Professionalising the South African public service: A case of the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development

Abstract

This study is intended to assess the feasibility and the extent of the professionalisation of the public service as a crucial aspect of modern governance and ultimately design a Framework through which the public service can be professionalized. The Department of Justice and Constitutional Development was used as a case study. This department was chosen mainly for its hybrid setup because it houses lawyers as traditional professionals and senior officials in administration. Professionalisation is aimed at enhancing the efficiency, effectiveness and accountability of public institutions. This study explored the concept of professionalisation in the public service and its significance and suggested the framework to achieve it. In recent years, the post-apartheid South African public service has been attempting, for the first time, to implement a framework to professionalise the public service. This study is significant because it provides well-researched data to boost the country's current attempts to professionalise the public service. Therefore, there is still a lot of room for an increase in the body of knowledge on this aspect. Key aspects of professionalization that came out of the study included a merit-based recruitment and promotion to ensure that public servants are hired and promoted based on their skills, qualifications and performance; continuous training and development to enhance public servants' skills, knowledge and expertise; code of conduct and ethics to guide the behavior of public servants; establishment of a regulatory body to ensure exclusivity of the profession. The benefits of professionalisation were explored based on the current professions, international organisations and countries and the views of the respondents of the study. The benefits related to improved service delivery, increased transparency and accountability, public participation and enhanced public trust. The study utilised a qualitative approach, assuming the epistemological posture, particularly interpretivism due to its nature of exploring human behaviours in the corporate world to what is or must be professionalisation. The main research question was whether the South African public service can be professionalised. The key finding was that the South African public service can be professionalised, based on literature review of other countries' attempts and positive responses from the study respondents.