The much awaited 24th South African Association of Public Administration and Management (SAAPAM) conference which brings academics, government leaders, practitioners, and policy makers is set to kick-off on Sunday, September 21, 2025, in Thohoyandou, Limpopo province.
The week-long conference will kickstart tomorrow night with a cocktail party to set the positive tone for the entire gathering. The conference will wrap up on Friday September 26, 2025, with a Batho Pele Walkie Talkie aimed at promoting public servant’s healthy lifestyle and wellness in their respective workplace.
This year, the SAAPAM conference will be held under the theme: Building State Capacity: Prospects and Challenges which delegates will be making sense of and to enable rigorous discussion with the sub-themes.
South Africa’s inaugural assumption of the rotating presidency of the Group of 20 (G20) between 1 December 2024 and 30 November 2025 presents opportunities for the utility of diplomatic partnerships in state capacity building.
With its agenda being premised on promoting economic and financial stability, the G20 theme informs the economic stability of state capacity building. The economy being the backbone of attaining better standards of living for communities creating of employment opportunities and addressing inequality, which continue to bedevil to the South African state, the nexus between the block and capacity building and sustenance is indelible.
South Africa’s tenure of the presidency of the block presents a great opportunity for South African institutions to both lead and learn from this epoch of state building in the evolution of the state.
Being a developmental state, South Africa has an opportunity to equally develop its economic capacity as an anchor for all other pillars of development.
The SAAPAM conference will be held in collaboration with the University of Venda (UNIVEN), Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA), Public Service Sector Education and Training Authority (PSETA), National School of Government (NSG), Department of Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME) and Public Service Commission (PSC).
