Alignment of the South African Public Service Human Resource Development (HRD) Strategic Framework Vision 2015 in Providing Internship Opportunities for University Graduates

Abstract:

South  Africa  has  been  identified  by  the  World  Bank  as  one  of  Africa’s  ten slowest-growing  economies  in  2012.  This  pronouncement  exacerbates  the  prevalence of  unemployment  amongst  black  youth,  the  countries  qualified  university  graduates, which  manifest  itself  in  the  socioeconomic  environment  in  which  up  to  10  million people  do  not  receive  wages,  or  any  form  of  remittance  or  social  grants.  The Public Service is regarded as a professional field with its own unique practice and on the job training in this unique sector.  However, there is an idiosyncratic  space, which  does not necessarily  find  resonance  in  the  link  between  university  graduates,  the massification internship  programme,  and  the  developmental  HRD Strategic Framework Vision 2015. The DPSA acknowledges the many inherent challenges and the efficacy of the internship programme.  This  paper  interrogates  the  link  between  the  HRD  Strategic  Framework  Vision  2015  and  the  gaps  in  the  internship  programme  in  a  developmental  Public  Service  and posits  the  question whether the public service is meaningfully  aligning  its  internship  programme,  training  and  absorption  of  university  graduates  in  terms  of meeting  the  HRD  strategy;  or  is  the  Public  Service  a  complete  outlier  in  terms  of  relevance.