Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1993/1995-09-20/Chapter 13

212. (1) There shall be a public service for the Republic, structured in terms of a law to provide effective public administration.

(2) Such public service shall—

be non-partisan, career-orientated and function according to fair and equitable principles; promote an efficient public administration broadly representative of the South African community; serve all members of the public in an unbiased and impartial manner; be regulated by laws dealing specifically with such service, and in particular with its structure, functioning and terms and conditions of service; loyally execute the policies of the government of the day in the performance of its administrative functions; and be organised in departments and other organisational components, and the head of such department or organisational component shall be responsible for the efficient management and administration of his or her department or organisational component.

(3) Employment in the public service shall be accessible to all South African citizens who comply with the requirements determined or prescribed by or under any law for employment in such service.

(4) In the making of any appointment or the filling of any post in the public service, the qualifications, level of training, merit, efficiency and suitability of the persons who qualify for the appointment, promotion or transfer concerned, and such conditions as may be determined or prescribed by or under any law, shall be taken into account.

(5) Subsection (4) shall not preclude measures to promote the objectives set out in subsection (2).

(6) Provision shall be made by law for a pension for a member of the public service by means of a pension fund or funds established by law, and members of the public service who are required by law to be members of a pension fund shall be entitled to fair representation on the body which manages the applicable fund.

(7) (a) In the event of changes to the law governing pension funds which prejudice a member of a fund, the real value of the accrued benefits of such member of a fund, and his or her beneficiary, as represented by the fund’s actuarial liability towards the member or his or her beneficiary, shall be maintained.

(b) The retirement age applicable to a public servant by law as at 1 October 1993, shall not be changed without his or her consent.

(8) For the purposes of this section the public service shall include the permanent force of the South African National Defence Force referred to in section 266(1).