For as long as the government's most senior officials aren't qualified for their positions, South Africans should not expect better services from the state.

That's the warning from the Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) after Public Service and Administration Minister Noxolo Kiviet told Parliament that the number of unqualified senior government officials remained stubbornly high.

In response to a written parliamentary question from the DA's Mimmy Gondwe, Kiviet said there were 1 801 officials not qualified.

As of 1 March 2023, there were 1 874 senior managers in the public service without the necessary qualifications for their positions.

By September last year, it was 1 801.

The directive was issued in 2016 - and the majority of the officials not meeting minimum entry requirements were in their positions before the directive was issued.

"As South African law does not allow for retrospective application, unless specifically ordered by a court of law, the officials are being encouraged to improve their qualifications - either through academic study or Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL)," Kiviet said.

"Most of the public servants have since secured improved qualifications, however these are yet to be captured on Persal by their departments. The DPSA is working with relevant departments to ensure that improved qualifications are correctly updated and captured on Persal," she said.

Cosatu's spokesperson, Matthew Parks, said there was a growing tendency of unqualified civil servants.

"This is why we are sitting with the problems we are facing. It impacts capacity and service delivery everywhere - from the national government to local municipalities. Senior managers who don't have qualifications or experience open up everything to corruption, and very often, there are no consequences,"  he said.

Parks said they had encountered serious challenges in municipalities and national departments.

"Sometimes, we see that this lack of qualifications is ruining the public service. There are also politicians who do not have qualifications. It's a huge crisis. We are going to be characterised by crisis," he said.

Last year, News4 reported that the University of Fort Hare submitted an affidavit to the Special Investigating Unit (SIU), alleging that Kiviet had registered and obtained her Honours and Master's in Public Administration without a junior degree.

The affidavit, signed by a senior official of the university, was submitted as part of evidence to the SIU, which is investigating the alleged degree-conferring scam at the university.

In a document to the SIU, the university claimed that, when Kiviet registered for Honours, she was only in possession of a matric certificate and had a non-credit-bearing short-course certificate, with handwritten results.

Kiviet served as the premier of the Eastern Cape from 2009 to 2014. She also served as the Speaker of the Eastern Cape legislature.

She is one of only two women to have served as premier of the province.

Her public profile states that she earned a Bachelor of Administration (B. Admin) and B. Admin Honours degrees from the University of Fort Hare. It also states that she was a notable graduate of the university in 2010, with a Master's in Public Administration.

In 2021, News24 reported that 26% of public servants employed in senior management did not have the proper qualifications for their positions.

The figure had dropped from 35% in April that year.