Public Service Commission releases State of the Public Service
Report

25 May 2006

The Public Service Commission (PSC) is pleased to release its 2006 State of
the Public Service Report today. As with previous editions, the Report provides
a high-level overview of the progress made by the Public Service in giving
effect to the Constitutional values and principles of public administration.
The four editions preceding this one have consistently shown that the Public
Service has made significant strides along its transformation path, and that
although challenges still exist, there is reason to celebrate. What needs to be
done now is to gird the Public Service with the appropriate capacity to
accelerate service delivery and ensure adherence to the values of the
Constitution.

The critical issue of Public Service capacity has been raised consistently
in previous State of the Public Service Reports, and it is thus important for
it to receive urgent and dedicated attention. While the 2004 report was on
progress achieved in broad terms in the first decade of our democracy, the 2005
edition was forward looking, identifying key challenges for the second decade.
Accordingly, in this fifth edition of the State of the Public Service Report,
the PSC looks at the capacity of the Public Service to deliver on the
development objectives of government to ensure that every South African woman
and man reaps the dividends of democracy.

The Report looks at each of the nine constitutional principles and values of
public administration, provides an overview of selected PSC and other research,
and identifies capacity considerations for the challenges ahead. A few salient
points from the Report are:

* On the first principle - the promotion and maintenance of a high standard
of professional ethics:

The Report notes that the Public Service has generally responded well to
demands for a transparent government. Comprehensive legislation and frameworks
have been put in place, accompanied by commendable efforts to involve business
and civil society. However, it is noted that that the capacity to promote and
maintain a high standard of ethics is central to sustaining a credible Public
Service and safeguarding both its integrity and efficacy.

The National Anti-Corruption Hotline (NACH) has bolstered the capacity of
the Public Service to identify and act on corruption. As a toll-free facility
operated in all official languages, the Hotline offers an effective platform
for anyone to actively participate in the reporting of corruption. However, the
integrity of the system depends on how well feedback is provided. In this
regard, departments still need to improve their capacity to investigate and
finalise corruption cases referred to them. Furthermore, the use of
whistle-blowing mechanisms needs to be strengthened, and the culture of blowing
the whistle instilled. To this end, efforts to foster an understanding of the
Whistle Blowing Guidelines need to be strengthened.

The Financial Disclosures Framework requires senior managers in the Public
Service to disclose their financial interests. The Framework is one of the
important mechanisms for preventing private abuse of public power and
resources. The average rate of compliance with the Framework for the 2004/5
financial year is 70%. The PSC calls for a target of 100% compliance in this
regard, and urges Executive Authorities (EAs) and Heads of Department (HoDs) to
be robust in fulfilling their responsibility to ensure that departments are
fully compliant. Given the growing concerns around potential conflicts of
interest in the Public Service, the PSC believes that there is a need for the
establishment of a comprehensive framework to manage conflicts of interest. The
implementation of such a framework will promote perceptions of integrity, and
boost efforts to build and sustain a credible Public Service. The PSC has
already completed a report in this regard and will be tabling it soon for
Cabinet’s consideration.
 
* On the second principle - the promotion of efficient, economic and effective
use of resources:

The Public Service needs the capacity to strategically deploy, manage and
utilise resources in an efficient, effective and economic manner. The Public
Finance Management Act (PFMA) and its supporting guidelines have laid the basis
for systematic planning and better financial management. However, the capacity
to comply with the requirements of the Act needs to be strengthened. Reports by
the Auditor-General (A-G) show that a number of departments still fail to align
their strategic plans with their annual and financial reports.

The A-G’s reports further show a decrease in unauthorised, fruitless and
wasteful expenditure. Clearly, this is a positive development, but the mere
existence of such forms of expenditure is still a concern to the PSC in the
context of a Public Service that seeks to promote efficiency and
effectiveness.

The PSC calls upon the Public Service to strengthen its capacity for sound
financial management in order to ensure the efficient, economic and effective
use of resources. This would include the strengthening of financial controls
such as internal audit units and audit committees, which as the A-G pointed
out, still do not function optimally.

Capacity for improved planning and reporting is also needed. This would
ensure that annual reports begin to reflect a coherent link between plans,
outputs and the Estimates of National Expenditure.

An important element of determining effectiveness in the Public Service is
the implementation of sound monitoring and evaluation (M and E) mechanisms. M
and E has yet to be meaningfully embedded in the work of departments as a
performance management and improvement tool. It is however encouraging that
attention is being paid to building the capacity to monitor effectiveness by
establishing a Government Wide Monitoring and Evaluation System.

* On the third principle - development orientation of public
administration:

The Report argues that at the heart of the capacity required for the
fulfilment of this principle is the need to ensure that the Public Service, as
the primary delivery vehicle of the state, is astute in rising to the
development needs of the country. Of significance here is ensuring the capacity
to formulate and enact policies that target the development priorities of
government. The Report notes that the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative
for South Africa (AsgiSA) recently launched by government as a strategy to
consolidate economic growth in a manner that will also target poverty
reduction, raises new capacity challenges for the Public Service. 

The strong economic foundation laid in the first decade of democracy has
created a basis for increased social spending. This is evident in the
increasing amount of funds allocated to social assistance and social security –
R10 billion in 1994 to R70 billion in 2006, and from 2,6 million to 10 million
beneficiaries respectively.

The Public Service has also embarked on a number of other diverse
initiatives that seek to reduce poverty. While a number of these indeed
contribute towards the improvement of the quality of life of citizens, they
require a collaborative approach in order to harmonise and leverage capacity
throughout the three tiers of government.

The PSC calls upon the Public Service to enhance its capacity to plan and
manage development projects. Such projects need to be integrated if their
impact is to be optimised. Furthermore, the PSC calls for capacity problems
that hinder progress in addressing poverty reduction at local government level
to be addressed as they are most certain to have adverse consequences on
capacity at national and provincial levels. The negative multiplier effect of
these consequences on key undertakings such as the AsgiSA can also not be ruled
out.

* On the fourth principle - services must be provided impartially, fairly,
equitably and without bias:

The Report notes that although the legal, normative and the regulatory
framework to inculcate the ethos for just service delivery is in place, the
capacity of the Public Service to fulfil this principle is far from developed.
Coupled with this is the fact that in most departments, the capacity to adhere
to the Batho Pele principles has not been fully developed beyond merely
displaying the posters bearing them on walls. The implementation of the
Promotion of Administrative Justice Act (PAJA) across departments, has also not
improved significantly over the last three years.

The Report indicates that the Public Service needs to develop the capacity
to redesign departmental communication processes so that PAJA requirements are
explicit, and the public fully understands their options. Plans by the
Department of Justice and Constitutional Development to conduct training
seminars for legal officers, with the PSC providing inputs into the monitoring
and evaluation component, should therefore go a long way in improving the
situation.

* On the fifth principle – People’s needs must be responded to and the
public must be encouraged to participate in policy making:

The PSC’s research found that although there are encouraging signs with
regards to service delivery as an indicator of the ability of the Public
Service to respond to the needs of the people, the capacity to raise and
calibrate public participation in policy formulation, implementation and review
processes needs improvement. This will help avoid a disjuncture between
policies and programmes on the one hand, and the needs they are intended to
meet on the other.

The Izimbizo programme has facilitated public participation, but it needs to
be systematically integrated into the work of the Public Service. As a
follow-up to Izimbizo, Citizens Forums and Citizens Satisfaction Surveys have
also proved to be effective mechanisms through which to involve citizens.

The Public Service needs to develop appropriate capacity to put in place
functional systems, procedures and methods to elicit and process inputs from
the public. Such systems should be linked to the key decision moments of
departments so that the input provided by the public is indeed used in the
mainstream work of the departments.

* On the sixth principle – public administration must be accountable:

The developmental state requires a commitment to accountability since public
institutions have been delegated important management and regulatory powers.
The Report notes that the number of national departments receiving qualified
audit opinions has gone down as compared to the previous reporting cycle. At
the same time however, it is of concern that there has been an increase in the
number of matters emphasised. Clearly, matters emphasised are not as severe as
qualified audit opinions. They are nonetheless very important, and thus warrant
serious attention from the departments concerned.

It is also of concern that there has been an increase in the number of
national departments that received qualified audit opinions for consecutive
years. For a department to get a qualified audit opinion is in itself serious
enough, let alone if that department gets a qualified audit opinion for four or
even five years in a row.

At the level of provinces, the report of the Auditor-General shows that
qualified audit opinions are common across most of the provincial departments
of Education, Health, and Social Development. This is worrying because these
departments collectively receive the largest share of the budget and are also
at the core of government’s programmes of poverty reduction. The Public Service
needs to develop the capacity to address the weaknesses identified in the
reports of the Auditor-General.

The Report argues that senior public service management needs to integrate
the performance management systems that are in place into the work of the
departments, and to ensure that the use of these systems is not erratic or
motivated by the need to ensure compliance for the sake of compliance.
Furthermore, consistent compliance by HoDs and Directors-General (DGs) with the
requirements for performance evaluation is found to be essential in enabling
Cabinet and the President to have an accurate sense of the capacity of top
leadership to lead the Public Service. In this regard, the PSC has noted with
concern that only 46% of HoDs were evaluated for the 2003/04 financial year.
Consistent compliance by HoDs in terms of performance evaluation is essential
to enable Cabinet and the President to have an informed sense of the capacity
of the top administrative leadership of the Public Service.

* On the seventh principle - Transparency must be fostered by providing the
public with timely, accessible and accurate information:

For the citizenry to enjoy their right to transparent government, the Public
Service must have the capacity to open itself to public scrutiny. In this
regard, the Report notes that the format and content of Departmental Annual
Reports has improved significantly. However, an area which requires improvement
is the need to ensure that these reports are written in a language that makes
them easy for the public to understand and use. An analysis of annual reports
of departments shows that reporting still largely focuses on activities and
outputs. While such information is useful, it does not go far enough to tell
the important story of what difference the activities and the outputs make.
Reporting also needs to be improved in such a manner that departments can
provide reasons for non-performance.

Research shows that more needs to be done to ensure compliance with the
provisions of the Promotion of Access to Information Act. This will improve
responsiveness to information requests. Key to the achievement of such
responsiveness is the strengthening of M and E capacity to ensure that
departments generate reliable information on their activities as a matter of
course.

* On the eighth principle – Good human resource management and career
development practices to maximise human potential must be cultivated:

The Report argues that the ability of the Public Service to achieve its
objectives depends critically on human resource capability. Given the
importance of getting the best skills for the Public Service, recruitment and
selection capacity are therefore of utmost importance. Incorrect appointments
can be costly and have deleterious effects on the capacity of the Public
Service to deliver.

Equally important, is the effective management and development of human
resources, including addressing dissatisfactions among employees. Despite this
importance, the PSC notes with concern that there is still insufficient
adherence and compliance with the new Grievance Rules. In this regard, a number
of departments still do not adhere to the time frames stipulated in the
Grievance Rules, and refer grievances to the PSC prematurely. The development
of capacity to comply with the grievance rules is very essential for minimizing
tensions in the workplace, and should be strengthened as a matter of
urgency.

A policy framework for the management of HIV/AIDS in the Public Service is
in place. However, while HIV/AIDS Committees have been established, there is
still a lack of programmes such as those for counselling and support.
Therefore, there needs to be a more proactive approach in implementing the
HIV/AIDS framework and ensuring that effective HIV/AIDS related health and
counselling infrastructure is in place. The PSC report in which these findings
are comprehensively dealt with will be released in two weeks’ time.

* On the ninth principle - public administration must be broadly
representative of the people of South Africa:

The Report argues that whilst progress has been made in achieving numeric
targets for employment equity, low representivity of women in management and
persons with disabilities still remain areas of concern. For example, in 2005
the targeted figure for female representivity at senior management level was
30%. However, the rate achieved by national and provincial departments was
28.6% and 26% respectively. The target for people with disabilities is 2%, but
the rate achieved was 0.16%. This is not only far much lower than the set
target, but actually also represents a decrease in the 0.25% achieved in
2002.

More work still needs to be done for designated groups on induction,
training, mentorship and performance management. This is to ensure that
employment equity targets are not just met for purposes of compliance, but that
designated groups are indeed empowered to add value to the Public Service. The
PSC further calls for the creation of a clear link between human resource
planning and affirmative action as well as for Parliament and other oversight
bodies to continue engaging with these issues in order to achieve this
ideal.

* In conclusion

Overall the Report indicates that significant progress has been made in
putting in place the necessary legislative, normative and regulatory framework.
Also, sound policies are in place. What is important now is to systematically
and on a sustained basis, strengthen the operational ability of the Public
Service to translate these policies into fruitful activities.

There are some serious questions of capacity which need to be addressed.
Most significantly, these include the capacity for optimal utilisation of human
resources; the capacity for more consistent policy implementation; and the
capacity to fully achieve a citizen-centred Public Service and improve the
management of performance.

Addressing the capacity challenge in the Public Service requires dedicated
leadership from the executive and senior management levels. As a point of
departure, the executive and senior managerial capacity required for this, must
be such that it can build on the existing legislative, normative and regulatory
frameworks.

Furthermore, to ensure clear line of sight throughout the Public Service,
consistent and integrated monitoring and evaluation systems must be put in
place.

The PSC will continue to monitor the performance of the South African Public
Service and through its reporting generate a broader discussion and debate in
the service delivery discourse.

For enquiries, please contact:
Mr Humphrey Ramafoko, Director: Communication and Information Services
Tel: (012) 352-1196
Cell: 082 782 1730

Issued by: Public Service Commission
25 May 2006