PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION: NEW ACT JOINS STATUTE BOOKS, NOT YET IN FORCE

PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION: NEW ACT JOINS STATUTE BOOKS, NOT YET IN FORCE

• 15 September 2026
• New Legislation
• SA Legal Academy

Please note: On 16 December 2026, the Presidency issued a somewhat misleading media statement on the new Act tending to suggest that it is now in force. Yet, according to the Act’s concluding section, the commencement of this new piece of legislation will be phased in by way of separate proclamations in the Government Gazette.  

Parliamentary papers have confirmed that the Public Service Commission Bill’s ‘B’ version has been signed into law – since when it has been gazetted as an Act. Yet to come into force, the new piece of legislation provides for the phased commencement of sections separately focusing on public entities and municipalities.

Tabled in October 2023, the Bill was passed Parliament in May 2026 – as SA Legal Academy reported at the time. Once operationalised the Act is expected to enhance the Commission’s independence by:

• providing for:
  • ‘a clear public administration mandate’, and
  • a dedicated secretariat, and
• positioning the Commission as a ‘constitutional institution reporting to Parliament’.

It will also repeal the 1997 Act in its entirety, along with specific sections of related legislation.

• Act
• parliamentary papers

Published by SA Legal Academy Policy Watch

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