South Africa's future linked to repositioning the public service
Correctional Services Minister Sibusiso Ndebele has told senior managers in the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) that the future of South Africa is intrinsically linked to repositioning the public service.
Addressing DCS senior managers from across the country over the weekend (14th March 2014), at the second day of the DCS senior management service (SMS) conference at the Coastlands Conference Centre in KwaZulu-Natal, the Minister said: “This year (2014), the formal prison system in South Africa marks 103 years. In the past 20 years, our country has made tremendous progress. South Africa is a much better place to live in today than it was before 1994. However, the future of our country is intrinsically linked to whether we succeed or not in repositioning the public service. The National Development Plan has been bold to suggest that unless we fix the public service, all our objectives, all our hopes and all our plans would come to nothing. It is worth repeating over and over so that we, who are in the public service, understand our centrality.
The public service is the engine of the state. It is worth repeating also because the public service needs to understand that if the engine is not performing optimally, the state cannot deliver as fast as it should. We were always very certain that our long-term success depended on the creation of a particular type of public servant, who would be imbued with these qualities of dedication, commitment, efficiency and professionalism. In the final analysis, it is the quality of our public service that determines whether our constitutional values, and ideals, are attained or not.
“In a context like South Africa, where the former eleven public services were an instrument of entrenching inequality and racism, our present public service should be attracting patriotic cadres. These are cadres who fully appreciate the role of the state in redressing past imbalances, and the commitment to a better life for all. Such men and women, who wear the badge of putting their country first, when given that opportunity to serve, dare not short-change the state and its people. There is great satisfaction, after all, in service to others, as well as in seeing people, and their conditions, change. As King George V puts it: ‘The highest of distinctions is service to others.’
“The leadership of DCS has a pivotal role to play in ensuring that society does not give up on humanity; that offenders are corrected, and that they are given a second chance in life. It is in the hands of this management to ensure that we persistently uphold the promise of giving a voice, and agency, to victims of crime through our Restorative Justice programme such the Victim-Offender Dialogues. Because you are aware that leaders are readers, it is incumbent upon you to ensure that our skills programmes, and Reading for Redemption programme, for inmates are a success.
We place it upon all of you to ensure that the goal we have set ourselves, of making our correctional centres self-sufficient by increasing food production by inmates, is achieved. Inmates must leave our facilities with a skill in one hand, and a certificate in the other hand. To all of you, in the service of Senior Management of DCS, may you find encouragement in the words of American cultural anthropologist, Margaret Mead, who says: ‘Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.’
“Let us be keenly interested in the well-being, and development, of our Correctional Officials. Our policies, and intentions on rehabilitation, are futile, and meaningless, without Correctional Officials implementing them whole-heartedly. Last week, in Kimberley, we recognised a number of our Correctional Officials who are committed to service excellence. Let us continuously support exemplary, and outstanding, work from our Correctional Officials. As Managers, we should not wait for the annual Service Excellence Awards to reward hard work. People are our best assets, and hope, in transforming South Africa. Founding President Nelson Mandela describes our people in these words: ‘My country is rich in the minerals and gems that lie beneath its soil, but I have always known that its greatest wealth is its people, finer and truer than the purest diamonds.’ As the leadership of DCS, it is your responsibility to unlock people’s potential to become better. Take Eleanor Roosevelt’s counsel: ‘To handle yourself, use your head; to handle others, use your heart.’
“Four centuries before the birth of Christ, Confucius set a framework for a work ethic. He identified seven elements which, he said, managers must have in the execution of their duties. These are hard work, loyalty, thrift, dedication, social harmony, the love of wisdom and social propriety. Without these values from the Management of DCS, we are prone to be defeated in our fight against crime, re-offending and the battle to win society in our rehabilitation programmes. It is for this reason that we talk of the ideal Correctional Official, who leads by example, and a management whose behaviour, and values, are worth emulating by Correctional Officials. Remember, Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.
“To the entire leadership of DCS, let us remember that the call for an efficient Senior Management Service comes from Section 195 of the Constitution.
“It states: Public administration must be governed by the democratic values and principles enshrined in the Constitution, including the following principles:
- A high standard of professional ethics must be promoted and maintained.
- Efficient, economic and effective use of resources must be promoted.
- Public administration must be development-oriented.
- Services must be provided impartially, fairly, equitably and without bias.
- People's needs must be responded to, and the public must be encouraged to participate in policymaking.
- Public administration must be accountable.
- Transparency must be fostered by providing the public with timely, accessible and accurate information.
- Good human-resource management and career-development practices, to maximise human potential, must be cultivated.
- Public administration must be broadly representative of the South African people, with employment and personnel management practices based on ability, objectivity, fairness, and the need to redress the imbalances of the past to achieve broad representation.
“We also need more innovation in the public sector. One of the things that public service everywhere is not very good at is innovating. We merely try and do what was done before, because we do not put in place that which will measure, and drive, the change. In the context of the National Development Plan, this is important. Part of what we are doing is to take existing policies, and ask how you can close the gap between those policies and the way in which it will impact on the lives of our people.
“We cannot change others if we do not change ourselves first. Mahatma Gandhi says, ‘Be the change that you wish to see in the world’. This is the same idea expressed in Michael Jackson’s hit, Man in the Mirror. The chorus of the song says:
‘I'm Starting With The Man In The Mirror
I'm Asking Him To Change His Ways
And No Message Could Have Been Any Clearer
If You Wanna Make The World A Better Place
Take A Look At Yourself, And Then Make A Change,’” the Minister said.
Enquiries:
Logan Maistry
Cell: 083 6444 050
