On Sunday, 18 May 2025, Yoliswa Makhasi, head of the Public Service Reform programme at the New South Institute (NSI), participated in a televised discussion with eNCA, one of South Africa’s leading news broadcasters. The interview focused on the looming skills vacuum in the public sector, a concern closely examined in NSI’s latest report, Government in Numbers – Issue #01: Retiring the 1994 Generation of Public Servants.

This appearance forms part of the ongoing public engagement around the report, which was officially launched on 21 May 2025 at the Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS) in Johannesburg. Co-authored by Ivor Chipkin and Yoliswa Makhasi, the publication presents a data-rich analysis of demographic shifts in South Africa’s public administration, particularly the implications of a retiring cohort of officials who joined the service post-1994.

The interview provides a concise overview of the challenges the public sector now faces, including succession planning and skills distribution across key sectors such as education, health and policing.

We invite all those interested in governance, policy and institutional reform to watch the full interview and engage with the insights offered. The conversation is available on eNCA’s website:

▶️ Watch the interview on eNCA

The full report can be downloaded here.