This paper examines the politicisation of the senior civil service, i.e. the management positions of South Africa's public service, especially the affirmative action policy as a strategy to deal with the apartheid legacy in the country. The author argues that there is an attempt to re-politicise the current public service but that this poses a dilemma for the ruling African National Congress (ANC). 'Politicisation' is examined from three angles : politicisation as participation in the political decision-making; as partisan control over the bureaucracy; and as political involvement of public servants in a country's politics (Rouban, 2003). However, the contested meaning and lack of consensus on the 'politicisation' of the public service or public bureaucracy in South Africa is acknowledged. To examine the 'political-administrative interface' (relationship between elected and appointed officials), the ar