The DA has accused the ANC of deploying an “unqualified” party member as national commissioner at the Public Service Commission (PSC).
Mimmy Gondwe, DA’s spokesperson on public service and administration, said Errol Magerman was given the top job despite him being “unqualified”.
She said the deployment of Magerman is compromising the impartiality and independence of the PSC, adding that the ANC government’s commitment to professionalise the public service and to build a capable state continues to ring hollow.
On Tuesday, she said, the ANC used its numbers in the portfolio committee on public service and administration to adopt a report recommending the deployment of an “unqualified” party member.
“The DA is of the view that the recommended individual, Mr Errol Vincent Magerman, does not possess the relevant qualifications, skills and work experience to occupy this senior position within the PSC,” Gondwe said.
“In fact, he is far from being fit and proper, let alone qualified for the position and should not be appointed by the president.
“In his CV, Mr Magerman lists as his highest qualification an advanced certificate in governance and public leadership, and outside of this qualification he has no other relevant qualifications and no appropriate work experience at a senior management level, either in the public or private sector.
“The only work experience that Mr Magerman has is that of being an ANC cadre and working for the ANC in more than seven different capacities including as an elections coordinator, councillor and member of the Gauteng provincial legislature.”
She added that Magerman failed to impress the sub-committee that interviewed him for the senior post.
“It is the DA’s considered and firm view that ANC members sitting on this sub-committee purposefully and conveniently overlooked qualifying candidates with the relevant qualifications, skills and work experience in order to appoint Mr Magerman, whose CV exposes that he is an ANC cadre through and through.
“The time for state-owned entities and other state-run institutions being treated as a dumping ground for ANC cadres who cannot be accommodated at an executive or legislative level must and will come to an end.
“Cadre deployment has literally brought the country to its knees, including our public service administration, and the ruling party is to blame for the sorry state of affairs of our country’s public service.”
Asked for comment, ANC chief whip in parliament Pemmy Majodina said: “No comment. I don’t sit on that committee, let alone that the report you are referring to has not as yet been presented in the National Assembly.
“It will be premature for me to attempt responding to such allegations.”
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