The Public Service Commission (PSC) should be positioned in such a way that it conforms to the provisions of the Constitution, is independent, and acts impartially in advising the government on human resources and public administration.

These remarks were made by Commissioner Salmaan Jacobs, Chairperson of the Public Service Commission.

"First of all, what we did when we came in was look at the current structure the way it is, because we were saying that the commission is there to advise, to recommend, and to make sure that it acts independently and impartially. The way it is currently placed—it is placed under an institution to which the commission is supposed to have oversight. So, that in itself makes us feel that—that is something that can be corrected."

In 2023, the late President Hage Geingob raised the issue of the country's civil service, which he said was too big and not sustainable. 

It currently stands at 107,000 workers, inclusive of the security cluster.

"We are having this perception that the public service has a bloated civil service and that the wage bill is too high. That has to be determined against the type of service delivery we are providing. We are saying that in many cases, when you go to the ministries, you may see that the type of service is affected because of a lack of human resources. So, because of that, we are saying maybe a different mechanism should be worked out where the public service must be studied. So, through the public service management department, they are busy studying the whole process of what is government, how are the positions, and are some of the positions overlapped?"

The civil service wage bill for the current financial year stands at N$35.4 billion.

According to the PSC's annual report for 2021/2022, the commission recorded 91 cases of misconduct, 76 of which were processed, while 15 cases were carried over to the following financial year. 

In the same financial year, the commission noted trends of theft within public offices, including embezzlement of funds, misuse of state property, fraud, gross negligence, as well as repeated unauthorised and non-communicated absenteeism. 

For the full interview with Jacobs, watch 1ON1 on Tuesday at 21:15 on nbc1.