It is a pleasure to be invited to address the 2010 ASSADPAM Conference here in Pretoria and as the keynote speaker to have the opportunity to share a few insights from my perspective as an executive authority responsible for public service and administration In South Africa. The theme of the conference - The state of the discipline - theory, teaching and practice of public administration – evaluating the ‘memory of the future’ – is timely and challenging.
Timely, I think, because following a highly successful world cup and a more recent crippling, but suspended public sector strike, we need to reflect carefully on the challenges we face as a democratic, developmental state and the type of public administration we need to support such a state. Challenging because it means that you, as academics and practitioners, need to reflect on the theory, teaching and practice of public administration and its relevance to local, regional and global social, economic and development challenges.
Let’s begin by reflecting on ‘memory of the future’. There is an African proverb which says that “until lions have their historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunters.” Memory is the ability to store, retain and recall information.
When reflecting on the past, memory recalls events to create a story, a version of the truth, in the same way that the hunter, by the fireside, tells of the hunt. Don Mattera,a South African poet and author, demonstrates this in his book, Memory is the Weapon. The book intertwines his autobiography with his memory of Sophiatown and its demolition.
Mattera captures the joy and energy of Sophiatown, as well the pain of watching a community destroyed by the apartheid government. In this way, he recalls the past by creating a feeling of nostalgia for the magic of Sophiatown. This nostalgia is a memory of the future. It is about what post-apartheid South African communities could be.
When reflecting on the future, memory recalls dreams to create new stories and new truths. It creates opportunities for us to envision a different, more just, more equal world. Memory of the future is hope. The poet, TS Eliot, reflects it thus:
Footfalls echo in the memory
Down the passage which we did not take
Towards the door we never opened
This is the challenge we have today as we reflect on the discipline of public administration. What doors did we fail to open in rethinking our respective practices? What is our vision of a future public administration? How can we build a new understanding of public administration for a democratic, developmental state?
What is our ‘memory’ of a future public administration?
We cannot claim our memory of the future from the past of apartheid. It is time to let this backward looking orientation go and focus forward. President Jacob Zuma, in an address to Directors Generals on 23 April 2010, challenged them thus:
After two decades we will not be able to make any excuses if we do not deliver faster change in the lives of our people.
We will not be able to blame apartheid if some villages still have no water, no electricity and no roads.
We will not be able to blame anyone else if children still study under trees, if hospitals and schools are falling apart, and if there are still thousands who live in abject poverty.
We have the resources, we must change the way in which we use them. We must manage government differently to expand access to a better life for all our people, especially the poor.
We claim our memory of the future from the hopes and dreams of the past. It is embedded in the visions and strategies for which our people fought. The Freedom Charter was adopted by the The Congress of the People gathered at Kliptown, outside Johannesburg on 25 to 26 June 1955, after a long campaign. It documents the basic democratic rights and principles which are embedded in our Constitution. The vision of a just public administration that meets the needs of all citizens in South Africa in embedded in the Charter.
All people shall be entitled to take part in the administration of the country;
The rights of the people shall be the same, regardless of race, colour or sex;
There shall be equal status in the bodies of state, in the courts and in the schools for all national groups and races;
No-one shall be condemned by the order of any government official;
All who work shall be free to form trade unions, to elect their officers and to make wage agreements with their employers;
The Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) developed by ANC and COSATU in 1993/94 imagines a democratic, non-racial and non-sexist future. Although Apartheid had created a society that is racially divided, unequal and poor, the six basic principles of the RDP speak to a future public administration that is:
- Integrated and sustainable in terms of strategies and resourcing
- People-driven, with service processes that are responsive to needs
- Focused on building safety and security for all
- Developmental and oriented to nation building
- Able to link reconstruction and development to ensure that all citizens have access to key services
- Democratic and enabling of people’s participation is decision making.
We also see a future public administration practice and approach in our policies and legislative frameworks. The government has used policy and legislation to strengthen the functioning of the state. The 1995 White Paper on Education and Training, the 1997 White Paper on Human Resource Management in the Public Service and the 1998 White Paper on Public Service Training and Education provide guidelines on service delivery improvement, institutional change and building professional capacity.
The Public Service Act and associated regulations were introduced to transform the public service and ensure effective integration of public administration practices. Significant legislation to support effective public administration in financial management and local government was also introduced.
The Constitution says that all people in South Africa, regardless of their race, creed or gender, are entitled to be served by a public administration that:
- has a high standard of professional ethics
- works fairly, equitably and without bias
- uses resources (for the people) effectively, efficiently and economically
- responds to peoples’ needs
- is accountable, transparent and development oriented.
The Bill of Rights gives citizens certain rights to take action against the state it they believe their constitutional rights have been infringed, and to have access to information held by the state which they need in order to be able to do so.
The White Paper on Transforming Public Service Delivery – Batho Pele creates a framework for the delivery of public services, which enables the citizens to hold public servants to account for the services they receive. The Batho Pele policy framework consists of eight service delivery principles which further define our desired public administration. These include consultation; service standards; access; courtesy; information; openness and transparency; redress and value for money.
Effective public administration is not a privilege in a democratic society, it is a legitimate right. This is because government is committed to ensuring that all people in South Africa have a better standard of living and better life chances than they do now. The government is committed to poverty alleviation and development. This can only happen if our public administration works in the interests of all people to grow and build the country and to provide care and support to marginalised communities.
A public administration with a memory of the future will be responsive and caring and proactive in dealing with citizens and their challenges. The “defining feature of this administration will be that it knows where people live, understands their needs, and responds faster” (President Jacob Zuma, 2010 State of the Nation Address). This understanding reflects the dominant interpretation of a developmental state as “any state that deliberately intervenes to promote development” (Chang, 2008:18).
What is public administration’s relation to practice?
Public administration defines our practice. It provides the constructs, systems and processes we use as government to deliver key services. In my work, I attend many community imbizos where I listen to and see the effects of our public administration practice. I see half-built houses, a lack of, or poor, basic facilities such as police stations and hospitals, sanitation and water, little evidence of government frontline service delivery centres and poverty.
I hear about how many government officials do not provide the services. Recently, as you know, we have had a public sector strike in which some officials left babies uncared for, children uneducated and old people helpless. Have they forgotten the memory of the future that many of them fought so hard to secure?
We know the challenges are colossal despite the progress we have made in providing greater access to health care, education, clean water and sanitation, electricity and housing and most importantly social grants as poverty relief measures. However, in order to meet our mandate we need to acknowledge that we have a long way to go in meeting the basic needs of disadvantaged communities.
The 2009 Development Indicators released by the Presidency show that we have performed poorly on many of the big measures – unemployment has increased, water is scarce and wasted through poor management of sanitation and infrastructure, average life expectancy is declining, education outcomes are poor, safety and security is limited and we continue to face protests from communities over poor delivery, corruption and inadequate provision.
Our Constitution notes the need for a public administration with high standards of professional ethics, that is effective, development-oriented and provides services impartially, fairly, equitably and without bias. This is a developmental public administration. This is an administration that will create the space for meaningful engagement with all stakeholders on substantive issues around resource allocation and prioritisation in the delivery of services.
This implies a different type of public administration practice and a different set of skills for public servants. They need to be able to engage citizens in a meaningful way and in particular to enable citizens to participate in processes and decisions which impact on their lives and livelihoods. A developmental public administration supports, builds and enables citizens to engage and receive good quality, relevant services.
A developmental public administration uses available resources to provide services which meet citizen needs. It builds a relationship of trust and creates public value. It works courageously across government silos and boundaries. It is people focused, innovative and flexible. It is committed to dealing with complex problems boldly and without excuses. It listens.
This implies that public administration is not simply a responsive face on the other side of the counter, but engaged in citizen participation. A developmental public administration does use the bureaucratic line as an excuse for non-delivery. It does not hide behind excuses of limited resources or red-tape. It does not go on lunch or go home when citizens need services.
The Public Service Commission publishes an annual State of the Public Service report which documents the kinds of challenges that characterise our public administration practice. These include challenges related to corruption, inadequate systems to support delivery, poor performance management, a lack of integration across department and levels of government, poor financial management and inadequate service. These are not the characteristics of a developmental public administration and will not enable government to meet its needs.
How adequate are our understandings of public administration?
There has been a long and extended debate on public administration as a discipline which has been recently revived in international debates at forum such as the Commonwealth Association Public Administration and Management (CAPAM) and the International Association of Schools and Institutes of Administration (IASIA). There are two issues that underpin the debate.
The first relates to the epistemology of public administration. Specifically, what core discipline underpins public administration? Is it politics, economics or science? Jos Raadschelders (2008) argues that four intellectual traditions can be identified in public administration and that all four should inform public administration as a discipline. An orientation to the development of practical wisdom uses political, governance and ethical theory to explore the state’s relationship to citizens. A focus on practical experience emphasises technocratic knowledge, instruments and management techniques. Studies focused on science search for a scientific or unifying theory and more relativistic perspectives (postmodernism) highlight interpretation and subjectivity.
In more simple terms, Jocelyne Bourgon (2009) suggests that public administration emerged from law and political science with an emphasis on compliance. It borrowed from business management to improve performance. It included economics and public choice theory in the search for economy. Finally, it is enriched by social science and organisational development theories.
The second and related factor in the debate is the issue of praxis. Who is it that primarily produces knowledge and understanding about public administration? Practitioners and public officials at the coal face claim that only they are able to understand the challenges of public administration as they operate at the interface between the citizen and the state. They suggest that academics in their ivory towers just don’t get it. On the other hand, academics argue that the space enables them to theorise about public administration by identifying patterns and approaches often overlooked in the flurry of meeting needs.
Regardless of your position in this debate, we need a public administration theory that is, in the words of Jocelyne Bourgon (2009) capable of “serving beyond the predictable”. We know there are no easy solutions to the complex global and local problems governments confront. We are in fact not looking for easy solutions.
We know that resources are limited and that the problems are complex and systemic. We know that the consequences of failure are dire for our citizens, our countries and our fragmented but connected world.
Governments are increasingly required to manage complexity where cause and effect are difficult to untwine and unknowns abound. Ensuring service delivery in complex and unpredictable environments and fragmented social contexts requires a different approach to public administration from the one size fits all approach of formal bureaucratic administrations and the efficiency drivers of new public management.
It requires a growing focus on the quality and relevance of public administration and a shift to more ethical models of government and values-based service delivery.
Earlier bureaucratic or managerial models of public administration are no longer relevant as “off-the-shelf” solutions do not apply. Government leaders and public servants, as trustees of the common good, have to ensure continuity while managing change and crisis.
They also have to be committed to understanding the citizens they serve and the contexts within which they live in order to make public administration relevant, meaningful and accessible.
This shift in focus assumes a different approach to public administration. It implies, on the one hand, a need to align processes vertically and horizontally within governments. On the other hand, it suggests active strategies to empower citizens to participate in making decisions about their lives and livelihoods.
In other words, new understandings of public administration need to rethink accountability and responsibility in the interests of communities and development.
How can we best teach public administration for developmental government?
I am sure many of you are aware of the concerns expressed by government with regard to the quality and relevance of teaching and research in public administration. Recent figures from the Department of Higher Education and Training show growing public administration enrolments, but are they being adequately prepared for government? Using a 32 percent formula for graduate unemployment, means 429 certificate/diploma and 269 bachelor’s degree graduates, a total of 698 graduates, were unemployed in 2006. On the other hand, we have high vacancy rates in government.
This means that higher education institutions and government training institutions are not entirely meeting the needs of government or society in the teaching of public administration. If we do not have a thorough understanding of public administration within the context of our country, we will continue to struggle to provide appropriate and responsive programmes.
The 1995 White Paper on the Transformation of the Public Service envisioned training and education as critical to “develop the professional capacities of public servants and to promote institutional change” by:
First, equipping all public servants with the necessary knowledge, skills and competencies to carry out their jobs effectively in pursuit of the new vision and mission for the public service;
Second, forming an integral part of the process of increasing the representativeness of the public service;
Third, enabling public servants to acquire a new development-oriented professionalism; this will entail the development of a new work ethic, knowledge and skills with which to implement the RDP;
Fourth, being a powerful instrument for anticipating as well as facilitating the introduction of institutional changes within the public service; and
Fifth, assisting public servants in developing a better understanding of the needs of the communities which they are serving, as well as a capacity to respond to these needs.
This responsiveness to the history, context and political, social and economic orientation of the country is a crucial part of effective public administration teaching. The teaching has to be situated, action oriented and experiential. Key questions to answer in this regard are:
- What impact do you have on public service delivery through capacity development?
- How do you translate professionalism into quality programmes and quality service delivery?
- Do you have relevant programmes that demonstrate an understanding of government needs, short and long term?
- Do you understand the agenda of government and what knowledge and skills are needed to propel this agenda?
Not only in South Africa, but across the globe, public servants are required to work in different ways and new institutional contexts. This means that management development institutions and higher education institutions engaged in public administration need to, in the words of Jocelyne Bourgon, “prepare people to serve people” as well as manage effectively.
People who serve people are thoughtful, committed and ethical. They focus on getting the work done with respect, care and integrity; deal strategically with continuity, change and complexity and follow through on their commitments. This implies a different kind of teaching and new research strategies. Bourgon (2009, p327) poses the challenge as follows:
Whichever path each country chooses, as researchers and inquisitive practitioners in public administration, we have a responsibility and even a duty to help those who commit to serving their fellow citizens, be it for a time or for most of their career, to succeed.
Throughout the history of our field, people in public administration have helped public servants, both elected and professional, to face the challenges of their time. We have done so by teaching, by preparing future public servants to be more than good managers. Their role is to do things and to do them well, but more importantly, to do something of societal value. We have done so in research by capturing emerging trends, studying new practices, identifying potential risks and providing advice and guidance to practitioners.
At the Public Sector Trainers’ Forum (PSTF) conference in September 2009, I noted that developmental and activist public servants would need the following attributes to tackle current government policy implementation challenges:
- Breaking new ground - Being innovative for public good
- Inspiring success - Self-motivating and motivating others to service the public
- Raising the standard – Giving one’s best regardless of what is the challenge
- Nothing is impossible – Salvaging failing situations through turn-around strategies
- Making a difference to people – Commitment to meet citizens’ expectations
- Collective responsibility and teamwork – Working with other people as partnerships within the organs of state and other stakeholders
- On board – Taking charge and responsibility of the service processes
- International activism – Advancing public service agenda on the continent and in the world.
My challenge to you in your deliberations over the next two days about The State of the Discipline - Theory, teaching and practice of Public Administration – evaluating the ‘memory of the future’ is to think about the how we can develop these attributes.
What kind of public administration do we need to build and support a developmental public administration that is responsive to our history, context and experiences?
This will lead to relevant teaching and research and the development of the public administration activists or cadres we need to achieve the hopes and dreams of our citizens – our memory of the future.
Thank you.
