save an estimated R2 billion per year. Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana, explaining the rationale behind the latest process, says, “We are also implementing initiatives like early retirement. Not merely to reduce the size of the workforce but also introduce younger talent to the public service.”Fedusa says it is an insult to the government’s own commitment to building a capable state.“This move will also add insult to injury as a large-scale brain drain will be inevitable and vital expertise lost to the system.
The Congress of the South African Trade Union has also expressed concerns and fears about this.It says the country’s population has almost doubled since 1994, but the public sector headcount has increased by only 20 percent. The federation says the government needs to consider this more carefully, as critical skills might be lost and later on be recruited back.“We are taking a shortcut route. We fear it is simply going to end in tears and is not going to address the fundamental issues of growing the economy, of fixing the state, reducing poverty and unemployment.
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