DOCUMENTS TO NOW BE CERTIFIED FOR UP TO 6 MONTHS

After receiving numerous complaints from people who have been denied employment opportunities in the public service sector, due to certified documents that fell out of the three-month period, President Cyril Ramaphosa issued a notice for an across-the-board and immediate stop to the practice.

Effective immediately, all national departments, provincial departments and government entities are to stop the practice of requiring certified copies of documents not older than 3 months to accompany applications for employment.

Departments are advised to at least accept certified copies of documents submitted with an application for employment that are up to 6 months old.

This, the government hopes, will allow more candidates an opportunity to gain employment in the public service sector and ease the frustrations of prospective employees who seek work opportunities.

The directive will also take pressure out of the South African Police Service (SAPS) staff to focus more on fighting crime and less on the certification of documents.

A job seeker in KAE, Nokulunga Radebe from Allandale View welcomed the news. “This announcement will help us as job seekers. This year alone I visited the Ivory Park Police Station 4 times because my certification had expired. The 6 month period is much better because it will mean I only have to certify my documents twice in a year. Can the government also consider scraping Z83 forms. These are unnecessary. Let us apply for vacancies online. Making copies of your documents and Z83 is not cheap when you are unemployed.”