Applying for a public service job: the Z83 form

Posts in national and provincial departments are advertised in the Public Service Vacancy Circular, which the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) publishes weekly except in December; departments may also advertise elsewhere, such as on their own websites. You apply to the department that has the vacancy, not to the DPSA, and questions about a post go to that department too.

Applications are made on form Z83, together with full particulars of your training, qualifications, competencies, knowledge and experience. The form in use is the one that took effect on 1 January 2021, and the circular asks applicants to use it. The DPSA publishes it, with an editable copy, on its vacancy circular page — use that copy rather than an older one found elsewhere.

The form asks you to fill in all its sections completely, accurately and legibly, and warns that failing to sign it may lead to your application being disqualified. The DPSA has also stated that the declaration must be signed for an applicant to be considered. Departments' own adverts can add instructions, so read the advert you are answering as carefully as the form.

The work experience part of the form asks you to attach a detailed CV. Make sure it covers the requirements the advert lists, because those are what the department checks first.

The form says that candidates selected for interviews will be asked for additional certified information, and adverts in the circular say the same — one in circular 35 of 2026, for example, states that only shortlisted candidates will be required to submit certified copies of qualifications. Follow what the advert you are answering asks for.

Quote the post's reference number in your application, exactly as the advert gives it, and make sure the application reaches the department on or before the closing date, by the method the advert names.

Government departments warn that public service jobs are not for sale: the Department of Correctional Services warns that paying for a government job is unlawful, and the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure that it will never ask for payment for any job it advertises. See the guide on spotting scams.

Govermate lists open public service posts from the vacancy circular by department and province on its vacancies pages, each with its recorded closing date. You still apply directly to the department, as its advert says.