Public Services & Government

The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) is a leading scientific and technology research organisation that researches and develops transformative technologies to accelerate socioeconomic prosperity in South Africa. The organisation's work contributes to industrial development and supports a capable state. The CSIR is an entity of the Department of Science and Innovation. The organisation plays a key role in supporting the public and private sectors through directed research that is aligned with the country's priorities, the organisation's mandate and its science, engineering and technology competences. The nine high-impact sectors identified by the CSIR to achieve its aims are the following industry advancement clusters: Advanced Agriculture and Food; Next Generation Health; Future Production: Chemicals; Future Production: Mining; Future Production: Manufacturing; Defence and Security Industry and society enabling clusters; Smart Places; Smart Mobility; and Next Generation Enterprises and Institutions. Our core values are the driving force behind our ability to conduct cutting-edge research and technological innovation to improve the quality of life of South Africans. These values make for an EPIC team - one that pursues Excellence, celebrates People, personifies Integrity, and welcomes Collaboration.

The mission of the Council for the Built Environment (CBE) is to lead, regulate, advise and coordinate professions and their councils to meet the National Built Environment and Transformation Future of the industry. The CBE's mandate is to: promote and protect the interest of the public in the built environment; promote and maintain a sustainable built environment and natural environment; promote ongoing human resources development in the built environment; facilitate participation by the built environment professions in integrated development in the context of national goals; promote appropriate standards of health, safety and environmental protection within the built environment; promote sound governance of the built environment professions; promote liaison in the field of training in South Africa and elsewhere and to promote the standards of such training in the country; serve as a forum where the built environment professions may discuss the relevant issues (required qualifications; standards of education; training and competence; promotion of professional status; and legislation impacting on the built environment); and ensure uniform application of norms and guidelines set by the councils for the professions throughout the built environment.

The vision of the Council on Higher Education (CHE) is to be a dynamic organisation contributing to a transformed, equitable and quality higher education and training system in South Africa. Its mission as the independent statutory quality council for South African higher education, is to: lead and manage quality assurance; research and monitor trends and development; initiate critical discourse on contemporary higher education issues; and provide advice to the Minister on strategy and policy. The main areas of work of the CHE are to: provide advice to the Minister of Higher Education and Training on all higher education matters on request, and proactively; promote a system of quality assurance for all higher education institutions, including private providers of higher education, which focuses on programme accreditation, institutional audits, national reviews, standards development, quality promotion and capacity development; monitor the state of higher education and publish information regarding developments in higher education on a regular basis; and contribute to the development of higher education through intellectual engagement with key issues in a number of activities in partnership with relevant stakeholders.

The mission of the Cross-Border Road Transport Agency is to drive an integrated African continent through excellence in cross-border road transport economic regulation, law enforcement, advisory and facilitation of unimpeded flow of goods and people. The Agency was established to provide advice, regulation, facilitation and law enforcement in respect of cross-border road transport, so as to: improve the unimpeded flow of freight and passengers in the region; introduce regulated competition in respect of cross-border road transport; reduce operational constraints for the cross-border transport industry as a whole; enhance and strengthen the capacity of the public sector in support of its strategic planning, enabling and monitoring functions; and empower the cross-border road transport industry to maximise business opportunities and to regulate themselves incrementally to improve safety, security, reliability, quality and efficiency of services.

The vision of Denel SOC Ltd is to be a strategic partner for innovative defence, security and related technology solutions. Denel's purpose is to: supply the South African defence and security environment with strategic technology capability, products, services and support; leverage indigenous capability to access selected export markets; contribute to the socio-economic imperatives of government, such as job creation, skills development and social investment, enhancing the local technology and manufacturing base, supplier development, exploiting commercial use of technology, and foreign policy and regional security objectives; and be a responsible corporate citizen to ensure good governance and sustainability, and transformation and employee well-being.

The mission of the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) is to advance the development impact in the region by expanding access to development finance, and effectively integrating and implementing sustainable development solutions. The DBSA's purpose is to accelerate sustainable socio-economic development, and improve the quality of life of the people of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and, more recently, the whole of the African continent, by driving financial and non-financial investments in the social and economic infrastructure sectors: social infrastructure - infrastructure aimed at addressing backlogs and expediting the delivery of essential social services to support sustainable living conditions and a better quality of life within communities; and economic infrastructure - infrastructure aimed at addressing capacity constraints and bottlenecks in order to optimise economic growth potential and support regional integration. The DBSA has prioritised water, energy, transport and ICT as its key focus areas.

The vision of the Driving Licence Card Account (DLCA) is to be the trusted leader in the provision of authentic, secure and quality driving licence cards. The Entity's mission is to: prioritise service delivery towards the satisfaction of all its clients; continuously evolve its delivery in line with technology and innovation; foster collaborative relationships with all relevant regulatory stakeholders; and inspire and empower human capital to nurture excellence.

The vision of the Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC) is to improve the quality of teaching and learning through labour peace. The ELRC is a bargaining council that serves the public education sector nationally and provincially. The primary business of the ELRC is to promote the maintenance of labour peace in the public education sector, through the provision of dispute resolution and prevention services. The secondary business of the ELRC is to promote the maintenance of labour peace in the public education sector through the facilitation of negotiations between trade unions and the state as the employer. The Council's strategic outcome-orientated goals are to: provide an evidence base for improved policies and policy implementation in basic education through research and monitoring, and evaluation activities; attach equal importance to proactive dispute prevention and dispute resolution; maximise the scope of parties' shared interest through collective bargaining processes; provide appropriate support and training for all involved in dispute resolution and collective bargaining; and support and complement the core activities of the Council through sound communication strategies, special initiatives and campaigns.

The Engineering Council of South Africa (ECSA) is a statutory body established in terms of the Engineering Profession Act (EPA), 46 of 2000. The ECSA's primary role is the regulation of the engineering profession in terms of this Act. Its core functions are: the accreditation of engineering programmes; registration of persons as professionals in specified categories; and the regulation of the practice of registered persons. ECSA is the only body in South Africa that is authorised to register engineering professionals and bestow the use of engineering titles such as Pr Eng, Pr Tech Eng, Pr Techni Eng, Pr Cert Eng, on persons who have met the requisite professional registration criteria. Its vision is to ensure engineering excellence and to transform the nation and fulfils this vision though: determining standards for education and accreditation of educational programmes; registration of engineering practitioners; developing and sustaining a relevant, transformed, competent and internationally recognised engineering profession; educating the public on expected engineering quality standards; protecting the interest of the public against sub-standard quality of engineering work; regulatory efforts to ensure environmental protection; and engaging with government to support national priorities.

Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd is South Africa's primary electricity supplier, generating approximately 90% of the electricity used in South Africa. Eskom's strategic role remains to enable economic growth by providing a reliable and predictable electricity supply in an efficient and sustainable manner. It also contributes to job creation, skills development, transformation and broad-based black economic empowerment, in support of the National Development Plan (NDP) and other country initiatives.

ECIC is a PFMA schedule 3B entity and is subject to the supervision and regulation by the Prudential Authority and Financial Services Conduct Authority in terms of the Insurance Act, 2017. The mission of the Export Credit Insurance Corporation of South Africa SOC Ltd (ECIC) is to provide insurance solutions in support of South African goods and services by applying best practice underwriting and risk management principles. To support this mandate, the ECIC evaluates export credit and foreign investment risks and provides export credit and foreign investment insurance cover on behalf of the government; and underwrites loans, including equity investments for the export of goods and services from South Africa. The ECIC extends its services as far as it can, consistent with preserving the financial viability essential to its long-term support of goods and services; and provides sound and efficient financial services that contribute to public confidence and comply with international standards. Since its inception the mandate of ECIC has been the facilitation of export trade and cross-border investments. Historically, ECIC has been supporting capital goods exports and services. In 2021, the ECIC mandate was expanded beyond capital goods exports. The authorisation to support non-capital goods exports lays the basis for ECIC to insure consumer goods and short-term export transactions with a tenor of less than two years. On 15 May 2024, the ECIC mandate was extended to cover Euro-denominated transactions. This presents new opportunities in new markets addressing the request from both exporters and SA banks.

The mission of the Film and Publication Board (FPB) is to ensure efficient and effective consumer protection through regulation of films, games and certain publications, while empowering the public, especially children, through robust information sharing. The Board regulates the media environment through the classification of content by: maintaining relevance to the values and norms of South African society through scientific research; balancing the right to freedom of expression with an obligation to protect children from exposure to potentially disturbing, harmful and inappropriate materials; and protecting children from sexual exploitation in media content, in order to educate the broader South African society to make informed choices.

The Financial Intelligence Centre (FIC) is South Africa's national centre for the gathering, analysis and dissemination of financial intelligence. The FIC was established to identify proceeds of crime, combat money laundering, and the financing of terrorism and, in so doing, has a primary role to protect the integrity of South Africa's financial system. The Entity was established by the FIC Act 38 of 2001 and reports to the Minister of Finance and to Parliament. The FIC's mandate is to: identify the proceeds of crime, combat money laundering, and terror financing; supervise and enforce compliance with the FIC Act; share information with law enforcement authorities, supervisory bodies, intelligence services, the South African Revenue Service, and other local and international agencies; facilitate effective supervision and enforcement by supervisory bodies; formulate and lead the implementation of policy regarding money laundering and the financing of terrorism; provide policy advice to the Minister of Finance; and uphold the international obligations and commitments required by the country in respect of anti-money laundering and combating financing of terrorism (AML/CFT). The FIC Act introduces a regulatory framework of measures that requires certain categories of business to take steps regarding client identification, record-keeping, reporting of information and internal compliance structures. All businesses have to report various suspicious transactions to the FIC. It also receives additional financial data from accountable and reporting institutions. The Entity uses this financial data and available data to develop financial intelligence. It is able to make this intelligence available to law enforcement, police, and tax authorities for follow-up investigations. On 1 December 2010, amendments to the FIC were promulgated, which required that all accountable and reporting institutions register with the FIC. Furthermore, the Act gave the Entity and supervisory bodies the authority to inspect and impose administrative penalties on non-compliant businesses. The Act also introduced an appeals process and an appeal board. South Africa is a member of the Financial Action Task Force, the international body which sets standards and policy on anti-money laundering and for combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT). The FIC currently leads the South African delegation of various government departments to the Eastern and Southern Africa Anti-Money Laundering Group, which aims to support countries to implement the global AML/CFT standards. The FIC is a member and current chair of the Egmont Group, which is made up of financial intelligence units from 147 countries around the world. The primary aim of the organisation is to facilitate cooperation and sharing of financial intelligence information among its members.

The Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) was established by the Financial Sector Regulation Act 9 of 2017 (the FSR Act) to become a dedicated market conduct authority replacing the Financial Services Board (FSB), on 1 April 2018. The FSCA's mandate is to: enhance the efficiency and integrity of financial markets; promote fair customer treatment by financial institutions; provide financial education and promote financial literacy; and assist in maintaining financial stability. The FSR Act extends the jurisdiction of the FSCA to include oversight of financial products and services not overseen by the FSB banking; services related to credit; and the buying and selling of foreign exchange. It also dictates a shift in approach from the FSB's traditional compliance driven model to one that is proactive, pre-emptive, risk-based and outcomes focused. Crucially, the FSR Act includes financial inclusion and transformation of the financial sector in its overall objectives. The FSCA's six priority strategic focus areas for the next three years are: building a new organisation; an inclusive and transformed financial sector; a robust regulatory framework that promotes fair customer treatment; informed financial customers; strengthening the efficiency and integrity of our financial markets; and understanding new ways of doing business and disruptive technologies.

The beginning of the Government Employees Medical Scheme (GEMS) was a historic moment when, in 2002, the Cabinet approved a framework policy on a restricted (closed) medical scheme for further development by an interdepartmental working group (Departments of Public Service and Administration, National Treasury, Health, Education, Correctional Services and SAPS). The approved framework policy centred on the principles of equity, efficiency and differentiation: equity, where employees have equal access to the most extensive set of equal basic benefits under equitable remuneration structures, subject to affordability; efficiency, regarding the costs and delivery of benefits; differentiation, where employees choosing more extensive cover have equal access to higher benefits subject to their needs; and government's commitment to an equitable and affordable medical scheme. The Cabinet gave the development and implementation of GEMS intense consideration, relying on substantial research and data analyses. The implementation of GEMS is a positive step that positions government as an employer of choice that truly cares for the health and wellbeing of its employees. GEMS was registered on 1 January 2005 specifically to meet the healthcare needs of government employees. It offers six excellent healthcare benefit options, namely Tanzanite One, Beryl, Ruby, Emerald Value, Emerald and Onyx. Its goal is to help public service employees and their families to get the best possible healthcare at the most affordable rate.