Ministers and deputy ministers will be required to adhere to the ministerial handbook regarding the appointment of support staff in their offices. This limits the number of staff to 10 for ministers and six for deputy ministers. This forms part of the government’s belt-tightening exercise to contain its wage bill. Public Service and Administration Minister Ayanda Dlodlo is spearheading a process to mitigate the effect of the rising public sector wage bill in the context of a constrained fiscus. The government has projected a wage bill of R587bn for the current financial year, up from R437bn in 2014-15. The minister outlined details of the initiative on Wednesday ahead of her budget vote speech in Parliament later in the day. She said the project would ensure that personnel expenditure remained within the budget ceiling of the medium-term expenditure framework. Dlodlo and her team are engaged in critical wage negotiations with public sector trade unions. Asked whether the number of p...

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