Pravin Gordhan
Minister of Finance, South Africa
Focus: Civil Service
Topics: Civil Service Recruitment, Performance Management System
Keywords: capacity building, decentralization, merit pay, pay reform, recruitment, training
Interviewer(s): David Hausman
Country of Reform: South Africa
Location: Treasury, Pretoria, South Africa
Date: Fri Feb 26 2010
Abstract
Former South African Revenue Service Commissioner Pravin Gordhan describes the internal organizational changes that helped the service consistently meet or exceed its revenue targets during his tenure. Appointed commissioner soon after the service obtained autonomy from South Africa’s civil service regulations, Gordhan talks about how he led a campaign of organizational transformation known as siyakha (“we are building” in Zulu), which reorganized tasks, shifted people within the organization, and led to large-scale racial transformation. The policy depended on aggressive outreach efforts both within the organization and to the public at large. By taking office staff on public campaigns during tax-filing season, Gordhan built public willingness to comply while motivating his employees.
Case Study: Reworking the Revenue Service: Tax Collection in South Africa, 1990-2009
Full Profile
At the time of this interview, Pravin Gordhan was minister of finance for South Africa. He was the commissioner of the South African Revenue Service from 1999 to 2009. Before his career in government, Gordhan played a prominent role in the South African liberation movement; in the 1980s, he was secretary of Operation Vula, the African National Congress underground organization.
