Public Procurement Act
The act is the government’s response to the Zondo Commission’s recommendations on procurement and other related issues. The commission highlighted the need for greater transparency in procurement processes, revealing how opaque procedures and lack of accountability enabled corruption. President Cyril Ramaphosa enacted the bill into law (Public Procurement Act No. 28 of 2024) in July…
read more >>Combination of departments
We stopped tracking this reform at end-June due to lack of progress and no indication that it is being pursued, with more government departments than pre-GNU. During the previous administration some government departments were merged but since the GNU there has been an increase in the number of departments. During his first term (2019-2023), some…
read more >>Reduction in size of cabinet (ministers)
HALTED: We stopped tracking this reform at end-June due to lack of progress and no indication that it is being pursued, with a bigger Cabinet than pre-GNU. During the previous administration some government departments were merged but since the GNE there has been an increase in the number of departments. During his first term (2019-2023),…
read more >>Reduced number of deputy ministers
We stopped tracking this reform at end-June due to lack of progress and no indication that it is being pursued, with a bigger Cabinet than pre-GNU. After merging some departments in the previous administration, more departments were formed in the GNU. In the 2019 State of the Nation Address (Sona) during the previous administration, the…
read more >>Ministerial performance contracts
President Cyril Ramaphosa signed performance agreements with members of the national executive for the period 2019 to 2024.
read more >>Contracts publicly available
The performance agreements for ministers who served in the sixth administration are publicly available. Those of the seventh administration are yet to be published. HALTED: We are no longer tracking this specific deliverable as we have merged it into other related reforms, “contracts written” and “contracts publicly available”.
read more >>Performance reviews undertaken
Performance reviews are undertaken on a continual basis, however, the exercise is not publicised.
read more >>Performance reviews published
The presidency says that the president is not obliged to disclose the performance assessments. HALTED: We stopped tracking this reform at end-June 2025 as the Presidency has repeatedly said it will not publish the results of performance assessments.
read more >>Establish director-general in the Presidency as Head of Public Administration.
A new position of DG in the Presidency is yet to be created. The Public Service Amendment Bill indicates that directors-general of departments will report on operational, organisational and administrative matters.
read more >>Public Service Amendment Act
The bill promises to promote integrity and professionalism in the public sector. The bill is under consideration by the National Council of Provinces (NCOP). Key provisions of the bill include: • Devolution of administrative powers: Devolution of administrative powers from executive authorities (eg, ministers) to heads of departments (HoDs), empowering HoDs to perform administrative acts…
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