The 14th Annual Public Service Trainers’ Forum (PSTF) National Conference is underway at the East London ICC. Themed “Making the Elephant Dance”, the Conference has attracted more than 600 Human Resource Development (HRD) practitioners from different departments from all over the country. The conference will run from 4 to 6 October 2010, with different speakers from the public, academic and private sectors, labour and civil society delivering papers on how to improve the public service cadre.
The objectives of the conference are to promote the implementation and improvement of training and development within the public sector, sharing ideas regarding best practices, and contribute to the awareness and adoption of quality standards for training and development within the public sector. The national conference is a partnership between the Public Administration Leadership and Management Academy (Palama) and the Eastern Cape Provincial Government.
Welcoming the delegates on behalf of the Premier, MEC for Education, Mr M Qwase, encouraged the delegates to place particular focus on the conference objectives and unpack government’s transformation agenda. “The PSTF Conference must respond to the developmental needs of the province and the country, let’s make the elephant dance”, Qwase added.
Deputy Minister for the Public Service and Administration, Mr R Padayachie, emphasised the importance of the conference objectives and the well suited theme. While delivering the keynote address, the Deputy Minister said “the theme succinctly captures the need of the public service. We need a people driven and a people centered public service. There is no time for complacency, we all need to focus on what we’re supposed to be doing”.
Speaking at the media briefing, Padayachie said a public service cadre with the requisite skills and which understands the needs of the public is needed. He added that though there are certain challenges facing the Batho Pele principles within government, the majority of public servants know and understand what must be done.
