The Minister of State for Public Sector Reforms, Lydia Lamisi Akanvariba, has shared plans to overhaul the retirement age system in the public sector in a bid to combat age fraud.

Her proposal focuses on implementing a system where every child is assigned a unique identification number at birth, which would be used throughout their lifetime to track their education, public sector employment, and retirement.

In an exclusive interview with Citi News, following her meeting with Pinky Sharon Kekana, South Africa’s Deputy Minister for Public Service and Administration, Akanvariba explained that the Public Sector Reforms Secretariat would work alongside other agencies to establish a comprehensive policy aimed at preventing retirement age fraud through an identification-at-birth system.

“If there’s a way that, from birth, you can be given a certain number, we use to track you from birth, up to the time you will be entering the services. Up to the time you will be going on retirement, it is easy for policy formulation and easy for planning. You don’t even need a census,” she said.

The Minister also revealed her intention to collaborate with other ministries, including the Ministries of Gender, Health, and Local Government, to draft a policy proposal that will make the system efficient and feasible.

“I will be working in collaboration with other ministries like the Ministry for Gender, Health and Local Government to see what policy proposal we can put together to make sure that we’re able to do this and it will be easy,” Akanvariba stated.

Additionally, the Minister mentioned that a review of the public service code of conduct is on the horizon. She highlighted the necessity for an update to the code in order to address the current challenges facing the sector. This review is expected to take place soon.