Head of department
Senior managers of the department
Colleagues and comrades
We will be meeting over the next two days to chart a way forward for our department; the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development. This strategic planning session takes place just over two months after the April general elections and the reconfiguration of this department into its current form. The outcome of the elections clearly gave the ANC led government a mandate to govern given what is contained in the elections manifesto.
We are therefore serving as instruments to deliver on the mandate given to the ANC by the electorate of our country and province. The electorate confirmed that working together we can do more to create sustainable livelihoods for our people, develop our rural communities and ensure that in the quest of the execution of our responsibilities, we must ensure that no one goes hungry.
It is therefore incumbent upon us to realise that we are at the service of the people of our province and country as public servants. This therefore calls upon us to have a clear understanding of what the public sector is and be able to make a clear distinction between what we are supposed to do and what the private sector is doing.
The state as employer and currently led by the African National Congress, seeks to clearly transform the state machinery in order for it to become a developmental institution which acts in the best interest of our. This therefore requires that the state creates an environment in which it can progressively motive forces for change.
It is therefore our role as practitioners in the public sector who must ensure that public interest dominates the manner in which resources are allocated and the way in which the democratic state functions. The leading role of the state in society can therefore not be overemphasised. The transformation of the agricultural sector must therefore be people driven in the interest of the landless and rural proletariat. We also need to establish a cooperative movement that assists in the creation of and ownership of enterprises that belong to the people.
The public sector therefore is an instrument that plays a key role in the economy and does not leave the performance to the unseen hand of the market, whose primary focus is the exploitation of the poor and the maximisation of profits. All societies in transition have markets that operate within it and there is no contradiction in terms of what pertains to South Africa, however, the issue at hand is, the relationship between the markets and as to who is in control of that process.
It is therefore important that we must take those things that work in the market and use it in the public sector to better improve on efficiency, performance and management to develop, improve and extend our service delivery. The public service therefore is an integral part of the national democratic state which should play a critical role in transforming the state. Our orientation therefore as public servants has to be that of a particular bias to the working class.
This therefore would call for a particular ethos, culture and conduct among public servants. We have to also deal with a lack of work ethic, corruption, nepotism and downright disregard for government policies. We as public servants have a significant contribution to make to the creation of a better life for our people and there is no truth to the notion that only through outsourcing and privatisation that we can do things better and in an efficient manner. We therefore need to develop and train ourselves to be better equipped to deliver on the mandate given to the new administration by the electorate on 22 April 2009. We have been given the responsibility to deliver on the following areas:
- to intensify the land reform programme in order to ensure that more productive land is placed in the hands of our rural motive forces for change whilst providing them with technical skills and resources to ensure their sustainability
- to expand the agrarian reform programme in order to buttress rural development and the systematic development of agricultural cooperatives throughout the agricultural value chain
- to develop a stronger, dynamic and dialectical link between land and agrarian reform programmes
- uplift the living standards of our rural communities
- establish stronger partnerships between all spheres of government and civil society to ensure meaningful rural development
- work with commercial agriculture to improve the living conditions of farm dwellers and farm labourers and to
- provide support and assist organised labour to unionise farm workers to defend and protect their labour and constitutional rights.
In order for us to be able to achieve the mandates as given to us by the electorate, it will be incumbent upon us to develop and foster a public service cadre with the highest ethical standards, high morality and who serves his or her people with humility.
In our budget speech to the legislature, we made a commitment of a zero tolerance to corruption in our department and that is a promise we intend to keep. We will not tolerate instances where people want to siphon off state resources in order to benefit a few individuals at the expense of our service delivery mandates. We are of the firm view that as public servants we must reciprocate the goodwill of the state as employer for our working conditions, which in some instances need improvement.
We have also expressed our desire to ensure that there is prudent financial management and restraint to the manner in which we use state resources. We have to ensure that we avoid wastages at all costs in order have more resources that can be used for our service delivery objectives. We commit ourselves to ensuring that as we put our shoulder to the wheel in order to deliver on our mandates, we will reward performance and ensure that subjectivity in performance management is eliminated.
Every worker has to be remunerated according to his or her contribution to our service delivery mandate and we have to ensure that we create a working environment that is conducive to high levels of productivity. It is the responsibility of our senior managers to ensure that we move away from the boss mentality and become leaders in our units. We also have to ensure that we assist our junior officials to develop themselves further in order to allow them a chance for progression in their field of work and for purposes of personal development.
We have to remind ourselves as to why we are in the public service and who our primary clients are in order to make a meaningful contribution to the public service. As we stated in our budget presentation to the legislature, we are privileged to serve our people in our different capacities and as public servants, we dare not fail them. We will be sitting over the next two days to deliberate on how best to implement the expanded and renewed mandates with more vigour and passion.
Let us together join hands to makes this Department a shining example of service to the people of our province and country. Let our debates and interactions be open, frank and honest with a view to building a better department best placed to deliver on our electoral mandate. We are gathered here to learn from each other and to advise one another on how best to carry out the huge task placed before us.
Colleagues, let us feel free to ask, contribute and work together in order for us to do more. I look forward to working with the head of department and all colleagues to ensure that we deliver on what we had promised to the electorate.
I thank you.
Source: Department of Agriculture, Northern Cape Provincial Government
