Keynote address by Deputy Minister for Public Service and Administration Dr Chana Pilane - Majake at the Public Service Commission roundtable discussion, UNISA, Pretoria
Chairperson of the Public Service Commission, Adv. Richard K Sizani,
Public Service Commissioners: Moira-Marais Martins, Mike Seloane, Phumelele Nzimande, Dr Bruno Luthuli, Selinah Nkosi, Dr Henk Boshoff, Singita Mafanya, David Mkwananzi, Dr Mpilo Sithole, George Mashamba, Moeletsi Leballo,
Director-General of the Public Service Commission, Dr D Mamphiswana and senior officials,
Director-General of the Department of Public Service and Administration, Professor Richard Levin,
Director-General of the Department of Planning Monitoring and Evaluation, Ms Mpumi Mpofu,
Acting Principal of the National School of Government, Mr Botshabelo Maja,
Research Manager, Public Research Institute, Dr Mbongiseni Buthelezi,
Acting Executive Dean: Humanities-Tshwane University of Technology,
Prof Mashupye H Maserumele, Delegates from universities, colleges, professional bodies, civil society, government and the private sector,
Distinguished guests.
Ladies and gentlemen
Programme Director
As we mark September as Public Service Month, it is important to note the two progressive documents which are the cornerstone of our democracy, namely the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa and the National Development Plan Vision 2030. Both documents envisage a Public Service that is professional, accountable and developmental in building a capable state. Section 195(1) of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa states that basic values and principles governing public administration must be governed by the democratic values and principles enshrined in the Constitution, including the following:
- A highstandard of professional ethics.
- Efficient, economic and effective use of resources must be promoted.
- Public administration must be development-oriented.
- Services must be provided impartially, fairly, equitably and without bias.
- People’s needs must be responded to, and the public must be encouraged to participate in policy-making.
- Public administration must be accountable.
- Transparency must be fostered by providing the public with timely, accessible and accurate information.
- Good human-resource management and career-development practices, to maximise human potential, must be cultivated.
- Public administration must be broadly representative of the People of South Africa, with employment and personnel management practices based on ability, objectivity, fairness, and the need to redress the imbalances of the past to achieve broad representation.
Drawing from the Constitution, the NDP further highlights the need for well run and effectively coordinated state institutions with skilled and capable public servants who are committed to the public good and capable of consistently delivering high quality services, whilst prioritising the nation’s developmental objectives.It also emphasises making the Public Service an employer of choice. This entails building a competent skilled and professional Public Service from top to bottom.
In building a capable, career-oriented and professional Public Service, the Public Service Commission (PSC) focuses on career-oriented, professional Public Service that upholds a fair and merit driven recruitment strategy.
Let me take this opportunity to comment the PSC for coordinating this roundtable with the view to provide a conceptual framework for professionalization of the Public Service of South Africa.
To this end, this round table discussion should clearly articulate a common understanding of professionalization and reflect on progress made towards professionalization of South Africa’s public service, in line with the ideals of the Constitution and the National Development Plan. This effort should be followed by a review of a conceptual framework for institutional mechanisms towards effective and efficient public service.
Whilst there is no definitive definition of what constitutes a profession as distinct from an occupation or trade, there is a general agreement in the comparative sociology literature that traditionally a profession has been viewed as a vocation or full time career that exhibits the following characteristic: a profession has –a defined scope of work; and Set requirements that must be met in order to be a member of the profession and to be able to do the work.
Professionalization is a social process whereby a trade or occupation transforms itself into a true profession of the highest integrity and competence. This process tends to involve establishing acceptable qualifications, a professional body or association to oversee and regulate the affairs and conduct of members of the profession. Others define Professionalization –as a process of organising occupations in terms of knowledge, skills, standards and codes of conduct to achieve recognition. The process can include or exclude the formation of professional associations. The task of professionalising the Public Service is not be an easy and requires a strong partnership between government departments, Academia, Professional Associations, Private Sector and Civil Society.
The responsibilities for the regulation of the affairs and behaviour of members are typically delegated to professional bodies who assume the responsibility of setting relevant competence criteria for admission into the profession, overseeing the certification of professionals, and setting and enforcing ethical work practices and behaviour.
However, we should guard against having a proliferation of bodies that might equally undermine the basic tenets of professionalization.
Professionalisation in the Public Service in essence includes all jobs, occupations, technicians and trades in the Public Service.
The Constitution promotes a high standard of professional ethics which must be promoted and maintained.
The White Paper on the Transformation of the Public Service emphasised the need to promote professional ethos and ongoing skills training for all employees at all levels ‘as part of their professional life.
Such skills and competencies will not only be occupational, technical and professional in nature. They must also relate to problem solving, innovation and leadership.”
The Code of Conduct has been developed to give practical effect to the relevant constitutional provisions relating to the Public Service, including its professionalization.
We must always ask ourselves questions as to whether -interventions and programmes such as Batho Pele White Paper, introduction of the Senior Management Service (SMS) and Middle Management Service, learnership and internship programmes, amongst others are implemented as envisaged and if they are making any impact or what are the challenges?
The Professionalization imperative is driven by the NDP. The NDP is a plan to eliminate poverty and reduce inequality. Chapter 13 of the NDP focuses on building a capable and developmental state and sets outs, amongst others, the following objectives as attributes of a developmental state:
- Astate that is capable of playing a developmental and transformative role.
- A Public Service immersed in the developmental Agenda.
The NDP goes further to outline institutional mechanisms required for effective and efficient public service that is accountable and allows for reconciliation of administrative and political priorities. Whenever necessary the Public Service Act should be amended to harmonize responsibilities for human-resource management for quality service delivery.
While the NDP lays down an excellent plan, the major challenge is a lack of implementation of the NDP’s professionalization ideals in an integrated and holistic manner.
Alignment between Academia, Professional bodies and various government departments is still a challenge. Curriculum for Universities must be informed by Public Service needs that do not remain the same as society changes. University research must also be focused on public service challenges to come up with solutions backed by authentic empirical evidence.
In summary, professionalization aims to build the State’s capacity such that the public sector activities are translated into for example eradication of poverty, unemployment and inequalities to the extent that South African state resources can be redeployed to growth, development and investments that are necessary for upscaling the economy and improvement of the lives of the people of South Africa.
There is a need for a more coordinated, strategic approach to build state capacity and this calls for more collaboration by all stakeholders. Revisiting all existing plans and policies is of paramount importance and must be used as a base for such engagements.
There is an urgent need for government institutions to foster strong partnerships towards building a capable, career-oriented and professional Public Service. Professional and career development takes many forms from formal degree, diploma, certificate programmes; short course training; in-house capacity building; innovative initiatives; e-learning; seminars and works hops; mentoring and benchmarking from best practice models.
The NDP diagnostic report states that there is an ambivalence about skills in the Public Service. The professionalization of the Public Service should be undertaken in a much more structured and systematic way.
The scope of professional work in the Public Service should always be guided by the requirements as outlined by professional associations that are guided by the university curriculum offered. The readiness of new entrants should be such that they only be trained as part of orientation programme on basic tenants of public service as a career of choice. Graduates must come out of universities ready to work to avoid retraining that doubles government spending and retards progress at individual
and state level. DPSA HR Connect programme in government must identify qualifications skills gaps relating to job requirements and notify through the Department of Higher Education the relevant joint university forum for curriculum development to ensure that future new entrants are well equipped. In the meantime all skills gaps are addressed by the National School of Government that should make inputs into university curriculum development processes.
Professional bodies play an important role in setting relevant competence criteria for admission into professions, overseeing the certification and licensing of professionals, setting and enforcing ethical work practises and behaviour, assisting in the setting of legally enforceable standards. Public Service employs people who are members of various professional bodies. There is need for alignment of Codes of Conduct of such bodies with Public Service Code of Conduct to help fight corruption and various practices that hamper productivity in the public sector. Unintended consequences of policies meant for control and accountability must be addressed timeously to limit wasteful expenditure and graft of state resources.
Without enough resources public service delivery can never be realized. In this regard, Treasury’s Supply Chain Policy should revisit a requirement for government to procure services from business on supplier database regardless a price in some instances that can be up 700% more than the market rate.Professional job requirements must be standardised across government departments by the DPSA to eliminate discrimination and apply principles of fairness in appointing professionals. Performance appraisals based on realistic targets that bring about transformation of the South African society must be harm onized. Funding targets that do not articulate into transformation even if they are met like it but the situation of persistent poverty, unemployment and inequalities calls for revised targets/approach.
Performance appraisal must be linked to career pathing and succession planning to unlock potential for professionals to further their careers and encourage youth to become professional and choose public service as a career of choice.
The Occupational Specific Dispensations related challenges across government departments calls for review of the entire programme to identify what could be fundamentally flawed with the programme.
The current challenge is high turnover of professionals within the ranks of Assistant and Deputy Directors. This occurrence disturbs experiential learning and skills transfer.
In its Discussion Document on a Public Service for a Developmental State, the PSC consequently made recommendations for a fundamental change in the career system for professionals in the Public Service from the current open system to a more closed career system, an idea that warrants interrogation in this round table discussion.
This involves a much more structured approach to build careers and a pool of skills from which top managers could be selected. So far, DPSA has introduced in government, prescribed experience, qualifications and training requirements for professionals that requires collaboration with all relevant stakeholders.The process of professionalising the Public Service requires identification of the key processes to make it a reality. The following additional public service activities assists in building on what is already in place:
- Development of clear set of norms and standards for all the professions/disciplines in the Public Service.
- Identify professional bodies that are operating within the various disciplines to collaborate with government departments and institutions of higher learning to ensure that service delivery challenges are addressed through strategic approaches.
In conclusion, Once again, the following extract from the NDP 2030 captures what is needed:
“The National Development Plan is a plan for the country to eliminate poverty and reduce inequality by 2030 through uniting South Africans, unleashing the energies of its citizens, growing an inclusive economy, building capabilities, enhancing the capacity of the state and leaders working together to solve complex problems”. Professionalising the Public Service is a key step towards building a sustainable State by investing in the human capital tasked with managing Public Administration. Our
success as the Public Service working with all stakeholders rests on our ability to learn, reflect, implement and grow. Any holistic framework for professionalization of the Public Service must be a collaborative effort and must be based on a common understanding of the professionalization process.
- Given different needs of the Public Service, there is a need for an integrated, differentiated, coordinated and strategic approach to public service.
- There is also a need to continue monitoring and evaluating professionalization process towards realization NDP’s ideals of a developmental state supported by capable, professional, accountable and responsive civil servants.
Thank you
