Next week, South Africa will join the rest of Africa in honoring Africa Public Service Day (APSD).
South Africa will commemorate the yearly program with a week-long series of festivities beginning on June 20, 2022, and ending on June 24, 2022, with a virtual launch serving as a prelude to local celebrations hosted by various government ministries around the nation.
The Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) announced in a statement that the major national event will be place in Tzaneen, Limpopo, on June 23, 2022, in accordance with the continental APSD timetable.
The theme for this year’s continental festivities is “Rebuilding the State and Restoring Trust and Pride by Addressing Human Capital Development Challenges for Social and Economic Development.”
The continental theme will devote the year to bolstering the battle against hunger in all of its manifestations, leveraging the power of the continent’s people, while local activities will focus on the other sub-themes in a South African context.
The sub- themes include:
- The fight against malnutrition- strengthening social protection/ food security systems, and creating healthy lifestyles;
- Building public value and trust for active citizenship and social partnering;
- Building resilience in the public service administration.
In compared to the rest of the globe, Africa has a high prevalence of malnutrition; at the same time, overweight, obesity, and non-communicable illnesses linked to food quality are on the rise, exacerbating morbidity and death rates.
Malnutrition causes a delay in African countries’ economic and social growth due to its poor impacts on human capital development and productivity, with intolerable human repercussions for African people, communities, and nations.
Human capital is essential for development since it leads to better lifestyles for people, higher profits, and higher country incomes.
In addition to existing hunger issues, the worldwide health catastrophe caused by COVID-19 has highlighted Africa’s economic fragility.