Members of the Executive Council
Mayors among us
The Chief Whip and all Members of the Provincial Legislature
Esteemed Representatives from the Offices of:
The Auditor General
The Public Service Commission
Representatives from the non-governmental organisations (NGOs), business and labour sectors, specifically the Public Sector Unions
Representatives from our Implementing Agencies
Acting Director General and the Heads of Departments
Government Officials specifically the representatives from the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) and Public Administration Leadership and Management Academy (PALAMA)
Members of the media
Ladies and gentlemen
It is a great honour for me to be here among you today as you meet to launch, among other activities, the Provincial Public Sector Transformation Strategy (PSTS). To begin my address here today I would like to reflect on an aspect of the fundamentals of the African National Congress (ANC), which talk to the organisation being a progressive force that seeks to realise change internationally working on promoting the transformation of the global order into a more humane and equitable world order.
This global positioning was once articulated by our struggle icon and first democratic President, Dr Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, when said: “South Africa cannot be an island of prosperity in a sea of despair, therefore, social and economic regional integration in Southern Africa remains a priority for South Africa.”
In the quest to realise a better life for all, the ANC chose to take an overt approach that takes under the organisation’s ambit commitment to international welfare and developmental considerations to ensure survival and prosperity of human race. What is apparent from this reflection is that for us to be the leading nation that epitomises these intrinsic values, we need to lead with socio-political stability, economic advancement, innovation and productivity.
Seated here, we are all aware of the role that South Africa has assumed in the African continent, specifically within the Southern African Development Community (SADEC) in ensuring that there is peace, security and stability. Before you question the relevance of this information in this event, I would like to submit that the overwhelming electoral support that the ANC received in 1994 and the subsequent transformation of the South African policy framework that gave birth to our beautiful constitution hurled our nation into one of the darling nations of the world.
As darlings, we are expected to be exemplary and this need not be the responsibility of the politicians alone. Our belief is that together we can achieve more. It is thus important that the Public Sector is embracive of the Government policy framework and works accordingly to operationalise it so that we see tangible results.
The current phase of our revolution, as documented in the resolutions of the 52nd ANC Conference held in Polokwane, is characterised by an emphasis on governance as one of our principal pillars. With the ruling party having amassed considerable experience in running the affairs of the state, it has become prudent that there be complementary strategic initiatives that talk to the improvement of service culture within the Public Service.
This would ensure that there is efficacy in the disbursement of public amenities. When we took office last year, after the fourth South African general elections, we put emphasis on Public Service transformation that would be characterized by, among other things, professionalism, honesty and hard work; return to the values of Batho Pele as well as enhancing accountability through centralised performance monitoring.
To reflect on Batho Pele briefly, it is worth noting that Batho Pele reviews undertaken in 2002 and 2003 by the Department of Public Service and Administration nationally showed that government departments were at different levels of implementation and were not adhering to the basic public administration practices.
The study specifically revealed that “whilst the policy has been enthusiastically received and has become an effective brand name to signify the intention to improve service delivery, the actual implementation of the eight principles of Batho Pele has been slow and challenged with narrow and uneven interpretation”. A Batho Pele revitalisation programme anchored in this set of beliefs: “We belong, We care, We serve”, was developed to strengthen implementation and institutionalisation. The four pronged campaign rested on the following pillars:
- Taking the Public Services to the People increasing access and thus eradicating socio-economic marginalisation and achieving objectives of the developmental state Know your Services Rights and Responsibilities – extensive education and awareness on services rights, promoting responsible usage and mechanisms to seek redress
- Putting people first – improve capability to manage service and client related matters (customer care)
- Mainstreaming, institutionalizing, sustaining and fostering accountability for Batho Pele.
With this launch of the Provincial Public Sector Transformation Strategy and the subsequent accompanying analytical work, one is quite hopeful that the Eastern Cape Provincial Government (ECPG) is going to see a complete turnaround in its administration. To realise this, naturally we need thoughtfulness and commitment and there is no one who coins it better for me than Margaret Meade who says: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
The Eastern Cape province, if you look at our history, has over the recent centuries had tremendous influence in the shaping of the political landscape within the African Continent. Since, as I have indicated earlier, we have such grand plans as the ANC government when it comes to playing in the international arena; it becomes quite important that strategies like PSTS prevail. We need to see positive evolution of the public service culture so that we realize optimal service delivery.
In the light of this background, it is easy to see that we are a fighting province, a province where most structures of resistance against colonial and apartheid powers originated. The ANC was born in the Free State after having been strategised and coined in the Eastern Cape. It is an acceptable historical fact throughout the world that the Eastern Cape is region that did not fight battles, but wars because of the steadfastness of its people who were dedicated to what they believed in. They resorted to all sorts of resistance as they could not accept subjugation and ill treatment.
As this province, we have this background of fighting and not accepting the suppression masses of the as shown through the wars fought in defense of women, children and the broad society. It started with the wars of resistance against foreigners but seemingly it has not ended and the enemy is evidently within. Now that we have proven that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, as a province we are marred with tendencies of people who are working to forsake what we have fought for. Today we are seen by the whole world as the most corrupt and all similar negative connotations that one can think of tend to brand the Eastern Cape. We cannot allow ourselves to remain at the bottom of the lot lest we invoke a revolution from the people who have voted us into office.
We need put a bold challenge to these practices where there is complete disregard of the guiding principles of the law like Batho Pele and the Public Finance Management Act among others. What type of a nation are we building if we undermine our own initiative and own value systems?
We are here to restore order and we need to change the manner in which we do things. We cannot claim to be democratic revolutionaries when our practices do not talk to that. We need the positive culture to ensure that we assist our communities.
It is this delivery that would restore the credibility of the ECPG which has taken hard hammering as a result of various audit reports that reveal gross inefficiencies on our part. Having identified the Departments of Education and Health as the most challenging within the Provincial Administration, it is appropriate to highlight the kind of actions that are taken to restore normality here through a turnaround intervention. To realise this, the rigorous steps that are being taken comprise:
- elimination of corruption
- emphasis of the delivery on Departmental mandates in an effective and efficient manner
- employment of appropriate capacity at both management and operational levels
- a concerted drive to achieve unqualified audit opinions from the Auditor General
It must be noted that already, as part of this turnaround intervention, good progress has been made in easing the backlogs in payments to service providers, that a supply chain management improvement programme has been initiated, and that contract and project management improvements have commenced. I am particularly impressed by the cleaning up of related systems as well as the institution of disciplinary and criminal actions against officials suspected of corrupt activity.
Ladies and gentlemen, this strategy, in line with the theme of this summit “Driving Service Excellence Through Culture Change” is intended to support with the achievement of the eight Provincial Strategic Framework (PSF) thrusts more specifically the seventh one: “Building a developmental state, improving the public services, and strengthening democratic institutions”.
Let me remind the audience that in June this year we celebrated 55 years of the Freedom Charter which became bedrock and a statement of central principles of our struggle for the liberation of this country. This Charter was a result of the tenacity of the ANC which had earlier sent out fifty thousand volunteers into townships and the countryside to collect 'freedom demands' from the people of South Africa. This process was meant to ensure that the struggle waged against apartheid South Africa was a principled one, based on the real demands of the people. It succeeded because people owned it. We also need to ensure that this strategy, which we all have participated in crafting, we also own, so that we succeed.
Our operations as the Eastern Cape Provincial Government in driving the public sector transformation and accelerating service delivery as well should not be distant from the expressed needs and demands of our people. We also need to relay information about the progress of service delivery as it is this failure to communicate that causes unnecessary discontent and panic. Given the size of our civil service which currently stands at around 140 000 employees, aspects of the envisioned service delivery should be easily achievable. Let me assert that we definitely need a change in the way that the public service thinks and does things. We need to attune our minds to how best we can achieve results by evaluating all possibilities. Let us turn the tide on some of the current dominant practices that tend to negate any of the good work that is being done by the Provincial Government.
We need to see the innovation that has been used to loot Government in some quarters being used to the benefit of our people.
It is worth noting that there are pockets of excellence within the Public Sector which we should all seek to emulate. I would like to highlight:
- The Department of Social Development for the Management Information Systems they developed and is being implemented nationally in most provinces.
- The Department of Roads & Transport for among others the Household Contractor Road Maintenance programme, the Kei Rail project and the Bhisho Airport project; as well as.
- The Department of Agriculture for the Plaatjie and Qamza Women’s Dairy Project and making a positive contribution in the honey value chain through developing bee keepers.
The examples I have cited reflect what the appropriate implementation of the PSTS should achieve.
I wish you a progressive summit, hoping that the meeting of minds over these two days will truly animate the civil service igniting a government culture and communication processes that would truly change our world for us all to get the benefits of a caring government and a caring society.
I thank you all.
