NSI launches second Government in Numbers report on talent management in South Africa’s public service

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The New South Institute (NSI) has launched the second paper in its Government in Numbers series, titled “Talent Management in the South African Public Service: Evidence from Provincial Departments of Health”. The paper, authored by Prof. Albert Wöcke, builds on the findings of the first report in the series, ‘Retiring the 1994 Generation of Public Servants’. This series is produced with the support of the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS).

The report draws on anonymised data from PERSAL, the Personnel and Salary System used by the South African Government to manage human resources data for public sector employees. This allows the paper to examine long-term workforce trends in the public service with unusual precision. The first paper showed that South Africa’s public service is facing a significant demographic transition, as the generation of officials who entered government after 1994 approaches retirement.

This second paper takes the analysis further by focusing on talent management in the public health service, with particular attention to provincial departments of health in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape.

The report examines whether the public service is prepared to attract, develop and retain the skills it will need in the coming years. It highlights the growing risks created by ageing workforces, declining numbers of professional nurses, weak succession planning and the difficulty of replacing critical staff. Drawing on PERSAL data, the paper shows that professional nurse appointments have not kept pace with resignations, while administrative and clerical roles have grown much faster than core health positions.

The paper argues that the public service cannot rely on reactive recruitment alone to address future skills shortages. In health, where training pipelines are long and specialised skills are essential, workforce planning must be more deliberate. The report points to the need for regular skills audits, stronger talent pipelines, better use of HR data, and a more decentralised approach to workforce planning that reflects local needs and conditions.

Rather than treating talent management as a private-sector concept that cannot apply to the public service, the paper asks how it could be adapted to the values and constraints of democratic administration. It makes the case for a public service that gives all employees access to development opportunities, while also identifying and preparing those with the potential to fill future critical roles.

The full report is now available for download. We invite policymakers, practitioners, researchers and members of the public to read and engage with its findings. As South Africa prepares for a new generation of public servants, building the skills and leadership pipeline of the public service will be essential to strengthening the capacity of the state.

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