ANC to continue inviting public servants to study groups despite PSC warning, says Ntuli

The ANC will continue inviting directors-general, heads of state institutions and other public officials to brief its parliamentary caucus and study groups despite a warning from the Public Service Commission (PSC) that such engagements risk undermining the impartiality of the public service.

ANC chief whip Mdumiseni Ntuli defended the long-standing practice in an interview with the Sunday Times on Monday, rejecting the PSC’s contention that there is no constitutional or legislative basis for public servants to participate in political party study groups outside formal government and parliamentary structures.

The dispute follows an advisory note issued by the PSC on Friday, cautioning public servants against participating in political party study groups and other informal political engagements linked to parliamentary processes.

The commission said such participation could erode administrative impartiality, create perceptions of political bias, weaken parliamentary oversight and expose officials to improper political influence.

While acknowledging the constitutional right of political parties to organise caucuses and study groups, the PSC said no law authorises public servants to participate in such forums outside formal parliamentary or executive processes.

The commission warned that the practice could create unequal access to state information and blur the line between party political activity and public administration.

The warning was welcomed by UDM leader Bantu Holomisa, whose party had previously lodged complaints with both the PSC and the Speaker of the National Assembly over the involvement of public servants in ANC study groups.

In a statement issued after the PSC advisory note was released, Holomisa said the commission had confirmed concerns his party had been raising for years about the blurring of lines between the governing party and the state.

“The PSC’s findings affirm what the UDM has consistently maintained: that no constitutional or legislative provision authorises public servants to participate in political party study groups outside lawful governmental or parliamentary structures,” Holomisa said.

For some time, senior members of the ANC and several Cabinet ministers sought to dismiss these concerns, insisting that such study groups either did not exist or that they were benign administrative engagements.

—  UDM leader Bantu Holomisa

He accused senior ANC leaders and cabinet ministers of previously dismissing concerns over the existence and role of study groups despite evidence contained in ministerial diaries, parliamentary schedules and departmental records.

“For some time, senior members of the ANC and several Cabinet ministers sought to dismiss these concerns, insisting that such study groups either did not exist or that they were benign administrative engagements,” Holomisa said.

“However, publicly available information demonstrates that these study groups not only exist but have become a regular feature of the interface between the executive and the ANC’s parliamentary caucus.”

Holomisa said the PSC had now confirmed that the participation of public servants in such forums raised “serious governance and ethical concerns”, including the erosion of administrative impartiality, unequal access to state information, the weakening of parliamentary oversight and the risk of improper political influence over public administration.

Ntuli, however, said the PSC’s interpretation was based on a misunderstanding of how Parliament operates.

“The argument that study groups are not parliamentary structures is ill-informed,” he said.

“Caucuses are parliamentary structures and study groups are sub-structures of caucuses. The composition is the same. The difference is the size.”

Ntuli said study groups existed to help MPs understand complex and technical policy matters before engaging in committee work and legislative processes.

He argued that ANC MPs should be allowed to invite public officials to explain specialised subjects ranging from energy policy to local government reform.

“If the study group on energy needs to properly understand a technical issue, there is nothing wrong with inviting the director-general to come and explain it,” Ntuli said.

“The purpose is not to influence decision-making but to empower public representatives with information.”

He dismissed suggestions that the ANC was seeking preferential access to state officials.

“The ANC may send an invitation. If the DG says they are not available, it ends there,” he said.

“There are instances where DGs refuse to come and address a parliamentary group and we have no problem with that.”

He also insisted that other political parties were free to request similar engagements with public officials.

The controversy comes amid heightened scrutiny of ANC study groups following the leak of an audio recording from a social development study group published by the Sunday Times, where members appeared to be strategising ahead of a parliamentary committee meeting involving then minister Sisisi Tolashe.

Opposition parties cited the incident as evidence that study groups were being used to shield ministers from parliamentary accountability.

Ntuli acknowledged that the social development meeting had crossed a line, but argued it was an isolated case rather than evidence of a systemic problem.

“That meeting degenerated into a direction it should not have gone through,” he said.

“These are not meetings that are supposed to be used in defence of individuals or to undermine the work of portfolio committees.”

He described study groups as “empowerment meetings” akin to workshops where MPs receive technical briefings before participating in committee proceedings.

“The DG doesn’t have to stay in the full meeting of the study group,” Ntuli said.

“When we invite the AG, they make a presentation, we ask questions of clarity, and then they leave. The caucus remains and discusses what it has learnt and how it should take the matter forward.”

The PSC has recommended that Parliament develop a framework regulating the participation of public servants in political party study groups and similar structures.

Such a framework, it said, should establish clear boundaries between political and administrative functions while safeguarding transparency, accountability and equal access to information.

Ntuli stopped short of endorsing the proposal, saying it would depend on the contents of any framework eventually adopted.

“I don’t know what the framework will entail,” he said.

“Maybe it’s going to say all parties are allowed to invite public servants and then they can decide whether they honour the invitation or not.”

However, he made it clear that the ANC would not halt the practice in the meantime.

“The ANC will continue inviting public servants to speak to the caucuses of the ANC,” he said.

“If they refuse to come, so be it. But we will not stop.”

Ntuli said he intended to invite auditor-general Tsakani Maluleke, statistician-general Risenga Maluleke and public protector Kholeka Gcaleka to address ANC caucus meetings about challenges facing their respective institutions and areas of responsibility.

“If the ANC is interested in what the auditor-general is doing, it will invite the AG,” he said.

“The AG might decide not to come because of what the PSC has said, and that will be their decision. But we will continue making the request.”