YOUTH DAY: RAMAPHOSA COMMITS TO REMOVING RED TAP FOR PUBLIC SECTOR JOBS

Ramaphosa made the commitment during his Youth Day address on Thursday at the Mthatha stadium in Eastern Cape.

FILE: Ramaphosa vowed to bolster efforts to recover the economy, as well as to ensure job creation amid dismal unemployment stats. Picture: @PresidencyZA/Twitter.

Nokukhanya Mntambo 

JOHANNESBURG - President Cyril Ramaphosa said government was intensifying its drive to remove red tape for job applications in the public sector.

Ramaphosa made the commitment during his Youth Day address on Thursday, at the Mthatha stadium in the Eastern Cape.

The president's visit to the province marks 46 years since the 1976 student uprising.

This year’s commemoration is being celebrated under the theme “promoting sustainable livelihood and resilience of young people for a better tomorrow”.

Ramaphosa vowed to bolster efforts to recover the economy, as well as to ensure job creation amid dismal unemployment statistics.

This includes cutting the costs of applying for jobs in the public sector.

“For example, applicants for public service positions are no longer required to submit certified copies of their educational certifications and other relevant documents. In the past you had to compile a pile of all these documents and that has now been done away with.

"This simple change will significantly reduce the cost of applying, it will improve the turnaround times and also reduce the administrative burden on government departments," said the first citizen.

The president also challenged the youth to reform the public sector.

The country’s public sector is feared to be in a state of shambles, with reports of poor service delivery, fraud and corruption at a number of state institutions.

Ramaphosa believes it’s not too late to turn the public sector around, calling on the youth to take the baton.

“We want our young people to be in the public service. By bringing them in, we want them to be part of the modernisation of the public service, to contribute to the innovative applications that we want to bring to the public service and also to increase the capacity of the state,” he explained.

Ramaphosa’s comments also came on the eve of the release of the fifth and final instalment of the state capture report.

Previous volumes of the report detailed the extent of the rot in some government organisations.