G Fraser-Moleketi: Public Service and Administration Budget Vote Debate,
NCOP

1 June 2006

During his first State of the Nation Address in 1999 when the President
initially introduced the imagery of an Era of Hope, he touched on many issues
that fall within the portfolio of Public Service and Administration. These
included:

* the commitment of government to construct a people-centred society
* the commitment of government to entrench a strong sense of ethics
* the commitment of government to work in a close partnership with all our
people
* the need to strengthen professional competence and effectiveness in key
branches of the public service, specifically by revisiting the human resource
development programmes
* the need to strengthen co-ordination and co-operation between different
government agencies
* the inculcation of the principles of Batho Pele.

These continue to inform the work of the Public Administration
portfolio.

The opportunity of the Budget Vote allows the Executive arm of government to
come to the people’s representatives to report against our progress made thus
far, but also to spell out how we see the road ahead. I can relate with the
painter Vincent van Gogh in terms of his perspectives around progress. He said,
and I quote:

“Making progress is like miners' work: it doesn't advance as quickly as one
should like, and also as others expect; but faced with such a task, patience
and faithfulness are essential. In fact, I don't think much about the
difficulties, because if one thought of them too much, one would get dazed or
confused.”

As you will see from the programme we report against, the span of
responsibility of this team is wide, and as a truly transversal portfolio our
efforts affect not only the entire public service, but also goes wider. It is
instrumental in giving effect to how we see the State in South Africa in the
second decade of democratic rule. It is critical in how this State functions.
It affects the legitimacy with which the State is regarded by the
population.

That is why it is necessary that as Minister for this portfolio I speak out
on issues that go well beyond the scope of only personnel matters. That is why
you would have heard me yesterday taking a very firm position on the issue of
the current debate around too much concentration of power at the centre of this
government, and the tendencies to attribute certain features of the
constitutional structures that we have embraced all of a sudden to the persona
of the President.

The team I represent here today is constituted by the Department of Public
Service and Administration (DPSA), the South African Management Development
Institute (SAMDI), the Centre for Public Service Innovation (CPSI), the State
Information and Technology Agency (SITA), the Public Service Education and
Training Authority (PSETA) and last but not least, and standing in a different
relationship – that of oversight body - the Public Service Commission
(PSC).

Given the time constraints on the actual speaking time, I will rely on the
fact that you have a full, printed version of the speech available. I will tend
to highlight issues that I think are of particular interest in the provincial
and local context and make some more strategic points.

This year we celebrate the 10th anniversary of the coming into being of our
Constitution. This Constitution is recognised internationally as one of the
most profound and progressive Constitutions ever crafted. The question remains,
however, whether we fully appreciate the content of what is captured there,
whether we manage to fully give effect to the intentions of the Constitution,
and most telling, whether we even know and understand the content of this
Constitution.

Very few other countries can boast the fact that their Constitutions are
such a carefully crafted system of checks and balance. And certainly as South
Africans we have never had it so good before. We have created an intricate
system of multiple centres of power that serves as counterweights, protecting
against autocracy, and creating a setting within which real democracy can
flourish.

Through the Constitution we have opened our system of government to allow
our people to participate in the policy process. We have crafted a Bill of
Rights that provides protection for our people against abuse, but more so it
bestows some positive rights that each and everyone is entitled to, based on
the fact that they are people. And in the final instance we have created a
Constitutional Court that can deliver judgement on whether or not we keep to
the Constitution, and it can demand that actions be rectified.

In the bigger scheme of State and Society as created by the Constitution,
the Public Administration is a small part. But the Constitution did not neglect
to prescribe how we should operate – most specifically in Chapter 10, but also
very relevant is Chapter 3 that discusses the issue of Co-operative Government.
This is what I quickly would like to focus on.

By now you are fully aware of the fact that we intend to introduce new
framework legislation in Parliament during 2007 to give effect to the notion of
a single public service.

The objectives of the framework legislation are, inter alia:

* to create a common culture of service delivery
* to stabilise and strengthen intergovernmental relations
* to achieve more coherent, integrated planning, budgeting, implementation and
monitoring and evaluation within a Single Public Service, in general and
specifically in relation to joint programmes
* to create a single senior management service cadre, where appointment would
be to the service rather than the post, facilitating the mobility of these
managers within the Single Public Service
* to provide a uniform framework of remuneration and conditions of service for
the Single Public Service
* to establish uniform norms and standards for employment in the Single Public
Service
* to provide a mechanism for the transfer of functions and staff between
institutions or spheres of government, within the framework provided by the
Constitution and the Labour Relations Act.

Clearly this line of our work is very threatening and unnerving to some.

To allay fears of this being another attempt to curtail democracy, I would
like to state for the record that the Single Public Service initiative will be
developed within the framework of the Constitution and its determination on the
principles of co-operative government and intergovernmental relations. Amongst
others, these being that we will not assume the powers or functions that were
not bestowed on us by the Constitution; that we will exercise our powers and
perform our functions in a manner that does not encroach on the geographical,
functional or institutional integrity of government in another sphere; and that
we will co-operate with one another in mutual trust and good faith.
Specifically with respect to this last point we see the motivation for the
Single Public Service partially in exactly that relationship of mutual trust
and good faith, part of which the Constitution determines that we should assist
and support one another.

The fact that many of our local authorities are in dire need of assistance
and support, if they are to play the development role required from them, is
public record. We believe that by creating a system in which there is greater
mobility of capacity across the system, where much of the norms, policy
frameworks and guidelines are standardised at national level, and merely
filtered down and where an optimal mass of practices are standardised and
integrated across the entire system will help rather than hinder. We believe
that there is some technical expertise elsewhere in the system – and
specifically at the core – that can be shared with the operational entities –
specifically at the local level. And we believe this will add value. This is
the honest intention.

As government we can gain nothing by deliberately crippling a system by
putting more challenges in the way of it operating well. Ours is a quest to
make it better!

In most instances we already have made interim arrangements to move staff,
or we put in place special projects, such as Project Consolidate, driven by the
Ministry for Provincial and Local Government.

In my own portfolio we are also involved with a number of case-by-case
interventions in this realm, including:

* the development of staffing norms for less skilled workers in
hospitals
* the revision of organisational structures for provincial health
departments
* making recommendations on improving the scope of control and accountability
for the structures reporting to the Department of Trade and Industry
(dti)
* a report on the review of dti’s role and powers in co-ordinating the
alignment of national policies, Provincial Growth and Development Strategies
(PGDSs) and Integrated Development Plans (IDPs)
* policy and implementation strategy on delegation of authority to hospital
managers and CEOs of hospitals.

However, we believe it is better to consolidate these initiatives, and bring
them together under a single frame – the Single Public Service. Therefore we
will aggressively drive the legislative programme that will see legislation on
the Single Public Service being legislated within the next two years. In the
interim we will proceed with amendments to the current Public Service Act in
the second half of this year.

We believe legislating is one thing. Changing the behaviour of officials to
ensure co-operation and integration amongst institutions and individuals are
much more difficult. Research undertaken has shown that despite the progress we
have made in creating co-ordinating institutions there is need for still
greater co-ordination and better integration of efforts especially when
undertaking joint programmes,. The development of systems has been department /
sector / municipality / sphere-specific, resulting in a situation where
obtaining consolidated information for planning and other purposes becomes a
challenge.

We realised that going forward there is a need for an even more integrated
approach to all of these activities. To address this situation cabinet approved
a framework for managing joint programmes in government towards the end of
2005. It is aimed at addressing the weaknesses in the current procedures and
processes of planning, budgeting and implementation that are hampered by weak
capability to deliver. It seeks to identify challenges and solutions to some of
the barriers that prevent successful delivery of joint / crosscutting
programmes as well as encourage new ways of working to address the capability
and integration challenge.

Promoting better management of joint programmes is part of a larger process
of ensuring coherent macro-organisation of government, as well as improved
intra-governmental and intergovernmental relations. This Joint Programmes
Framework seeks to support the objectives of the Intergovernmental Relations
Framework Act.

Mr Chairperson,

By the time we did the 10-year-review we had to acknowledge that our
implementation failures cannot be attributed solely to a lack of financial
resources. It forced us to engage more critically with the issue. As Sanjeev
Karam points out:

“Under-spending is virtually always linked to factors such as low levels of
human and organisational capacity; mismanagement, lack of co-ordination, weak
institutional frameworks, corruption and/or insufficient political will. The
solutions of these challenges are seemingly under human control, such as
training, administrative capacity-building, improved communication and
incentive systems…. But these are not quick or easy solutions – in particular,
they themselves require more financial resources, human and organisational
capacity, etc., and long timeframes.”

Given its relevance for policy implementation capacity considerations have
been prominent in the deliberations of the Executive in recent years and
judging from the respective State of the Province addresses of our Premiers,
this is also the case at the provincial level.

As early as October 2004 the President called on Governance and
Administration Co-ordinating Ministers to assess the capacity of our state
machinery with respect to implement the agenda of the developmental state. This
task has grown to include an assessment on the required skills and capacity to
support the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa (AsgiSA).
The Cabinet Lekgotla in July will consider this report.

The capacity work on AsgiSA is initially focusing on the capacity of
Government to deliver on selected AsgiSA interventions in the transport sector
with particular emphasis on the Durban-Gauteng Corridor. The aim is to ensure
that use of this main artery of the economy is optimised and that it enables
freight to move rapidly, efficiently and cost-effectively within an environment
of higher economic growth. This project addresses key interventions that have
been identified through AsgiSA, namely, “Infrastructure rollout”;
“Interventions in the second economy”; “reducing the cost of doing business”;
and “provincial priority projects”.

In the bigger equation of factors that impact on capacity, it is the people
aspect that will always remain the most important. In the words of Guido
Bertucci, Director of the Division for Public Administration and Development
Management at the United Nations:

When public institutions perform well, it is primarily owing to the
motivation, skills and integrity of the human capital and the quality of
leadership. In other words, people are the lifeblood of the public service and
the main source of its vitality and strength.

The Public Service Commission’s view is that notwithstanding the strides
that the public service has made in the area of human resource management,
there still remains room for improvement. Areas such as recruitment and
selection, performance management, human resource planning, the challenge of
HIV and AIDS, and employment equity need more attention if the public service
is to maximise human potential as envisioned in Chapter 10 of the
Constitution.

Creating an “appropriately sized” public service entails the establishment
of human capacity that is sufficient in numbers, adequately balanced between
managerial, professional and lower skilled staff and addresses the distribution
of capacity across spheres of government and sectors.

By the end of March this year, the public service numbered 1 045 412 people.
Approximately 75 percent of our public servants are employed by provincial
government. Since 1999, the national proportion of the total public service has
shrunk in favour of the provinces, with approximately 4 percent (approximately
42 000 persons). KwaZulu-Natal accounts for the largest proportion of
provincial public servants, claiming 21 percent of the pie, followed by the
Eastern Cape (16 percent) and Gauteng (15 percent). Northern Cape has the
smallest provincial public administration, accounting for a mere 2 percent of
all provincial public servants.

Ninety percent of provincial public servants are black. Women are over
represented at the provincial level, making up 64 percent of all provincial
public servants, but this speaks more to the fact that public servants in the
social sector are appointed at the provincial level, while public servants in
the criminal justice and defence sectors are appointed at national level,
explaining the very skewed gendered profile at the national level (only 34
percent of public servants in national departments are women).

As part of our long-term approach to human resources (HR) issues, proposals
on implementing the concept of talent development to create a sustainable pool
of middle managers were submitted to Cabinet and approved during December 2005.
SAMDI and the DPSA co-operate on this important initiative. The project will be
implemented during the 2006/07 financial year. Three provincial administrations
(KwaZulu-Natal, Western Cape and Mpumalanga) and two national departments (dti
and Department of Home Affairs) are targeted for participation.

We anticipate a revised remuneration policy to be finalised by the end of
2006, after which implementation will commence in phases. The Personnel
Expenditure Review we are currently undertaking is expected to provide
important information and recommendations that will influence the revised
remuneration policy. Dedicated work has already commenced under the aegis of
the national Department of Health, DPSA and National Treasury to address the
remuneration of health professionals and certain health support staff.

In both the personnel expenditure review, as well as the proposed revised
remuneration policy we will give specific attention to the situation of those
belonging to the professions. We believe a recent analysis that suggested our
current skills problems are rooted in poor salaries for public servants are
simplistic in its analysis. I have requested my officials to supply me as an
example with the figures as to how the situation of a typical level 6 police
officer has improved over the past 8 years. Assuming that the current
initiative in the Broad Band Salary structure will be approved, and making some
informed estimations around the CPIX we can hypothesise that based on July
figures since 1997, by this year the salary of a typical level 6 police officer
would have increased in real terms – that is after allowance for inflation – by
28 percent. In my book, that is improvement and progress.

Mr Chairperson

As part of its oversight role the PSC has undertaken a study to evaluate the
implementation of the policy framework on HIV and AIDS in the public service
and a report on its findings will be published shortly.

Preliminary findings of the evaluation of the implementation of the policy
framework on HIV and AIDS in the public service point to the fact that whilst
HIV and AIDS committees are in place, there is a lack of targeted programmes.
In addition, the PSC found that counselling and support services are not always
in place. Employee Assistance Programmes (EAPs) are also still weakly
integrated into programmes dealing with HIV and AIDS.

On the labour relations front, 2005 saw the implementation of the second
year of the multi-term agreement. At provincial level the co-ordinating
chambers of the Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining Council (PSCBC) – one
in each province – are fully functional. These chambers deal with matters of
mutual interest of a transverse nature within a specific province. Agreements
in the chambers are submitted to the PSCBC for ratification.

To support the management of discipline in the public service, a panel of
employer representatives and chairpersons has been established. The purpose of
the panel is for employees in one department to assist another department where
the latter experience capacity problems in dealing with disciplinary cases.

The legal mandate of SAMDI, provided for in the Public Service Act, and
reinforced through the Cabinet Memorandum 23 of 2002, is to:

“To provide quality and customised training and development to the public
service so as to ensure increased capacity for service delivery and
implementation of government initiatives aligned to national priorities.”

SAMDI supports a range of government’s priority interventions through
customised training initiatives. These include:

* an Ethics Management and Anti-Corruption programme customised for the
Department of Correctional Services
* a training-of-the-trainers programme on the implementation of the Integrated
National Disability Strategy, in partnership with the National Office on the
Status of Disabled Persons, funded by the Swedish International Development
Agency
* support to the Community Development Worker (CDW) programme through
conducting induction sessions for new CDWs
* providing special support regarding Human Resource Management in the Health
Sector.

During the past year SAMDI completed a total of 87 050 person training
days.

The management function is of critical importance in the performance of our
public service as a whole. Senior managers are effectively the administrative
drivers of the highly demanding and dynamic programme of transformation that
the public service is undergoing. If this layer does not function optimally,
there is little hope for the rest of the service to do any better. In this
spirit we have given significant attention, and allocated many resources to
improving this cadre of public service employee.

The size of the management corps in the provinces is systematically rising.
Over the past five years the figure has risen from 1 593 to 2 929 (March 2006).
We also see that the share of the provincial managers in the total make-up of
the Senior Management Service (SMS) is growing, having taken 4 percent of the
share away from the national departments and currently comprising 48 percent of
the overall management corps.

The PSC continues to play a special role in facilitating the evaluation of
the performance of Heads of Department (HoDs). Evaluations for the 2003/4
financial year were conducted. In total 12 national and 18 provincial HODs were
evaluated. Provincial HODs evaluated performed well. Five (28 percent) received
a rating level of 5, nine (50 percent) received a rating level of 4.

One of the most exciting management development initiatives in recent years
is the Khaedu Programme which aims at giving managers from national and
provincial departments the opportunity to experience challenges at the coalface
of delivery and to craft policies that are informed by realities on the
ground.

We believe this project is having a real impact on service delivery. Some
examples of this include:

* The Khaedu Deployment reports presented to the Cabinet in Mpumalanga
resulted in the head of records management at Addington Hospital in Durban
being seconded to Mpumalanga to implement a simple, robust solution to file
management in all hospitals.
* The outpatients’ processes at Rob Ferreira and Prince Mshiyane hospitals are
being overhauled as a result of Khaedu reports.
* The role of hospital Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) in Mpumalanga has been
re-evaluated and strengthened to provide focused senior leadership.
* Delegations of authority to hospital managers throughout the country are
being realigned to improve decision making and eliminate red-tape as a result
of the Khaedu deployment reports.

Project Khaedu will be implemented in KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, Eastern Cape,
Free State and Mpumalanga this year. The Department of Health has also
expressed interest in extending this project to its hospital CEO’s/ managers
and its SMS members across its districts, provinces and national head
office.

Mr Chairperson,

This past year has seen the Public Management Watch (PMW) system being
operationalised. This early warning system relies on a set of composite
indicators to warn of pending implementation problems arising out of failing
administrative systems. This system is still in its early days and I will rely
on the co-operation of the Premiers and their Members of Executive Councils
(MECs) for us to make this system completely operational. The Annual HR Reports
will also evaluate the human resource base of the public service.

Information and communications technology (ICT) constitutes the single most
powerful driver for making public administration more effective and efficient.
Under its new Board the following are some of the SITA’s achievements since our
last Budget Vote:

* the translation of the eGateway portal into seven languages
* the Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS) has entered Phase II which
entails the development of detailed technical specifications for the various
modules and components of the system. The IFMS is to be the pre-eminent
transversal system within government and will replace about 22 other
transversal applications that are running all over government – both nationally
and provincially. The system will enhance standardisation and interoperability
of ICT systems within government.
* the Seat Management Services tender has been a resounding success for SITA.
Government departments and other public bodies have benefited through savings
of up to 30 percent on desktops and laptops. SITA’s Procurement Division was
able to negotiate bulk prices with industry while at the same time ensuring
that small, medium and micro enterprises (SMME’s) are not left out.

Two of the key objectives of SITA for this year are to accelerate the
implementation of eGovernment. E-Government improves service delivery to
citizens, guarantees greater efficiency as well as enhanced citizens’
participation and inclusion in governance. E-Government initiatives are found
throughout the country. In order to accelerate eGovernment SITA will work with
the Government Information Technology Officers Council (GITOC) to develop a
government wide Enterprise Architecture – a framework that will support cross
departmental collaboration, integration and overall government improvement.
E-Government will enable citizens to Interact and Transact on-line with
government departments.

Mr Chairperson,

Improving service delivery is at the core of all our endeavours to transform
the South African Public Service. The constitutional principle that requires
the Public Service to embrace a “development orientation” is built on the
premise that the Public Service will strive to ameliorate the effects of
poverty and do away with its underlying causes.

During 2005 the PSC embarked on an audit of poverty reduction initiatives of
government (1). Preliminary audit findings indicate that the public service has
embarked on a number of interventions to reduce poverty. The number of types of
intervention initiated clearly represents a positive step towards ensuring a
development oriented Public Service. However, only a cursory glance to the
reality that the majority of our people face on a daily basis tells us that we
still need to go a long way in terms of our poverty reduction initiatives and
will have to aggressively pursue the elements in administration that will allow
us to render the kind of public services, in an appropriate manner, that are
required by the poor and destitute.

We have introduced various transformation initiatives with a view to
modernising its service delivery model for the benefit of its people. These
include the transformation and restructuring of national and provincial
departments to remove duplication and inefficiency; the creation of public
entities as vehicles of service delivery; introducing performance management;
strengthening the relationship between decision-making and reliable
information; and making extensive use of ICT through, for example, our
Multipurpose Community Centres (MPCCs) or Personal Information Terminals (PITs)
provided by the South African Post Office.

The first principle the Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP)
document stated how we will work in a democratic South Africa. I quote:

“Our people, with their aspirations and collective determination, are our
most important resource. The RDP is focused on our people’s most immediate
needs, and it relies, in turn, on their energies to drive the process of
meeting these needs. Regardless of race or sex, or whether they are rural or
urban, rich or poor, the people of South Africa must together shape their own
future. Development is not about the delivery of goods to a passive citizenry.
It is about active involvement and growing empowerment. In taking this approach
we are building on the many forums, peace structures and negotiations that our
people are involved in throughout the land.”

Key in this perspective is the issue of an empowered citizenry. Gone are the
days that the citizenry would be satisfied with less than professional
behaviour from public servants. It can be expected as the norm that they will
not necessarily accept poor service delivery in a passive manner. They will
speak out and given the nature of our democracy we will assist them in doing so
and we will assist them, in line with the Batho Pele principles to find
redress.

Note for example that over 700 complaints regarding the behaviour,
competency, and attitude of staff, as well as standards of service were lodged
with the National Anti-corruption Hotline (NACH) over the past year. This shows
how the public will even subvert the primary purposes of mechanisms to get the
message through to where they think they can be heard.

We are actively creating more and more mechanisms that will enhance the
voice of citizens and create the space for active participation by all in the
public service delivery relationship. We are creating the avenues through which
the public can assist in the oversight over public servants. We are making it
compulsory that public servants should wear identification and name tags that
are visible. We are embarking on programmes that will educate citizens further
about their rights and what their recourse is when dissatisfied. We are making
visible the service delivery standards that they can reasonably expect from
public servants.

Coinciding with our celebrations of Africa Public Service Day in June 2005,
we launched the Service Delivery Watch (unannounced visits) initiative where
political office bearers including Premiers and MECs, members of the
legislature and Municipal Mayors make unannounced visits to various service
delivery points to assess the state of public services.

A report documenting the outcome of the first round of visits has been
circulated to all participants and departments whose service delivery was poor.
Observations indicate that queue management, name badges, general conditions of
buildings including proper signage and help desk staffing arrangements require
attention. Shortcomings of physical infrastructure were identified and taken up
with Public Works, while relationship issues between district offices and
frontline delivery institutions need to be resolved. In some cases, where all
the requirements of the checklist were met, the status of “Model Service
Delivery Point” was bestowed. These included the Polokwane Hospital in Limpopo
and the Licensing Department of KwaZulu-Natal. I would like to congratulate the
teams of public servants at these institutions for their achievements.

The Community Development Worker programme is one of our key public sector
reform interventions to enhance development and the implementation of the Batho
Pele principles especially access. The CDWs play a pivotal role in bringing
government closer to the people and in ensuring that community members become
directly involved in the process of public service delivery. CDWs are not
exempted from the prescripts of the Constitution in terms of their behaviour.
They are therefore expected to render their services “impartially, fairly,
equitably and without bias”.

A total of 1 039 have now been deployed fulltime in provincial departments
of government. The enthusiasm with which some Premiers have covered this
development in their respective State of the Province addresses at the
beginning of the year confirms the high expectations within the provinces of
how CDWs can bring government closer to the people. This analysis has been
supported by action research carried out by the Human Sciences Research Council
and SAMDI on the impact of the CDW programme. The research indicates that the
programme is well received in the areas where it has taken root.

All programmes that attempt to cross traditional organisational boundaries
face co-ordination challenges and the implementation of the CDW programme
remains uneven. The Free State and North West Provinces have shown the greatest
success in institutionalising the programme. Moreover, the sustainability of
the CDW Programme will continue to be at risk, until it has been fully
integrated into the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF). A task team has
been established to consider this matter and I trust that a solution will be
found soon.

Our learning and knowledge management programme has grown into a
government-wide initiative to share knowledge and best practices, to learn from
peers and to provide platforms for innovation. A number of learning networks
have grown into self-sustaining platforms for communities of practice. These
include the Batho Pele Network, the Extended Public Works learning network, the
HR Forum and a Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) network.

Closely associated with our learning organisation initiatives, are those
interventions that encourage innovative behaviour. An extensive range of
excellent handbooks, case studies and discussion booklets highlighting the
latest developments in service delivery have been published by the Centre for
Public Service Innovation. They provide valuable insights from innovators who
have been through the long and difficult process of innovation and hence are
grounded in practice and not theory. The publication aims to record, share and
encourage innovation in service delivery in South Africa, by capturing lessons
learnt by different communities and government departments in delivering
services.

During the past few years we have worked hard towards institutionalising the
Public Sector Innovation Awards. The awards demonstrate our commitment to
unlock innovation and provide an enabling environment for innovative service
delivery. In September 2005 we awarded five category winners with prizes and
trophies for their innovative work in the public sector. Amongst these was the
Kimberley Hospital Complex of the Northern Cape Provincial Department of Health
who walked away with the award for best Innovative service delivery
institution. The project that paved the way for this honour is one that allows
for the secure sharing of clinical information about patients between different
health care providers.

Our innovation programmes already transcend the traditional boundaries that
are drawn between the various spheres of government. During 2005 the CPSI
assisted the Department of Provincial and Local Government (DLPG) in the
implementation of the Special Municipal Infrastructure Fund (SMIF). CPSI
managed the process of soliciting of applications and management of the
database, across the four following categories:

* infrastructure enhancement
* integrated service delivery infrastructure
* local economic development
* local institutional development and community participation.

A total of 1 025 project proposals were received. A total of 42 projects
were recommended for implementation.

Corruption has the potential to retard our transformation programme and curb
our developmental initiatives by siphoning off public resources that should
have been utilised differently.

Public service departments have been provided with a new guide on how to
fully establish minimum anti-corruption capacity. Progress with implementation
is good, with over two-thirds of departments complying with the requirements.
The revised guide provides practical examples of successful implementation. In
this endeavour several provincial department played a highly supportive role. I
wish to commend inter alia the Gauteng Shared Services and the provinces of
Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal for freely making available material and good
practice examples for inclusion in the guide.

The African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) is one of the key initiatives that
the African Union has adopted in terms of the New Partnership for African
Development (NEPAD).

One of the critical considerations for our own process as participant to the
first round of the APRM was the issue of achieving a broad sense of ownership
for the People’s Contract and government’s national development priorities.

I want to particularly thank the provinces in playing an extremely active
role. Establishing Provincial Governing Councils allowed us to push
participation into more localities than would otherwise have been possible. Our
Community Development Workers also played a remarkable role in facilitating and
reporting extensively on community consultations that widely enriched and
informed the content of our report with local experiences.

The self-assessment process has revealed much for us all to be proud of.

In terms of democracy and good political governance we have an impressive
human rights framework that is the envy of many in the world; our commitment to
a multiparty democratic system and the rule of law is uncontested and the
strength and ability of our judiciary is a national source of pride. Our work
to create a framework that protects vulnerable people will also produce
long-term results that we will be pleased with.

In assessing economic governance, we recognise our challenges, but still
have much to be proud of. Macro economic stability, a clear economic path and
good management are all major achievements. We can look forward to long term
improvements in these areas as well, knowing they will benefit the poorest and
most vulnerable members of our communities.

Our ongoing and highly successful work to improve corporate governance is
amongst the most dynamic and effective in the world. While we still have much
to do such as incorporating the needs of all stakeholders, our plans to revise
company laws will do much to improve competitiveness and to bridge the gaps
between our economic sectors.

As we know, major challenges are found in the area of socio-economic
development. Deepening our war on poverty is one of our ongoing commitments.
Nevertheless, given the particularly base from which we set out in 1994, we can
be proud of what we have achieved. We have made a significant start to
combating poverty and while we still have far to go, the turnaround has begun
and will accelerate in years to come.

The APRM Review Team in mid-June will be visiting some of the provinces they
have not visited before and will be consulting stakeholders about our Report
and reflecting on its accuracy and relevance. I am sure that the hard work we
have put into our process will be recognised by the team.

I would like to thank every South African who made a contribution to this
process and trust that the pay-off will be improved governance in our country,
with possibly some spin-offs for the continent as a whole.

Mr Chairperson, in conclusion

Part of the effect of the Constitution under which we function is the fact
that we benefit regularly from powerful and well-considered feedback from the
population broadly through government’s programme of izimbizo, public hearings,
and so forth, as well as from reports prepared by some of the oversight bodies
that have been put in place in terms of our Constitution to strengthen our
young democracy – specifically the Public Service Commission. I am also
particularly grateful to the NCOP’s Committee on Public Service and
Administration. The interest that this Chamber is displaying in matters related
to public administration is encouraging.

I believe that the initiatives we have embarked upon, which I have outlined
here will make a huge difference in bringing about the public administration
that this country requires if we are to fulfil our hopes. I rededicate myself
and my entire team to working tirelessly to turn all these initiatives into a
success story for South Africa and Africa.

For the public servants spread throughout the country, I want to thank them
for the effort they put into their jobs. As inspiration for how to see your
position as public servant, to give some context, I want to share with you the
wisdom of one of the fathers of public administration, Woodrow Wilson. I
quote:

“You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable
the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope
and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself
if you forget the errand.”

(1) Republic of South Africa. Public Service Commission. An Audit of
Government’s Poverty Reduction Programmes and Projects. Draft Report. March
2006.

Issued by: Department of Public Service and Administration
1 June 2006
Source: Department of Public Service and Administration (http://www.dpsa.gov.za)