The Minister for the Public Service and Administration, Mr Senzo Mchunu officially launched the public consultation process on the National Implementation Framework Towards the Professionalisation of the Public Service today, on 15 February 2021.
In December 2020, Minister Mchunu released the Framework for comments. Amongst others, the objective of the framework is to entrench a dynamic system of professionalism in the public service, to ensure meritocracy in the recruitment and career management of public servants which are in line with the National Development Plan, as well as initiating consequence management for irregularities through the transgression mechanisms available to professional bodies.
Today the Minister launched the public consultation process in which inputs were received from Functional Group 1, civil society organisations, institutions of higher learning, experts and think tanks (Black Business Council, University of Cape Town, University of Johannesburg, Wits, Corruption Watch, Association of Southern African Schools and Departments of Public Administration and Management, South African Association of Public Administration and Management and Public Affairs Research Institute.) The public consultation programme will run for two weeks to obtain comments to enrich the policy document.
In his opening remarks, Minister Mchunu bemoaned the negative stigma towards the public service that it is highly politicised with people who lack professionalism and do not put effort in serving the public as part of their public duty. The Minister’s emphasis was on the need to change the perception of the public towards the public service and its lack of professionalism.
“The consultation process with the stakeholders is the first step towards changing this negative perception and sentiment the public has towards the public service and the professionalisation process”, said the minister in his address. These consultation processes will hosted by the NSG over a period of two weeks (15 – 26 February 2021).
One of the intentions to professionalise the public service as outlined in the framework is to strengthen ethical leadership in the public service as it is required by the Constitution of the Republic. Additionally, the National Development Plan (NDP) speaks to the need to strengthen state capacity, and this process that now the NSG is undertaking directly speaks to that need as articulated in the NDP. Chapter 10 sec 195 outlines the basic values and principles of a government public service administration, it maintains that a high standard of professionalism and ethics must be promoted and maintained as reaffirmed in the Batho Pele Principles, which aims to instill and rebuild good ethics and professionalism in how public servants execute their duties.
The Minister also touched on the concept of Service as a commodity, and that services rendered to the public should be viewed as an important commodity which should be delivered in a professional manner by public servants. “This service, be it education, health and any other rendered by government to the public should be delivered in professional and ethical manner. We need to instill this value to public servants at all spheres of government. Public servants need to understand that they have a Constitutional duty to serve the public professionally and diligently. It is my belief that this consultation process will grapple with this contentious issue and bring forward ideas on how to achieve this goal”, said Minister Mchunu.
Minister also stressed that on top of appointing qualified individuals, promotion of innovation and productivity are also critical to the professionalisation of the public service. The Minister concluded by wishing the participants “a very empowered session that would explore ways to achieve a goal of professionalising the public service that can be able to offer services with dignity, as envisioned in the NDP”.
After the consultation processes, the NSG will share with the public the outcomes emanating from the two week session.
Members of the public are encouraged to participate in the sessions. For more information on how to join please send your details to professionalisation@thensg.gov.za
The rest of the consultation programme is as follows:
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Functional Group 1 (15 February 2021) |
Civil society organisations, institutions of higher learning, think tanks |
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Functional Group 2 (16 February 2021) |
Regulators, policy government departments, oversight institutions and quality councils |
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Functional Group 3 (17 February 2021) |
Professional bodies and organisations in the built environment - planning, implementation and project management |
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Functional Group 4 (18 February 2021) |
Professional bodies and organisations in the Finance and Audit fields, including supply chain management and contracts management |
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Functional Group 5 (19 February 2021) |
Professional bodies and organisations in the human resource management and development and organisational development |
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Functional Group 6 (22 February 2021) |
Professional bodies and organisations responsible for legal, governance and compliance functions |
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Functional Group 8 (24 February 2021) |
Professional bodies and organisations in local government |
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Functional Group 9 (25 February 2021) |
Professional bodies, organisations and government institutions responsible for state-owned entities |
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Functional Group 10 (26 February 2021) |
All recognised professional bodies (statutory and non-statutory) |
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