Works, at the launch of Public Service Week
24 July 2006
Friends,
Colleagues,
The people of Gauteng,
Ladies and gentlemen,
The Premier stated in his opening of the legislature address in June 2004
that âthe next five years will be devoted to eliminating pockets of poor
service delivery and making sure that the public service is more caring and
responsive to citizens' needs and complaints. This will entail taking up the
Batho Pele campaign, aimed at efficient and effective service delivery, with
renewed vigour and creating the conditions for improved performance by public
servants.â
At the opening of the legislature this year, Premier Mbhazima Shilowa
said:
âThe challenge the provincial government face as it looks back at the past
twelve years of freedom and democracy is to improve the quality of life of all
people, and move with speed to ensure the full realisation of their rights,
enshrined in the constitution, in the shortest period of time.â
âThe provincial government will develop an integrated Human Resource
Strategy for the provincial government this year and seek to position the
Gauteng government as an employer of choice and attract, develop and retain
quality human resource.â
Premier Shilowa has also directed that, during Public Service Week, all
departments should release their service standards so that the public can hold
the provincial government accountable.
Today, as we gather to launch the Public Service week campaign in Gauteng,
three weeks from the 50th anniversary of the historic anti-pass march of the
women of 1956, we need to take stock of the objectives of that historic act by
those thousands of brave and determined âsheroesâ who faced a brutal and
oppressive system, in pursuit of a liberated society, based on universal access
to equal human rights, for all in our country. Fully conscious of the
centrality of building a new order, whose aim is the establishment of a
non-racial, non-sexist, democratic, united, and prosperous South Africa, all of
us have an obligation to ensure the acceleration of gender equality as an
integral component of our young democracy.
We also need to honour the memory and brevity of the young people who risked
life and limb, thirty years ago, to turn the tide against an unjust system,
collectively saying all shall be equal before law.
In our continuous interaction with Gauteng residents, in numerous public
meetings and other consultative forums, it has emerged that many of Gauteng
residents' grievances and complaints relate to:
* lack of information on how to access services, how to gain assistance and
how to raise complaints
* inadequate delivery of services
* lack of responsiveness and courtesy.
It has also emerged that more work needs also to be done to provide
information about minimum service standards, service charters and redress
mechanisms. While there are levels of frustration among residents who want
government to improve service delivery, residents also have relatively high
expectations that they are entitled to better service from the current
government and its institutions.
The outcomes of the 2006 Gauteng Provincial Government Perception survey
indicate that most of Gauteng residents believe that the province is aware of
their needs. There is a challenge for continued direct interaction with
residents, such as has been positively evinced by public participation in
izimbizo and other outreach programmes.
The survey indicates that the public is often not aware of government
channels to lodge complaints or procedures to seek redress, or they are not
very confident about those channels.
Media coverage of service delivery failures and weaknesses, inept public
servants, poor turnaround times in addressing complaints and allegations of
corruption have added to negative perceptions of the public service.
On the other hand, government's hard work in uncovering corruption and
taking disciplinary action against erring civil servants is often not
complimented but rather projected as the work of investigative journalism.
Service excellence often goes unnoticed, living under the shadow of negative
stories.
Within the public service, there are indications that some public servants
may have heard of the terms Batho Pele or Public Service Standards, but are not
necessarily aware of what exactly they entail or what is required of them.
Other issues such as poor labour relations and a lack of skills and capacity
also impacts on poor service delivery.
While individual departments do focus on internal communication, there is a
lack of comprehensive communication aimed at public servants as a whole.
In response to this state of affairs, we as Gauteng Provincial Government
(GPG), bring a message to all our people that:
* All citizens have the right to high quality, caring and integrated
government services. This critically includes removing obstacles to effective
service delivery, making sure services are sustainable and increasing the
responsiveness of the public sector to complaints and problems from
citizens.
* Public servants have rights and responsibilities.
* Every public servant, regardless of rank, has a role to play in building
an effective and caring public service.
* Public servants have a right to know what is expected of them and a
responsibility to deliver effective public services.
* We must be civil servants and continue to treat our people with dignity
and integrity.
* Batho Pele principles must become a living reality, and be integrated into
all government programmes, instead of being revisited in times of crisis.
* We must strive to promote service excellence in honour of constitutionally
entrenched rights to administrative justice.
* Every department has an obligation develop a service delivery improvement
plan.
We also urge public servants to make their suggestions on how to improve
service delivery and make GPG an effective and caring government
We commit ourselves to developing a set of service standards so that the
public should know what level of service they can expect; we also commit to
speedily and effectively addressing requests for assistance or complaints from
citizens, as well as allegations of ill-treatment by public servants of members
of the public.
We commit ourselves to the development and implementation of programmes
whose aim is to significantly improve the quality of public services. Such
programmes must also become increasingly accessible to all the citizens of our
country.
Public Service Week is a representation of the programmes that we will be
implementing throughout the year and this will be institutionalised beyond a
political term of office, in line with the Constitution of our country, so as
to move significantly and speedily towards meeting the needs of our people.
Among the programmes to be implemented will be a roll out of events and
communication activities to popularise the Departmental Service Standards and
Batho Pele principles, this will be simultaneously directed at public servants
and Gauteng residents. As of this year, Public Service Week will become a
platform that all of us will use to measure progress made in pursuit of the
delivery of quality services to all the people of our province and beyond.
Public Service Week activities will include respective launches of
departmental minimum service standards, service charters and information on
redress mechanisms. Road shows and unannounced visits by political principals
will also become part of a sustained and overarching programme in the public
service. Information will also be made available through all the communication
tools and mechanisms at the disposal of government.
In addition, there will be open days for the public to visit various
departments to learn more about the services, be assisted to access information
and services. All Staff will be required to wear their name tags at all times.
There will also be continuous report-backs from senior managers at service
delivery points.
MECs budget votes will also speak to the progress made in the implementation
of this initiative. We also aim to incentivise service delivery excellence
through participation in the Premier's Service Excellence Awards,
acknowledgment at izimbizo, Community Awareness Days and other outreach
programmes. The outcomes of the 2005 Public Service Summit will serve as an
important guide.
Community Development Workers and Ward committees will also become important
channels of communication between government and residents, offering us an
opportunity to continuously improve cooperation in ensuring intergovernmental
accessibility of services.
These programmes are primarily aimed at Gauteng residents in general,
particularly users or potential users and beneficiaries of government services,
the poor and the vulnerable, residents in under-serviced communities, informal
settlements etc.
The programme will be driven by all levels of public servants across all GPG
departments; front line staff in service departments including police, nurses,
social services; Community Health Workers; School Governing Bodies; Community
Policing Forums; Multi-purpose Community Centres (MPCCs) and Government
Information Centres (GICs)
Service providers to government departments will also be expected to align
their service standards with those set by this programme.
Public service unions are also a key stakeholder in this regard.
Provincial government feedback to ideas submitted by public servants during
last year's Public Service Week. Ideas were requested from public servants on
how to improve service delivery and implement Batho Pele.
The implementation of this programme will enable us to profile and promote
best practice and best practice role models in the public service; to foster
positive attitudes, selflessness and dedication to excellent service provision
among GPG workers; to create a sense of pride, common purpose and unity, and
hope among public servants in the Gauteng Provincial Government; to inculcate a
sense of accountability to the public; and to promote ongoing service delivery
improvement.
Work will be done to ensure that citizens are aware of their rights and
responsibilities. This relates to the public services to which they are
entitled; how to access these services; what service standards to expect; how
to contact government; what redress mechanisms exist; and how to access such
redress mechanisms.
This will go a long way towards improving the residents' understanding of
how government works as well as promoting best practice in the public service,
further enabling government to attract some of the best skills in the province,
and making them available at the publicâs disposal.
We need a public service that is responsive to the needs of the people and
committed to the implementation of the Public Service Standards and Batho Pele
principles. We also need to demonstrate a caring about the welfare of our
public servants and, therefore, recognise and reward service excellence.
However, poor service delivery and corruption will not be tolerated at any
public service point. Public servants have a central role to play in improving
the lives of the people of Gauteng and in building a better Gauteng.
To improve public access and perceptions of service delivery we will raise
awareness of their rights as well as service standards and redress mechanisms
through the provision of information on Public Service Charters and Batho Pele
principles.
I thank you.
Issued by: Department of Public Transport, Roads and Works, Gauteng
Provincial Government
24 July 2006
Source: SAPA
