Public Service and Administration Minister Collins Chabane says there is a great sense of expectation and a growing urgency for the transformation of the public service into an effective service delivery machine in order to fast track the implementation of the National Development Plan (NDP).
Minister Chabane believes that all departments must start with immediate implementation of their mandate as outlined by the President during the announcement of the new administration. To achieve this Minister Chabane has committed the DPSA to work with all affected departments to ensure the speedy and effective establishment of their structures as well as transfer of functions.
For this reason DPSA is working closely with National Treasury, Department of Public Works, The Presidency and other relevant departments to prepare proclamations that will establish new departments and transfer ministerial functions where required, such as Telecommunications and Postal Services; Small Business Development and Communications. In the case of transfer of functions, Minister Chabane will effect transfers of such functions between departments in terms of the Public Service Act of 1994, as amended by means of a Ministerial determination.
As one of the building blocks of the NDP, our Medium Term Strategic Framework (MTSF) identifies a number of key priorities towards achieving a skilled and capable workforce. Minister Chabane therefore emphasizes that it is critical that government enhances the skills and capacity of its employees to be able to proactively work towards improving the lives of all South Africans, especially the poor.
“We want to ensure that the public service is professionalized, trained, capacitated, effective, efficient and development-oriented to practically implement and improve service delivery by all partners for the benefit of all citizens” Minister Chabane said.
Chabane added that “the NDP identifies the task of improving the quality of public services as critical to achieving transformation. This will require us to focus on identifying and overcoming the obstacles to achieving improved outcomes, including the need to strengthen the ability of local government to fulfil its developmental role”.
Chabane says one of DPSA’s key priorities is the move towards an effective e-government system as citizens increasingly prefer to use digital channels to interact with government. At the same time, governments world-wide have resolved to invest significant resources in the delivery of online services, particularly in the current context of fiscal austerity.
In his first two days in office as Minister for the Public Service and Administration, Chabane took the opportunity to interact with members of staff across the board and stressed that “the stability and effectiveness of the public service is highly dependent on the commitment and devotion of its staff”.
For further information contact:
Ministerial Spokesperson: Brent Simons
Cell: 076 315 7330
