Cape Town - The Governance and Administration cluster has announced that 2 443 unemployed youths have been trained for public service employment opportunities.
The youths were trained by the Public Administration Leadership and Management Academy (PALAMA) in partnership with the National Youth Development Agency.
A further 18 660 new public servants participated in the Junior and Middle Management induction programme last year, while 17 575 were undergoing the same programme in the current financial year.
Home Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma said this on Monday as she led the cluster in addressing the media following President Jacob Zuma's State of the Nation Address on 9 February.
Commenting on training, Public Service and Administration Minister Roy Padayachie said government wanted to improve productivity in the public sector in order to realize the value of the salaries that were being paid out.
He said the department planned to recruit sufficient youth to serve the public. The department wanted to bolster the ethos and values in the sector through induction programmes.
Regarding corruption, he said they were determined to root the problem out of the system. He also said that contrary to public perception, only a minority of the servants were corrupt.
Dlamini Zuma added that induction was crucial to help graduates leaving university to familiarize themselves with the new environment. She said it helped them gain confidence when dealing with the public.
"We should not underestimate the value of induction," she said.
On another matter, Dlamini Zuma said the cluster had introduced a financial internship in all municipalities to address financial management gaps within the public service.
"We expect that most of the 1 300 graduates on the programme will be absorbed permanently into these municipalities upon conclusion of the training."
She highlighted that her department would ensure that its officials were trained in civic and immigration management and get South African Qualification Agency approved qualifications.
"The first group of officials participating in this programme began their practical and theoretical training in January," she said.
Highlighing government's fight against corruption, she said since the establishment of the National Anti-Corruption Hotline, 1 449 officials had been charged with misconduct for corrupt activities.
She said that of this total, 685 had been charged at provincial level and 814 at national level.
"Thorough investigation of alleged incidents of corruption has resulted in the recovery of R110 million from perpetrators by various departments," she said.
