Chairperson of the session;
Chairperson of the Public Service Commission and all commissioners present;
Deputy Speaker of our Provincial Legislature, Ntate Masoga;
Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Public Administration, Ntate Maswanganyi
Fellow panellists; Invited guests;
Ladies and Gentlemen:
I am told that my task is to welcome you to this very important Stakeholder Engagement Forum which is organised by the Public Service Commission. I will therefore not deviate from this scope of my and mandate which is to welcome you.
I take it that we are all aware of the fact that this engagement forum is taking place just a day before the rest of the country celebrates National Heritage Day.
There continues to be questions as to what forms the collective heritage of our people.
I want to submit, chairperson, that public service, which was first visualised in the Ready to Govern document of the African National Congress and now codified into our constitution, can become a collective heritage of our people. The challenge for all of us is to work towards the realisation of that type of public service.
Chairperson of the Commission, I feel I should command you for convening us in this fashion under the umbrella of this all-important stakeholder engagement session. The significance of this session is evidenced by your carefully crafted theme: Building the foundation for effective collaboration and partnership”.
It is my assumption that you have chosen this striking theme because you have reconciled with the importance of collaboration and partnership in the workings of state institution. The fact is that all of us, from the legislature, government departments and Chapter Nine institutions are working to give effect to the dictates of our constitution.
All of us are summoned by the urgency of bettering the lives of our people. We may have different enablers and mandates but we all are supposed to work for the common good of our country and its people. It is for this reason, chairperson, that collaborations and partnerships are unavoidable. Competition and antagonism is simply a luxury we cannot afford.
The constitution has mandated us to build a public service which is governed by democratic values;
- A public service that promote effective, efficient and economic utilisation of resources; and
- A public service which is open, transparent and accountable.
There is simply no room for partisan tendencies and activities within the public service. I emphasise the point that all of us must work to promote and advance the constitutional values and principles governing public service. For all of us to do this, we must first enjoy a supporting environment.
Chairperson, I trust that I am not imposing an unreasonable burden on you in expecting you to engage also in the context of our 20 years of freedom and democracy.
For the purpose of our interaction today, we must ask the question if we have done enough to transform the public service into effective and efficient machinery reliable to deliver on the mandate to better the lives of our people.
To answer this question we need to first look into the institutional and legislative framework which is in place, secondly, we will need to look into the type of human capital we have in the public service.
Chairperson, speaking at the launch of the Public Administration Leadership and Management Academy (PALAMA), former President Thabo Mbeki said: “In a democracy, one of the prime duties of the government is to give realisation to the rights of its citizens, not only to ensure their freedom through carefully structured relations amongst the different institutions, but also, to advance their rights and opportunities through access to services”
It is clear from this submission from former President Mbeki that in advancing what he refers to as “prime duties of the government”, we cannot avoid the importance of relations amongst different government institutions.
We should be worried if any of these institutions are being weakened. We also should be worried if any of these institutions are not discharging its responsibilities in accordance with the constitution and the law. Over and above this, we should be worried if any amongst us work to derail or frustrate the work of these institutions. The other ‘crime’ is to utilise these institutions for a reason other than the one intended by the law.
Chairperson, for our part as government, we summarise the past 20 years of our freedom and democracy with a phrase that says ‘we have a good story to tell’.
I am convinced that the most difficult thing, even more difficult than rocket science, is to oppose the existence of this good story. We have made an unrivalled progress in providing social services such as healthcare, education and housing.
In this province, we have in the last 20 years managed to:
- Provide over 86 percent of households with clean drinking water;
- Electrified over 87 percent of households;
- Provided free housing to millions of our residents; and
- Improved access to decent sanitation with about 10 percent.
The truth is that these achievements are to greater extent the achievements of our public service. Without committed men and women in public service, who epitomises the values of accountability, openness and transparency, we would not have achieved what we have achieved in the past 20 years.
I accept however Chairperson, that there is still much that can and must be done to build an ideal public service. The starting point is obviously to strengthen the capacity of our public service to be effective, efficient and development oriented as the constitution demand.
I trust the panel discussion may introduce us to innovative proposals on how to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of public service. These proposals should also speak to the measures we need to employ in order to produce what I refer to as a ‘model public servant’.
The truth is that we still have some in public service who President Mbeki described as “the public servants who see themselves as pen-pushers and guardians of rubber stamps, thieves intent on self-enrichment, bureaucrats who think they have a right to ignore the vision of Batho Pele, who come to work as late as possible, works as little as possible and knock off as early as possible”.
The self-enrichment syndrome is a cancer we must confront and root out from public service. There are things that we simply can no longer tolerate in public service; this includes what I consider to be deliberate failures of some departments or officials to provide their Annual Financial Statements to the Auditor General in time for audit.
Those of us who are privileged to work in public service are also trusted with public resources. This trust is not a blank cheque; it comes with constitutional obligation to account. To act otherwise is to undermine our constitution and to take our people for granted.
Ladies and gentlemen, I said that I would not deviate from my mandate to merely pass my welcome remarks. I hope I did not deviate.
I therefore wish to take this opportunity and officially welcome all of you to this engagement session.
I am looking forward to interesting and enriching debates.
I thank you!
