DPSA vacancies are published in one place: the Public Service Vacancy Circular, a free PDF that the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) puts out every week except in December. In 2026 it comes out on Fridays, with the year's last issue on 4 December and the first 2027 issue on 15 January. Each advert names the department that's hiring, and that's who you apply to: use the method in the advert (often a Z83 form and a CV, sometimes an online portal), quote the reference number and get it in before the closing date. DPSA itself doesn't take applications or answer questions about posts.
We checked DPSA's circular page, its year programmes and Circular 40 of 2026 on 8 November 2026. We don't list vacancies here: they close within weeks, so always work from the circular itself.
Browse jobs in Cape Town → or open the latest circular on dpsa.gov.za.
What the DPSA vacancy circular is
It's the public service's weekly noticeboard. National departments and provincial administrations send DPSA their adverts by a deadline, DPSA compiles them, and the issue goes up on dpsa.gov.za under Newsroom, then Public service vacancy circular. DPSA's own introduction to the circular says it isn't responsible for what the adverts say, and that questions about a post go to the department that placed it.
Each issue has a number and its own page. Circular 40 of 2026, posted on 6 November, split its posts into national departments and provincial administrations (Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Mpumalanga, North West and the Western Cape). The full document ran to 248 pages, but the issue page also offers every department's section as a separate PDF. On a phone with limited data, open the section you need rather than the whole thing.
If dpsa.gov.za is slow, the "Government jobs this week" page on gov.za carries the same issue, with one PDF for national departments and one for the provinces.
When the circular comes out (2026 dates)
DPSA publishes a year programme listing every issue. In 2026 the first circular came out on 16 January, and there was no issue in the weeks of three public holidays: Good Friday (3 April), Workers' Day (1 May) and Heritage Day (24 September). The deadline for adverts is usually the Friday a week before the issue, and longer around holidays, so a post you read on a Friday reached DPSA at least a week earlier.
| Circular | Adverts due at DPSA | Issue date |
|---|---|---|
| 40 of 2026 | 30 October 2026 | 6 November 2026 |
| 41 of 2026 | 6 November 2026 | 13 November 2026 |
| 42 of 2026 | 13 November 2026 | 20 November 2026 |
| 43 of 2026 | 20 November 2026 | 27 November 2026 |
| 44 of 2026 | 27 November 2026 | 4 December 2026 |
Source: DPSA, Public Service Vacancy Circular year programme for 2026, checked 8 November 2026.
After Circular 44 there's a gap. DPSA's published 2027 programme puts Circular 1 of 2027 on 15 January 2027, so no new circular appears between 4 December and then. Posts from the last issues stay open until their own closing dates.
How to find Western Cape and entry-level posts in the circular
Start on the issue's own page rather than the full PDF. The Western Cape has its own section under provincial administrations, and it was there in each of Circulars 37 to 40 of 2026. The annexure letter changes from week to week (it was Annexure W in Circular 40), so look for the name, not the letter.
Western Cape posts also turn up in national sections: in Circular 40, several national posts had Cape Town or Western Cape on the CENTRE line. So after the provincial section, open the full PDF and search it (Ctrl+F on a computer, "Find in page" on a phone) for "Western Cape", "Cape Town" and the towns you can actually get to, such as Bellville, Paarl, Stellenbosch, Worcester or George.
Entry-level posts follow a pattern. DPSA tells departments to submit their adverts from the highest salary scale to the lowest (Circular 28 of 2025, as quoted in DPSA's 2026 year programme). Within a department's section the senior posts come first and the clerks, cleaners, drivers and messengers come last, so scroll to the end of a section before you decide there's nothing for you. Then read the requirements. In Circular 40, some level 5 clerk posts asked for Grade 12 and said no experience was needed, and a level 4 driver and messenger post asked for Grade 10 plus a driver's licence.
Reading an advert
DPSA's rules for departments say every advert below senior management (SMS) level must give the job title, salary scale, centre, requirements, duties, a contact for enquiries, the closing date and any notes. In the PDF these show up as capital-letter labels down the left, along with a reference number and the application method:
- POST and REF NO: the post number (40/181 is post 181 in Circular 40) and the department's reference number, which is the one you quote.
- SALARY: the yearly amount, with the salary level in brackets.
- CENTRE: where you'll actually work.
- REQUIREMENTS: the minimum qualification and experience, plus any licence or registration.
- DUTIES: what the job involves day to day.
- ENQUIRIES: a named person and phone number at the department, for questions about the post.
- APPLICATIONS: how and where to apply. This differs from one department to the next.
- CLOSING DATE, and a NOTE with extra conditions such as vetting, assessments or certified copies.
What "salary level" means in rand
The SALARY line gives a yearly figure and a level number, and a higher level pays more. These are the amounts printed for common entry and junior levels in Circular 40 of 2026 (some print only the bottom figure). The monthly figures are our own division by 12, before tax and deductions:
- Level 2: R144,024 a year (about R12,002 a month)
- Level 3: R170,226 to R200,523 (about R14,186 to R16,710 a month)
- Level 4: R201,093 to R236,877 (about R16,758 to R19,740 a month)
- Level 5: R237,453 to R279,708 (about R19,788 to R23,309 a month)
- Level 7: R338,106 to R398,277 (about R28,176 to R33,190 a month)
- Level 8: R413,001 to R486,501 (about R34,417 to R40,542 a month)
Some senior posts add "all-inclusive salary package" to the line. To compare these levels with other public-sector pay in the city, see what government salary levels pay in our salary guide.
How to apply for DPSA vacancies
Apply to the department in the advert, never to DPSA. DPSA's directions to candidates ask for the Z83 application form plus your training, qualifications and experience (on a separate sheet or as a CV), sent to the department where the vacancy is, with the post's reference number, arriving on or before the closing date. The APPLICATIONS line then tells you the method, and in Circular 40 it varied a lot:
- Most Western Cape Government departments accepted online applications only, through the Province's jobs portal at westerncape.gov.za/jobs.
- Western Cape Health and Wellness sent applicants to its own portal at westerncape.gov.za/health-jobs.
- A few Western Cape posts, and many national ones, wanted a Z83 and a CV by email, post or hand delivery. The Department of Employment and Labour, for example, wanted both in one attachment and a separate Z83 for each post.
Use the current Z83, the version effective from 1 January 2021. Circular 40 repeats that warning in its directions, and DPSA's 2022 practice note says applicants who don't use the latest form are disqualified. Our guide on how to fill in the Z83 walks through the form.
You usually don't need certified copies when you apply. DPSA's Circular 19 of 2022 says applicants must send the Z83 and a detailed CV, and it encourages departments to ask for certified copies only from shortlisted candidates. Many adverts in Circular 40 say exactly that in their notes. Where an advert asks for something else, do what the advert says.
DPSA's directions leave it to you to make sure your application arrives in time. Send it a few days early, so a failed upload or a full inbox doesn't cost you the post.
Other places government vacancies in the Western Cape are advertised
The circular isn't the only channel, and for some Cape Town public employers it isn't where you apply.
- Western Cape Government jobs: our guide to the Province's own e-recruitment portal, where its departments list posts and take online applications.
- City of Cape Town vacancies: the City is a municipality, not a public service department, and recruits through its own careers system. Circular 40 had no City of Cape Town posts.
- Western Cape Department of Health vacancies: our guide to hospital and clinic posts, which you apply for on the department's own portal.
Fake "DPSA job" offers and how to spot them
The Department of Correctional Services described the usual pattern in a December 2022 warning published on gov.za: fake adverts on social media and fake websites, a fee that supposedly guarantees the job, a request for ID copies, then an interview that turns out to be fake. It warned that paying for a government job is unlawful and is never a requirement for getting one.
- Find the post in the circular on dpsa.gov.za, with the same reference number and closing date. If you can't find it there or on the department's own website (the address ends in gov.za), don't apply.
- Apply only by the method in the APPLICATIONS line. Someone offering to submit for you or "secure" the post is not part of the process.
- Never pay. Nothing in DPSA's directions to candidates involves a fee.
- Each circular's page on dpsa.gov.za links to an official WhatsApp channel called DPSA Vacancy Circular. A WhatsApp channel only broadcasts, and DPSA's directions send applications and questions to the advertising department, not to DPSA. So treat a private message from "DPSA" offering you a job as fake.
Our guide on how to spot job scams covers the other patterns.
While you wait, keep applying in the private sector
Government hiring has many steps. Western Cape Government adverts in Circular 40 told shortlisted candidates to expect vetting paperwork before the interview, two pre-entry assessments (a practical exercise and an integrity assessment) and reference checks. Many adverts in the same issue said that if you haven't heard within three months of the closing date, you should treat your application as unsuccessful.
So don't stop your search for one post. If you've got matric and some office experience, admin and office jobs in Cape Town use the same skills as a level 5 clerk post: data capturing, filing and MS Office. Keep a simple list of every government post you apply for, with the reference number, department, closing date and the date you sent it, so you know which job it is when a department phones months later.