Commissioner Anele Gxoyiya on Public Service Commissions’ Quarterly Bulletin

Introductory remarks by Commissioner Anele Gxoyiya (media briefing on Public Service Commissions’ Quarterly Bulletin covering the period 01 July to 30 September 2023
Welcome to the quarterly media briefing on the Pulse of the Public Service Bulletin covering the period 01 July to 30 September 2023.

Today’s briefing focuses on governance matters in the Public Service including the following areas:PSC’s perspective on Public Service reform towards professionalization;

• PSC’s perspective on Public Service reform towards professionalization;
• Non-payment of suppliers within 30 days;
• Understanding the constitutional principle of transparency;
• Organisational design for impact towards the next generation of public servants in South Africa; 
• the overall number of complaints and grievances handled by the PSC up to 30 September 2023; and
• Symposium on whistle-blowing.

We also reflect on good news stories where citizens received assistance following the intervention of the PSC.

On 08 December 2023, South Africa will join the rest of the world in commemorating the 2023 International Anti-Corruption Day at UNISA. The Deputy President of the Country, Mr Paul Mashatile will deliver a keynote address. The International Anti-Corruption Day will be commemorated under the theme: “Uniting against corruption: how to better collaborate and improve implementation and impact”. This day is commemorated annually to raise awareness about the cost and negative effects of corruption as well as to find ways to eliminate it. Corruption is one of the major priorities of the South African government. Over the years, Corruption in both private and public sector has proven to have a detrimental effect on government’s effort to deliver effective services to the people. Communities are therefore encouraged to report any allegations of corruption or maladministration to the National Anti-Corruption Hotline toll number on 0800 701 701.

2. Public service reform towards the professionalisation
The PSC recently hosted a Conference regarding a report being developed on Public Service Reforms.  Key stakeholders from Government, Private Sector, Media and Academia deliberated on the recommendations of the report. 

The conference addressed, amongst others, the National Macro-organisation and Reconfiguration of Government, the filling of Directors-General positions and a proposal for the role of the Head of Public Service and the strengthening of the PSC to support the President to reduce the average time to fill DG posts from 26 months to eight months.

The Chairperson of the PSC, Prof. Somadoda Fikeni, gave the opening remarks while the Minister for the Public Service and Administration, Ms. Noxolo Kiviet, (MPSA) delivered a keynote address. In her address, Minister Kiviet said that “the professionalization of the Public Service requires government to be staffed with professional, skilled, competent and selfless public servants whose interest is to serve the people”.  The Minister further spoke to merit-based appointments and the fiscal imperatives in terms of rationalisation of the State.  

The discussions and deliberations were robust and in the spirit of effective consultation.  Some of the highlights to reflect on included the following:

• The Performance Management System and its limitations.
• The importance of the relationship between planning and budgeting.
• Understanding inputs, outputs and outcomes.
• The State’s failure to efficiently provide services.
• The need for a revival of institutions.
• The importance of continuous professional development.
• The need for politics and administration to be in unison.
• The importance of accountability eco-system
• Rejuvenation of Batho Pele.
• The notable challenges in procurement and SCM.
• The importance of leadership.
• The silo mentality across the Public Service.
• Culture and how culture impacts outputs.
• The importance of soft skills in management and leadership.

The written inputs from participants will be considered for purposes of strengthening the report, with the view to  finalise the report before the end of the 2023/2024 financial year. 

3. Non-payment of suppliers within 30 days

According to the National Treasury First Quarter Report on Non-compliance with payments of suppliers within 30 Days (2023/24 Financial Year), the number of invoices paid after 30 days by the national and provincial departments amounted to 117 158 invoices to the Rand value of R 11.1 billion. This represents a regression of 12% when compared with the number of invoices paid after 30 days by the national and provincial departments during the first quarter of the 2022/23 financial year which amounted to 104 937 invoices to the Rand value of R 8.6 billion.

All national departments submitted their 30 days’ exception reports to the National Treasury as required by Treasury Instruction No. 34 during the first quarter of the 2023/24 financial year with an average timeous submission rate of 91%. This represents an improvement of 3% when compared with the average timeous submission rate of 88% achieved in the fourth quarter of the 2022/23 financial year. Similarly, all provincial treasuries submitted their exceptions reports to the National Treasury during the first quarter of the 2023/24 financial year with an average timeous submission rate of 93%, and this represents an improvement of 8% when compared with the average timeous submission rate of 85% achieved in the fourth quarter of the 2022/23 financial year

Table 1 on page 04 illustrates the national departments that paid all legitimate invoices within 30 days and these departments had no outstanding or unpaid invoices at the end of the first quarter of the 2023/2024 financial year. 

Out of 40 National Departments, only 15 Departments fully complied with policy on timeous payments. These national departments are encouraged to maintain this performance and pay all legitimate invoices from suppliers within 30 days as required by the PFMA and its related prescripts. However, of concern to the PSC is the remaining Departments that were unable to comply with the timeous payments of invoices. 

Figure 1 on page 05 illustrate a monthly comparison of the Rand value of invoices not paid within 30 days by national departments during the first quarter of the 2023/2024 financial year. The rand value of invoices paid after 30 days in the first quarter of the 2023/2024 financial year amounted to R 1.2 billion, and this indicates a regression of 126% when compared to the Rand value of invoices paid after 30 days in the first quarter of 2022/2023 financial year which amounted to R 530 million.

Table 2 on page 05 illustrates the national departments that reported the highest number of unpaid invoices as at the end of quarter 1 of the 2023/24 financial year.

The main contributing departments towards the late and/or non-payment of invoices at the national level are the departments of Home Affairs, Correctional Services, Defence, Military Veterans, South African Police Service, Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, Transport, Water and Sanitation (including Trading Account), Public Works and Infrastructure (Trading Account), Health, and Tourism. The Department of Health consistently remains the department with the highest unpaid invoices. The most common reasons provided by both the national and provincial departments for the late and/or non-payment of invoices are interruptions caused by poor internal controls, internal capacity, and budget constraints. 

Table 3 on page 06 illustrate the performance of provincial governments in terms of the number and Rand value of invoices paid after 30 days during the first quarter of the 2023/24 financial year. The total number of invoices paid after 30 days by provincial departments amounted to 90 973 invoices to the Rand value of R 9.9 billion. Gauteng contributed with the highest number of invoices paid after 30 days which amounted to 45 538 to the Rand value of R 3.5 billion in the first quarter of the 2023/24 financial year. North-West provincial departments reported the second highest invoices paid after 30 days, amounting to 12 988 invoices to the Rand value of R 880 million during the same period. In contrast Eastern Cape provincial departments reported the highest number of invoices older than 30 days amounting to 25 789 to the Rand value of R 2.3 billion at the end of June 2023.

The PSC would like to reiterate the importance of paying government suppliers within 30 days as required by law. This will assist small businesses to stay afloat and to also minimise closing business whereby adding to the already high rate of unemployment.  
Refer to the full article on page 3-6 of the Bulletin.

4. Understanding the constitutional principle of transparency

The principle of transparency has a direct impact on the liability of public authorities towards citizens, by enabling citizens to obtain all information regarding their activities. Transparency is subtly intertwined with accountability, and on the other hand, transparency encourages openness. 

Transparency is guaranteed under section 32 of the Constitution of South Africa which states that everyone has the right of access to information held by the State; and information that is held by another person and that is required for the protection of their rights. In this regard, the Promotion of Access to Information Act, No. 2 of 2000 (PAIA) was enacted to give effect to this constitutional right to foster the culture of transparency in the public and private bodies.

A complementary requirement to PAIA in promoting transparency is the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act (PAJA), 2000 (No. 3 of 2000) which requires the provision of reasons for administrative actions.

Transparency and accountability are critical for the efficient functioning of a modern economy and for fostering social well-being. To this extent, it serves to ensure that information available can be used to measure the performance of the authorities and guard against any possible misuse of powers. Lack of Transparency influences the opportunities for corruption, maladministration and unethical conduct. 

While corruption in the public sector is by no means a new phenomenon, the nature and extent of corruption, manifesting primarily through unlawful procurement contracts, was not fully comprehended until now. Corruption is largely due to the public officials who are serving their personal, factional and private interests, rather than the interests of the citizens or the Constitution. In the broad sense, every act of corruption must first involve some kind of conflict of interest. 

According to the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), which is a leading global indicator of public sector corruption, which scores and ranks 180 countries and territories across the globe, the global average trend was at 43 in 2022.

South Africa's level of Corruption Perception was 47,8 against a global average of 43 in 2022 and is ranked 72 out of 180 countries. Notwithstanding that it is above the global average, it should be qualified that South Africa’s score has been declining over the past decade which may suggest the widening of the gap between transparency, openness and accountability. 

The absence of transparency, through providing access to information, can lead government institutions to perform poorly. Transparency in the procurement process might also encourage taxpayers and improve their level of trust in government and the perception that there is efficient, economic and effective use of public funds.
Refer to full article on page 6-8.

5. Organisational design for impact: A next generation of public service

The reform of the public service in South Africa is underway and promises to end corruption, state capture and low levels of productivity and performance. The next-generation public service needs to have true social impact and world-class operational efficiency and effectiveness.  A public service that helps South Africa overcome its challenges and supports moves toward a better future for all is required.
One of the points of Focus for a Quality Public Service in South Africa is Organizational Design for Impact.  If the public service is to have a deep and lasting impact, making the lives of citizens and communities better, then public service departments need to be designed for impact. The Government of South Africa needs to see itself as an “impact investor” – funds allocated to a department are intended to have real measurable impact. Our public service needs to be more flexible and less bureaucratic.

It needs to become much more agile, responsive, and innovative. Key to becoming more impactful are these five features of an organizational design for impact:

• Clear purpose and mission. 
• Collaborative culture.
• Flexible structure. 
• Skilled and motivated staff.
• Robust performance management system

This looks like a straightforward list, but change management (especially in a bureaucratized public service) is challenging. Courage at all levels – Ministerial, Executive Manager, and Senior Manager – is needed to enable the shift from “activities” management to impact management.

As a proposed action to achieve organizational design for impact, the PSC will identify 3-5 major initiatives which will be used as demonstration projects for impact-based organisational design starting from the 2024/25 financial year. The intention of this work would be to:

(i)    showcase how changed organizational design and behavior focused on embracing outcomes and impact can make a difference to performance. 
(ii)     In undertaking this work, the Commission will leverage the expertise and knowledge of those already engaged in impact based initiatives in the non-profit sector and those who work on impact evaluation. 
(iii)     The Commission will engage appropriate facilitator with expertise in design thinking, agile leadership, and effective public services for social, environmental, and economic impact to enable these prototype projects. The work should become a model for how South Africa’s public service will evolve.
Refer to full article on page 8-9.

6. Overall number of grievances handled by the PSC up to 30 September 2023

As at 30 September 2023, the PSC registered 302 grievances, of the 302 grievances, 45 (15%) were not properly referred and 257 (85%) were properly referred. Grievances which were not properly referred are those that were either being dealt with elsewhere (such as bargaining councils) or those that were still not finalized at the departmental level.

The PSC has noted that of the 257 grievances that were properly referred to the PSC, approximately 95% are referred by employees whilst 5% are referred by EAs. The referral of grievances by employees is an indication that departments have failed to resolve these grievances internally within the prescribed timeframes. Irrespective of whether the referral is by the EAs or aggrieved employees, the 257 properly referred grievances are dealt with through investigation and/ or mediation. 

As indicated in Figure 4 on page 10, the majority of the appropriately referred cases relate to unfair treatment, filling of posts, performance assessment and salary problems. Of the 78 unfair treatment grievances, 45 (58%) were from national departments and 33 (42%) were from the nine (9) provinces. Unfair treatment cases mostly emanate from strained relations between supervisors and supervisees, resulting in supervisees perceiving any action by supervisors, such as questioning the employees’ failure to meet deadlines or quality of work, as victimization or bullying. Other cases of unfairness emanate from employees not understanding that they may be assigned to do certain ad hoc functions or not being happy about not being appointed into positions in which they were acting.

In providing outcomes on the investigated grievances, the PSC assists aggrieved employees in knowing whether or not there was substance in their grievances. They are then able to decide whether to accept the outcome or declare a dispute with bargaining councils if they still feel dissatisfied. With the PSC intervention departments and aggrieved employees are able to resolve grievances, and this contributes to enhancing sound labour relations between the parties.

In view of the number of cases that were internally resolved after the PSC’s intervention, departments and organized labour are encouraged to consider mediation as an alternative means of resolving matters of conflict as this is mutually beneficial for the relationship between the parties.

7.    Overall number of complaints handled by the PSC from 01 July 2023 to 30 September 2023

The PSC has the mandate to investigate, either of its own accord or on receipt of any complaint, personnel and public administration practices to report to the relevant EAs and Legislature. Personnel practices relate to for example, irregular appointments, transfers, qualifications and compensation related allegations, and public administration practices relate to, for example, procurement irregularities and poor service delivery. The own accord investigations undertaken are identified through an analysis of the trends of the complaints handled previously and through media reports. 

A total of 795 760 calls were recorded on the Case Management System (CMS) of the NACH as at 30 September 2023. A cumulative figure of 28 232 case reports were generated and referred to the departments and public bodies for investigation. The PSC recorded a total of 495 during the second quarter of 2023/23 financial year as shown in Table 5 below. The total number of cases reported against national departments are 48, provinces 7 and public bodies 318. 

For the period 1 April 2023 to 30 September 2023, the PSC handled a total of 136 complaints at the National and Provincial Level. From the 136 complaints received, 25 were received through the NACH system and the remaining 111 complaints were reported through other means such as e-mails, post, walk-ins and social media.  As at 30 September 2023, 76 (56%) complaints were closed and 60 (44%) were in progress.

Of the 136 complaints reported in the 2023/24 financial year, 66 are categorized as personnel practices (i.e. functions and activities executed to provide a service to employees such as recruitment, selection, appointment, transfer and other career management objectives aimed at enhancing the well-being and effectiveness of public servants) and the remaining 70 relates to public administration practices (i.e. functions and activities executed to provide effective and efficient services such as financial management, supply chain management (SCM) processes and service delivery). 

Emanating from investigations conducted and in instances where allegations were found to be substantiated, the PSC made recommendations to Executive Authorities to, amongst others, facilitate the institution of disciplinary action against implicated officials, approach courts to set aside irregular appointments. To this end, investigating officers of the PSC have, in some instances, been requested to testify in disciplinary hearings. 

Some of the PSC’s involvements in dealing with complaints contributed positively to ensuring that citizens' concerns are addressed effectively and efficiently with consideration. A complaint regarding an alleged non-payment of an invoice for services rendered to the department of Community Safety, in Gauteng was reported to the PSC. Through the PSC’s intervention, the department paid, the money due to the service provider.

 A complaint regarding irregular an appointment at the Department of Correctional Services was found to be substantiated. The PSC recommended that the Department of Correctional Services to approach the court to correct the irregular appointment.

The PSC noted that most of its investigations yielded positive results on improving good governance and accountability in the Public Service. In issuing recommendations, the PSC encouraged departments to maintain the principles conferred in section 195(1) of the Constitution. The Constitutional Values and Principles indicate the type of public administration that South Africans can aspire to have.

They define, beyond meritocracy, the nature of a South African public servant who will not only embrace the values and principles, but live according to them in executing his/her duties. It is prudent to ensure that every public servant is aware of the link between his/her attitude, conduct and the need to embrace the values and principles articulated in the Constitution in their daily tasks. 

8.    Whistle-blower symposium

The PSC in partnership with civil society and business sector hosted the Whistle-blowers Symposium under the theme “The extent and nature of the protection of whistle-blowers in South Africa”. The hosting of the Whistle-blowers Symposium emanated from the 2022 International Anti-Corruption Day celebrations which highlighted a need for the protection of whistle-blowers in South Africa. 

Delegates included representatives from government leaders, organized business, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), media, organized labour, academia and professional bodies, and affected whistle-blowers.

The Symposium adopted various resolutions aimed at combating and preventing crime and corruption, building integrity and the protection of whistle-blowers. The key resolutions include amongst others the need for the establishment of the Whistle-blowers Protection House to be run by the Disclosure Protection Tribunal (headed by a retired judge) to protect employees against reprisals or occupational detriment.

The following resolutions, amongst others, were agreed on:

• Raise awareness and provide training on how the reporting should be handled.  
• Promote a culture of whistle blowing amongst government personnel and civil society. 
• Support the legislative reform proposed which will enhance protection of whistle -blowers and closing gaps and challenges identified in the Protected Disclosures Act and the Witness Protection Act. 
• Drive the promotion of whistleblowing through the Professionalisation Framework.
• Develop a whistle blowing framework with clear directives for all parties concerned. (The document must take into account the ethical dilemmas of whistleblowing, psychological impact and the occupational detriment on whistle-blowers). 
• Creation of a fund for whistle-blowers.
• Determine and rationalise the number of anti-corruption hotlines.
• Prioritise reforms that will ensure the protection of whistle-blowers in line with the constitutional order.
• Need to find an efficient mechanism to protect the identity of whistle-blowers and find a civil society organisation which government will supports to get better protection.

9.    Good news stories

PSC helps three siblings to get their IDs

The PSC assisted three orphaned siblings aged 21, 19 and 18 in acquiring Identity Documents, after five years of fruitless trips to the Home Affairs Department. 
The trio lost their parents while they were minors and were since fostered by three different legal guardians all of whom passed away, making it difficult for them to get Identity documents. 

The cracks of being without an ID started to show when the oldest sibling finished his matric in 2021 and his life came to a total stop. In August the siblings learnt about the work of the PSC and contacted the Commission for assistance.

The PSC met with the social workers and Brakpan Home Affairs senior officials on August 22 in a meeting that facilitated the ID application for siblings. 
Within four weeks, the IDs were issued. An unabridged certificate was also issued for the youngest sibling in the same period, and she successfully applied for an ID.