Minister of Public Service and Administration 2013 Budget Speech & Response by ANC

Minister of Public Service and Administration, Ms Lindiwe Sisulu , gave her Budget Vote Speech on the 22 May 2013

______________________________________________________________

Chairperson,
Honourable Members,
Invited guests,
Ladies and gentlemen.

Our work was virtually carved out for us at the adoption of the National Development Plan (NDP) which prioritised the creation of a strong and capable State. So, this is where we are: at the centre of the first major step this country is required to take for the implementation of all our plans. And, because the pace at which we execute our responsibilities will determine the pace that we all take as a country, there has been an expectation around what we do and how soon it can be done.

It has been for this reason therefore that we have plunged headlong into a most hectic ten months that has had all of us running breathless. The Portfolio Committee has been most supportive and understanding and I am very grateful for that.

The Public Service Commission has graciously complied with all the requests made of them, grinning and bearing it all, protesting their independence all the while. The Board of Sita has responded to business unusual with energy, returning confidence to the institution. The staff at Palama and CPSI wait patiently, ever supportive, that at some point they will have their share of attention.

And of course, the poor staff of the department and especially the Ministry - their lives have been in permanent turmoil! Alas, I cannot promise that there will be an end to the turmoil. The only consolation we all have in this frenzied time is that it was necessary and it will all bear fruit.

Upon assumption of office as the Minister for the Public Service and Administration, I announced a number of reforms in the public service.

These reforms included:

1. Professionalising the Public Service for higher productivity and value for money
2. Transforming PALAMA into the School of Government, to produce a cadre of government
3. The finalisation of the constitutional requirements of Chapter 10 in respect of uniform standards, prescripts and values. We hope therefore that soon we will have this a Uniform Seamless Public Service
4. prohibition of public servants from doing business with government
5. establishment of an Anti-Corruption Bureau
6. Establishment of an Office of Standards and Compliance in the Public Service to ensure compliance with regulations and rapid reaction to provinces in distress.

These priorities were put out in the public domain, and the mere announcement of them was variously met with relief (phew), disbelief (raised eyebrow) and guarded optimism (sneer). On the whole, the public response was positive and supportive of the proposals.

But in some cases we were accused of displaying naive optimism and biting off more than we can chew. This comes from a research document by Derek Powell, who heads the Multi-Level Government Initiative of the Community Law Centre at the University of the Western Cape and Phindile Ntliziywana, a Doctoral researcher in the Multi-Level Government Initiative.

Others could not restrain themselves. They went as far as suggesting that these announcements, especially around anti-corruption were nothing more than sheer grandstanding. This latter response is in itself not surprising.

It reflects the sense with which we have resigned ourselves, as a people, to the way things are, as opposed to the way things ought to be. It also reflects the diffidence that comes from dashed hopes, consequent to failed initiatives. Some feel they have been here before and understandably, are intimidated by both the experience, the enormity of the task and the resistance that comes with it. Their diffidence is simply meant to protect themselves from having their hopes dashed once more.

So for those citizens of this country who have watched and listened to us as we laid out our plans, sometimes with a benevolent cynicism, we would like to paraphrase George Bernard Shaw and say: "Some men see things as they are and ask: why? We've dreamt of things as they never were and ask: why not?”

Bernard Shaw sums up my invitation to you to join me – let’s pose for ourselves the question “why not?” What stops us from trying to do the best to be the best? Join me in this odyssey that soon we will have established clean, efficient, capable, emphatic and effective state machinery.

In approaching this task, we have been mindful of its enormity. It is the sheer challenge arising out of this enormity that has spurred us on. As we have said before: this is a challenge we do not accept grudgingly but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

In a letter dated 28 March 2013, Riana Fouche, a member of the public and professional consultant, who listened to a radio interview I was part of, wrote to me and offered me several suggestions and concluded her letter by saying:

“May you and your team find all the resources, equipping and grace to fulfil the great and honourable task to restore the image of South Africans, and may you receive much wisdom in establishing all pertaining to the restoration of public officials to integrity and purity of character. I am looking forward to see the changes coming.”

The letter from Ms Fouche confirms that our people expect no less from us. Indeed they should not expect any less from us. These reforms are in keeping with our moral obligation.

In order for all of you to understand the problems that face and will continue to face us, let me sketch out the terrain we have to cover. Our Public Service as provided for in Chapter 10 of our Constitution consists of more than 1.4 million employees, spread across:

• 156 departments in National and Provincial spheres of government.
• 270 Public sector institutions consisting of Government Components, Public Entities & Agencies and State Owned Enterprises.
• When you add the Local Government Sphere with 275 Municipalities and more than 270 000 municipal workers, the figure becomes 1.6 million employees.

This is the size of the public service, consisting of nothing more and nothing less than men and women engaged daily in the service of the people of South Africa. It is these men and women who daily:

• ensure that our children are schooled and equipped with education;
• care for the patients in our clinics and hospitals
• issue identity documents and maintain the integrity of the data of over 52 million people. Furthermore, administer over 1 million births and nearly 560 000 deaths each year!
• manage our water resources and infrastructure to bring us clean water for drinking and washing in more than 13 million households;
• maintain our roads and transport networks for all our mobility needs;
• administer and pay social grants to over 16 million recipients monthly on time;
• maintain our borders and points of entry on a 24 hours basis for all travellers and goods
• support the regulation and functioning of our R3 trillion economy and industry
• are the first line of response to protect us from crime. The people who respond to gut-wrenching and spine chilling natural disasters and other accidents.

I could go on. In summary, our public service is a massive enterprise of gargantuan proportion. Despite our natural and immediate response of negativity toward them, most of these men and women are diligently occupied in the service of our people.       

In instances where there are problems, we have been honest and open to acknowledge these and are tackling them. To turn this enormous ship around will require all hands on deck, especially yours and mine.

And as we tackle these problems, we should take time to honour those of them who work hard to make our lives better. And therefore, in honour of those who toil with dedication to serve our people, we have decided to establish a Public Service Excellence Awards, which will be called the Batho Pele Excellence Awards.

The National Batho Pele Excellence Awards will henceforth be held for the entire Public Service in the month of September of each year and members of the public will be invited to nominate public servants deserving of recognition for excellent service.

The main focus of these awards is to recognise excellence in the public service, acknowledge and encourage it and in exceptional cases, ensure that we can urge and mature it to greater heights of delivery.

In this respect I am delighted to announce a very generous offer made to my Ministry by the Oppenheimer Memorial Trust for a partnership with us in “Developing, recognising and retaining [world-class] talent in the Southern African public service”. This partnership will see ten (10) public servants each being awarded a scholarship every year for opportunities to study abroad and locally to sharpen their competence.

The Oppenheimer Memorial Trust, through Minister Trevor Manuel, approached me to say: “how can we help you achieve excellence in the Public Service.” An amazing experience! Imagine the feeling of affirmation.

The future of this country is intrinsically linked to whether we succeed or not in repositioning the public service. The National Development Plan has been bold to suggest that unless we fix the public service, all our objectives, hopes and plans would come to naught. It is worth repeating. The public service is the engine of the state. If the engine is dysfunctional, the vehicle would not move.

We would also, within these awards, create a category that caters for eminent, outstanding, long-serving public servants.

In the case of Parliament for instance, perhaps Members of Parliament will nominate outstanding public servants like Professor Stan Sangweni, former Chairperson of the Public Service Commission, Mr Sindiso Mfenyana, former Secretary of Parliament, Mr Handik, former Secretary of the National Assembly, Mr Kamal Mansura, former Secretary of the National Assembly, Mr Terence Nombembe, current Auditor-General, etc. These are people whose dedication have helped craft and maintain what we have.

There are of course many more who will be nominated by you. It is my intention today to report that we have indeed accomplished those goals we set ourselves for the past ten months and we will entrench them irreversibly in our statute books. The rest will depend on our collective will.

I am happy to report that my term of office was off to a good start the minute I met the representatives of labour. As you would know, I came to office during the wage negotiation process – a day after labour had declared a dispute with the State as employer, to be exact.

After intense and often unpleasant exchanges all around, we emerged with a ground breaking multi-term agreement. What was historic about it was not only its multi-term nature, but also because of the agreements themselves and the commitment by labour on a number of fundamental principles.

We have now turned an often very antagonistic relationship between employer and employee into one that can actually work toward the achievement of our goals as a people. For this period we have not only removed the threats of strikes, but the ugly scenes of public servants destroying property are also beginning to recede. The absence of the annual fear of the disruption of essential services has enabled us to plan and have some level of certainty.

And I am grateful that labour and ourselves found each other. For too long the relationship has been characterised by ugly exchanges. This could never have been for common good and it is definitely not what our people live and hope for. They don’t go to bed hoping – please let there be a strike.

The signing of the multi-year agreement has enabled us to focus on those outstanding issues that are necessary in building a capable State, in the creation of an environment where the public service can thrive and deliver better services.

So there, sealed until next year – project 1 completed. As part and parcel of our agreement with labour, we agreed we would introduce a compulsory induction programme for all public servants. The training has been implemented at national government since September 2012 and has already been launched in 8 provinces.

With this we have committed ourselves to build a professional public service at all levels. This includes attracting highly skilled people and cultivating a sense of professional common purpose and a commitment to developmental goals. The public service must become a career of choice for graduates who wish to contribute to the development of the country, and ensure that highly competent staff is recruited on the basis of their suitability for the job.

Transforming PALAMA into the School of Government is one such building block. The School of Government will enable us to customise the offerings and programmes in order to respond to real problems we face in real time and to restore confidence in the public sector.

We have done the groundwork and I met with academics from Higher Learning Institutions on Monday to canvass a partnership between ourselves. I believe we received positive feedback from those who attended to ensure the success of the School of Government. The School of Government is on course and will be launched on 21 October 2013.

The School of Government will operate as an institution of higher learning with the proper accreditation. It will work in collaboration with other institutions of higher learning that offers specialised skills required, but will design the curriculum and be responsible for creating out of our public servants, a professional class of committed cadres to drive the developmental agenda of the country.

We will recruit the best in administration and train them for greater efficiency and train them to succeed. Nothing stops us striving to be the best and when the best of us is driving the administration of the state, imagine the spin offs in everything this country does.

We have provided each one of you with a copy of the proposed crest of the School of Government and would appreciate your comments before 1 June 2013, when we intend tabling it for approval. Project 2 will be done by then and sealed when you have approved the crest.

Our third priority was the creation of an environment which is not conducive to corrupt practice. We are prohibiting public servants from doing business with government. This would enable us to close the loop holes that some unscrupulous officials have used.

We have come to a determination that the most effective and efficient way of dealing with a conflict of interest is to remove it altogether. This will take effect as soon as Parliament approves the bill, which will be tabled in June. We will then be able to tick off Project 3.

The same law: the Public Administration Management Bill will assist us with a longstanding problem of inequality of our norms and standards. It will ensure we comply with a common set of standards, values and principles across all levels of government, as envisaged by Chapter 10 of the Constitution.

This is to ensure that all spheres of government operate according to the same standards and norms while retaining operational independence. All spheres will share seamlessly the requisite skills pool, competence and standards. This will serve to improve mobility across different spheres of government and diminish the costly barriers to such seamless and rational mobility, while balancing the capacity across the State. But it will not in any way interfere with the spheres of governments of local or provincial tiers. Those are entrenched in the Constitution.

The bill was accepted by Cabinet Committee and we hope that Parliament will prioritise it for June this year. When that is done, we would have concluded the longest journey of any laws that I know of. And we will tick of Project 4 as done.

A cursory reading of the reports of the Auditor General and the Public Service Commission paints a dim picture of non-compliance. To remedy and to respond to this challenge in a focused way, we have established an Office of Standards and Compliance.

Currently this office is led by the Director-General of the Department of Public Service and Administration, Mr Mashwahle Diphofa, who is supported by seasoned senior public servants. This collective is alive to the challenges faced by public servants and should be able to provide pre-emptive and preventive approaches that would ensure stringent compliance with rules and regulations in the public service.

In addition to analysing existing public service norms and standards to prepare for their improved enforcement, the Office of Standards and Compliance has spent considerable time supporting the implementation of the Section 100 Intervention in Limpopo. In the six weeks they have been there, the development of functional structures has been completed in five departments in Limpopo.

PERSAL clean-up has been finalised in the Provincial Treasury where 222 unfunded posts were abolished, the Department of Public Works where 4 447 unfunded posts were abolished, the Department of Education where 8 754 unfunded posts were abolished, the Department of Health where 3 868 unfunded posts were abolished and the Department of Roads and Transport where 3 279 unfunded posts were abolished.

Project 5 well and truly established

The processing of Disciplinary Cases had been moving very slowly, but the challenge is being addressed by the Diphofa team and the Office of the Premier. Of the 301 cases that were handed over to the SIU for investigation, only 41 had been completed and handed over to the DPSA. Of these, thirty (30) cases were set down for hearing and 13 have already been finalised. We hope that soon the Office of Standards and Compliance will move to the Eastern Cape.

In line with the decisions of the ruling party and government, I promised to deal decisively with corruption in the public service. We must be clear on this. Corruption has become a common stick to beat any government, especially third world governments.

But in our case we have deliberately taken this stand against corruption because it is essentially anti-ethical to the struggle that brought us here. This has been raised as a clarion call, both by government and the ruling party, to ensure that where it raises its head, we can deal with it and not allow it to strangle our growth and our image. We have beaten all odds as we struggled - this one is but a small struggle.

I invited South Africa at large to be part of this campaign against this scourge that has the potential to corrode our society. When the response has not been outrightly cynical, it has been overwhelmingly positive. To the cynics we urge them to "watch this space".

We assessed our current capacity and arrived at the conclusion that it is to inadequate and poorly resourced to effectively fight this battle against corruption. We intend to set up an Anti-Corruption Bureau that will have legislative authority to investigate, intervene, and where necessary to assist departments, provinces and local governments in dealing with cases of corruption related misconduct.

This Bureau, working hand in hand with the other anti-corruption arms of the state, will be both proactive and pre-emptive. Pre-emptively the Bureau will deal with cases where processes and procedures have not been followed. Where criminal conduct is detected the bureau will solicit the help of the anti-corruption agencies of the state to investigate and prosecute where necessary.

This initiative is also meant to protect the vast majority of public servants, those men and women who do an honest job and squirm at being painted with a common brush that says "public servants are corrupt".  We will tighten the instruments through which people report in order to give more protection to those who report.

Chairperson, we are building a database that will be a nerve-centre and assist us in monitoring all public servants in relation to financial misconduct, disciplinary cases, business interests, unaccounted lifestyle and income changes. In this regard, technological advances are proving to be the welcome wind in our sails. We must clamp down on the corruption rot where it exists.

Corruption, elsewhere and in the public service, involves a corrupter and corruptee. We are aware that some public servants are manipulated by elements out there in the private sector. These have mastered the procurement system of government and have positioned themselves the better to manipulate it from outside. We intend to deal with both very decisively.

We want to ensure that there are minimum sentences for public servants found guilty of corruption. For the private sector, once we secure a conviction for corruption, a company will be blacklisted and barred from trading with government. I have already instructed my legal team to find ways to strengthen our fight against corruption in this way. They will adopt such measures as a “Watch List” to track those companies with suspect practices. To these I want to sound a warning.

So much has been done in the short space of time that we could not cover everything in our report back of today. We have therefore packaged all of the information detailing the work done, so that you can have a comprehensive understanding. We still remain, however with serious challenges - these we are grappling with and these form the basis of our priorities for the year ahead.

The management of disciplinary cases is a matter I know is of concern to Honourable Members. This remains a challenge we are grappling with. Discipline management in the public service is decentralised to departments. This has led to inconsistencies with regard to the application of disciplinary processes and imposed sanctions.

We are aware that many departments fail to finalise disciplinary proceedings within the prescribed period of 60 days. The reasons are multi-fold and range from incapacity to incompetence. We have decided to establish a case management system to enable us to address these weaknesses.

Another critical failure in our system, is the response time from government and general efficiency of our systems. Having learnt from the remarkable improvements at the Department of Home Affairs, it is clear that sector specific minimum norms and standards are required for each work sector. With known standards, it will be possible for the public to know what service and quality to expect.

It should be possible to know the minimum waiting period at the hospital and/or response times for police when an incident is reported. We will in this current year be working on a minimum waiting period for hospitals and our pilots will be in Gauteng and Mpumalanga provinces.

I invite all South Africans, from all walks of life to work with us and give us feedback on their experiences and expectations of the public service. In addition to surveys and conventional feedback tools, we must take advantage of enabling technology. We need to know what works.

To improve the quality of life of our public servants, we have been grappling with the concept of a Housing Scheme. We will fast-track the design and implementation of the Government Employees Housing Scheme. In the same way that the Government Employees Medical Scheme is an admirable benchmark, we would want a housing scheme that sets a benchmark in meeting employee housing needs.

Yet another concern, which was raised by the Public Service Commission, is the late submission of financial disclosures by senior managers. After the successful piloting of the e-disclosure system in three provinces, we are now in a position to roll-out e-disclosure to cover all designated public servants by June 2014. This will enable public servants to declare their interests electronically and activate a system-wide multiple checking against other systems.

The system is secure and protected. Its advantages from a disclosure perspective are enormous, as it will link the members’ details to the entire data base available to government and make the scrutiny process so much easier. For its full effect we would need to amend the law. We expect that by next year declarations of sms members will be fully online and that all users will have been trained.

The matter of the high turnover of Heads of Department, I know is of serious concern to you. I want to assure you that it is of serious concern to us as well and has been identified in the National Development Plan as such. We are working on this and when we have perfected our system, we will bring the matter to Parliament.

The Service Charter between Government, as the employer, and Public Sector Unions represents another milestone in re-fashioning the relationship between the State and public servants. It represents a social contract between ourselves, public sector unions and citizens - the main beneficiaries of services delivered by the State. A copy of the Service Charter will be distributed to you.

This lays the basis of our insisting on the application of the Code of Conduct for public servants. We will require Public servants to be sober at all times while on duty, to dress appropriately for the work they do and to be on time, courteous and professional at all times. Public servants who interact with the public will be identifiable by a name tag.

The SITA Act is the founding basis of all that SITA does and how it relates to government and the private sector.

Some of the key information systems provided and maintained by SITA include PERSAL, which pays salaries of public servants, BAS which pays all suppliers and LOGIS which manages assets of Government. Over 7 000 Government services are powered by SITA, making SITA the backbone of service delivery. 

These include hospitals, clinics, police stations and traffic departments. More recently, through the Telemedicine Network project, doctors in rural and semi urban areas are now able to consult with fellow practitioners in larger and better equipped urban – based health facilities. This offers benefits of less travelling, cost saving and a faster intervention by qualified medical professionals.

Through its centralised procurement model, SITA is required to reduce ICT costs for Government. We have now begun to do that. In 2012/13, we managed to track savings of R263 million due to agreements negotiated with key suppliers mainly on software licences. We welcome these partnerships with industry and hope to achieve more this year as more suppliers come to the party.

In November 2012, Cabinet appointed the current six member board led by Mr Jerry Vilakazi. The Board has a clear plan of action to address all immediate challenges facing the institution. This will include a review of the supply chain management structures and to reposition SITA as the continent’s premier Government ICT service provider.

We are doing everything we can to make sure that SITA responds to its mandate and responsibility. We want to send a message to the private sector doing business with SITA - help us get it right by doing the right thing. At all times, just do the right thing. I know I am speaking from a different perspective, but it cannot be difficult to do the right thing.

Budget allocation

Chairperson, we have accepted that there will always be pressure on the resources availed to us to undertake the work before us. This propels us to seek greater efficiency and prudence in the use of allocated resources. It also points to the glaring disproportion between the task at hand and the resources availed to do this work.

For the financial year 2013/14, the total budget available for the Public Service and Administration Portfolio is R816 371 000 (R816,371 million). Of this:

• R437,135 is directed towards initiatives within the department
• R131, 9 million has already been earmarked for PALAMA and will be transferred to the School of Government.
• R22, 866 million is availed for the CPSI
• R23, 3 million is set aside for transfer to the PSETA
• The Public Service Commission will receive R201,1 million.

I am certain that Honourable members can appreciate that the budget availed pales in comparison to the scale of the reforms we seek to achieve. We are not deterred nor overwhelmed. Instead, our resolve is toughened. We will do all the necessary work to ensure a proportionate fiscal allocation going into the future

To all public servants I call you to embrace:

• Discipline in implementation
• Compliance with norms, standards  and statutes
• Compassion for the all employees and the public we serve
• Efficiency in performance.

To the people of South Africa I invite you to lift your gaze and see that:

• The public service is working for you
• South Africa deserves an efficient public service
• Work with us to improve public service.

Honourable members, ladies and gentlemen, a highly productive, efficient and disciplined Public Service is not a luxury nor is it a matter of intellectual and political pontification; it is a primary ingredient towards the achieving sustainable growth and development of our country.

What I request from you – where the public servants do good, please affirm them. A great deal that we take for granted is done by some hardworking, dedicated people. Where they fall short of their responsibility, do not hesitate to complain and insist on proper treatment. Do not tolerate mediocrity, because we are not a people who celebrate mediocrity.

The reforms we have embarked upon ensure that we build a public service capable and orientated towards meeting the developmental aspirations of our people and our country. It is a constitutional imperative we dare not fail in realising.

We strive continuously, seeking to answer: “why not?”

Imagine a world where every teacher felt appreciated, respected and supported; where every teacher is dedicated, committed and gives seven hours of every day to teaching productively.

Imagine a world where every child was taught in an environment that’s conducive for learning, where every child feels cared for and where every child will give the best of his childhood, learning in the full knowledge that his efforts are the most important investment this country needs; imagine a country where every parent and adult takes their responsibility for the education of their children; imagine what a foundation we build for this country.

I thank you!

Speech by Hon Christinah Mohale during the Budget Vote Debate on Public Service and Admin

Mohlomphegi Modulasetulo
Mohlomphegi Tona
Mohhomphegi Motlatsa Tona
Maloko a hlomphegago le
Baeng KamokaLadies
Let me start by saying the ANC support this budget vote

Corruption destroys lives and communities, and undermines the development of countries and institutions. It generates popular anger that threatens to further destabilize societies and exacerbate violent conflicts. It leads to failure in the delivery of basic services like education and health care. It derails the building of essential infrastructure. It is an attack on the democratic state.

South Africa has joined the international community in adopting the United Nations Millennium Declaration and its 8 Millennium Development Goals in which we agreed to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger. As a country we are implementing many programmes aimed at achieving this objective of eradicating extreme poverty and hunger. The dilemma we face as a country is that all our efforts towards achieving this goal will not be realised if corruption is allowed to siphon off state resources that are aimed at eradicating this poverty.

Hon Chairperson

The fight against corruption is a fight in defence of the democratic gains. It is a fight to defend the democratic state and its institutions. Chairperson, it is a fight in defence of the poor working class across the length and breadth of South Africa. We call upon the government of the glorious movement to declare an open warfare against corruption.

In this regard let us be strengthened in our resolve to fight crime by taking our cue from the ANC`s 2009 Elections Manifesto which proclaimed that the ANC government will:

Step up measures against crime in the society, the state and the private sector including measures to review the tendering system to ensure that politicians do not tamper with the adjudication of tenders.
Establish a new modernized and efficient justice system to enhance the capacity of the state for fighting and reducing crime in real terms
Combat violence and crime against women, children and people with disabilities by increasing the capacity of the criminal justice system.
Hon.Chairperson

The department should co-operate with other departments so that a better impact can be made on corruption as was resolved by the delegates of the ruling party when they said in the 53rd conference - there should be greater co-operation across the spheres of government in dealing with corruption and (that) corruption should be punished`. We congratulate the Minister for her efforts aimed at expediting the establishment of the Anti- Corruption Bureau which will be established in terms of statute to investigate corruption related cases in the public service in all three spheres of Government.

The Bureau will investigate high level corruption, fraud cases and manage disciplinary hearings on behalf of departments, where required. This is to be appreciated because one of the areas that we have been critical of is the long time it takes the Public Service to conclude disciplinary cases as well as the waste of resources in the form of continued payment of salaries to suspended officials who have no value to offer the people in return for the public`s money.

The ANC applauds the fact that Public servants found guilty of misconduct will have their names and information stored in a central database and that they would soon be unable to change jobs within government. This is a good intervention which will ensure that the public outcry that officials who are facing corruption allegations seem to escape censure by being moved from one department to another. This is what has earned our democratic state the dubious honour of being soft on corruption. Through this step by the Minister the ANC government is sending a clear message to the public that fraudsters and criminals are not allowed to hide behind the banner of the glorious peoples` movement, the Ruling Party. The incapacity of government departments to deal with misconduct cases has meant that, for a long time officials suspected of misconduct remained suspended with pay for long periods of time. Now the cases of misconduct will be fast-tracked through a bureau which has the muscle to do these things and work with other anticorruption agencies in the state.”

The ANC has learned with appreciation that what is now outstanding is a final meeting with the department officials assigned to this work so that they are informed of the approach and for them to submit the documents with whatever changes may be deemed necessary.

The other measures aimed at maximizing the fight against corruption include the following:

The Ethics and Integrity Framework regulating business and financial interest disclosure, remunerative work outside the Public Service and receipts of gifts by public servants has been approved by Cabinet.
We applaud the announcement by the Minister that a central database of cases of officials found guilty of corruption will be established and that these officials will be blacklisted.
Hon Chairperson

The ANC government gives expression to its commitment to fighting corruption in a systematic way through institutionalized mechanisms.

Another mechanism, namely, the Office of Standards and Compliance which the Minister has announced today, will strive to realize the following objectives, inter alia.:-

Addressing areas of non-compliance to public service regulations and prescripts.
Conducting a compliance audit at national and provincial levels to provide credible information on the status of the public service and administration, and
Monitoring of compliance and coordination of required interventions.
The government cannot fight corruption and its manifestation alone.It is a collective responsibility requiring collective action of all stakeholders.It is the responsibility of each and every South African to contribute to an ethical society to prevent irregular activities from taking place.

Ke a leboga

Speech by Hon Johanna Maluleke during the Budget Vote Debate on Public Service and Administration

Motshami wa xitulu
Ba hlonipheki ba yidlu le hloniphekaku
HOlobye wa ndyawulo manana Lindiwe Sisulu
Xindla xa holobye manana Ayanda Dlodlo
Vatirhela mfumo ba DPSA lava fambaka ni tatana DG Diphofa
Va vhaki va hina

Honourable Chairperson, it gives me a great pleasure today to discuss the Budget Vote 12 of the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA). I would like to take this opportunity to express my deepest appreciation of the work well done thus far by the Department under the leadership of the Honourable Minister Sisulu and Deputy Minister Dlodlo. As a member of the Portfolio Committee, I would also like to extend my appreciation to the staff of Department for executing the mandate to the best of their abilities. However, we have acknowledged that there is more to be done towards achieving set performance objectives.

Indeed Honourable Chairperson, the President of the Republic signed performance agreements with the Ministers in 2010 to deliver on particular set milestones. These 12 outcomes are the key focus areas of the government. Each of the 12 outcomes adopted by the Government has measurable outputs with targets. The Minister for Public Service and Administration has been assigned the responsibility to coordinate the implementation of Outcome 12 Delivery Agreement. The task of the Portfolio Committee is to oversee and monitor the performance of the Department to ensure that the objectives set out in the Delivery Agreement are realised.

Honourable Chairperson,

Outcome 12 Delivery Agreement clearly indicates that "empowered, fair and inclusive citizenship" is an important programme of Government aimed at ensuring the efficiency and effectiveness of the public service across all the spheres of Government. Batho Pele which means "People First" is an initiative that was launched in 1997 to transform the public service and make it efficient across the board and at all levels. Batho Pele was launched because democratic South Africa inherited a public service that was not people friendly.

Honourable Chairperson, in the struggle to transform the public service, the old culture has to be changed to ensure that our people are served properly, that all staff work to their full capacity and treat resources with respect. Batho Pele is an approach to get public servants committed to serving the people and find ways to improve service delivery. The approach requires the involvement of the public in holding the public service accountable for the quality of services provided. Minister di board tse tonna di beilwe maboteng tsa batho pele relebogela compliance ya di board fela ne re ka itumela ga se se kwadilweng mo di board tseo se ka diriwa physically.

Batho Pele comprises of key programmes aimed at ensuring improved service delivery in the Public Service. These programmes include Khaedu Programme (through which 330 senior managers are being trained by PALAMA), Service Delivery Improvement Plans, Performance Management and Development System, Know Your Service Rights and Public Service Week.

All these programmes are the efforts by the ANC led government to ensure that Batho Pele is adhered to in the public service.

A lot of work has been done through Batho Pele. We would like to acknowledge the following achievements that are being made in implementing the Batho Pele Programme:

14 provincial departments and 5 national departments were capacitated on the Batho Pele Change Management Engagement programme in the public service as part of mainstreaming.
A geographic accessibility study was completed on the Integrated Sustainable Rural Development programme,
A toolkit and methodology on the costing, business process and standard operating procedures was produced,
In 2012 63% of National and Provincial Departments submitted Service Delivery Improvement Plans to the DPSA
A Business Process Management Framework was developed, and
A total of 295 officials from Health in Gauteng, North West and Northern Cape were trained in Batho Pele.
However, more still needs to be done to increase the number of services to the people through the Batho Pele key programmes. The Department should redouble its efforts and increase number in training frontline key supervisory staff especially with regards to Departments of Health, Home Affairs and Education etc.

Honourable Chairperson,

Honourable Chairperson, Thusong Service Centres are regarded as a strategic service delivery access points for the government of the Republic. The Thusong Service Centre which was formerly known as Multi-Purpose Community Centre (MPCC) programme of government was initiated in 1999 as a primary vehicle for connecting communities with Government services. The objective of Thusong Service Centres was to address historical, social and economic factors which limited access to information services and participation by citizens, as they had to travel long distances for accessing services. We have noted that there are challenges facing the Thusong Service Centres in rural areas which need the collaboration between departments. Limited resources are one of their major problems in ensuring that they fulfil their mandate of integrated government services through providing information. The Department should therefore ensure that resources are prioritised for Thusong Service Centres in the rural areas. These will assist in minimising the movement of people from rural areas to the urban areas. The objectives of Thusong Service Centres was to address historical, social and economic factors which limit access to information services and participation by citizens, as they had to travel long distances for accessing Government services.

Honourable Chairperson,

An integrated and collaborative approach is critical for an Information and Communication Technology-driven economy. The DPSA must see its programmes as part of an all-encompassing programme of government. Therefore the DPSA must collaborate with the Departments of Rural Development and that of Communications in providing comprehensive solutions to the challenges facing Thusong Service Centres in rural areas in particular especially on ICT matters. In November 2012, the Governance of ICT Policy Framework was approved by Cabinet, and as a member of the Committee I would like to thank the Department for such an achievement. The Portfolio Committee will play its oversight role on the implementation of the policy framework including monitoring its performance and impact. As the Portfolio Committee we have adopted an Overarching oversight of the Public Service, which will foster collaboration amongst departments charged with implementing common programmes such as the Thusong Service Centre programme.

In conclusion, I would like to inform the House that the Community Development Workers (CDW) programme helps communities to bring about social change and improve the quality of life of the people in their local areas. Loko mo langutisa buku leyi vitaniwaka grassroots CDW handbook mi ta vona mintirho ya vona hi ku hambana ka ti province.

Leswaku ntirho wa vona wo vonakala minister lungisani mmaka ya matshamele leswaku kutiveka leswo va wela eka hofisi yi hi? Seswo loko va lava swo tirha dyawulo wona wu ta va rhumela hala wu nwana wu ba rhumela ha.

Honourable Chairperson, Members of Parliament and distinguished Guest, let me take this opportunity to thank the Ministry of Public Service and Administration, the entire staff members, PALAMA, Public Service Commission and all the entities reporting to the Ministry for the work well done.

ANC yi seketela Budget Vote 12
 

Speech by Hon Joice Moloi-Moropa during the National Assembly Budget Vote Debate on Public Service and Administration

Honourable Chairperson;
Minister for Public Service and Administration, the Honourable Lindiwe Sisulu;
Deputy Minister for Public Service and Administration, the Honourable Ayanda Dlodlo;
Members of Parliament;
Honourable Members of the Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration;
Chairperson of the Public Service Commission and other Commissioners present;
Heads of various entities of the department of Public Service and Administration;
Respectable Guests;
Ladies and Gentlemen.

Political Overview

We have gathered here during an important time in the political calendar, not only of our country but for the entire African Continent. In May 1963, the then Organisation of African Unity (OAU) which later became the African Union (AU) was formed. Now, on the occasion of its 50th anniversary, as Africans of different shades, we ought to take a moment and celebrate the achievements of this giant organisation. As we forge ahead in unity, we therefore salute the efforts of the founding fathers - Kwame Nkrumah, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, Haile Selassie just to mention but a few. Certainly, despite her challenges, Africa is rising for unity and prosperity!

With full afro-optimism, there is no doubt that South Africa under the political leadership of the African National Congress, has made significant progress in the on-going socio-economic transformation of the state in particular and the society in general, since the dawn of democracy in 1994. This suggests that, collectively, we are making strides towards achieving the objectives of constructing a developmental state within the context of the National Democratic Revolution (NDR). The NDR, amongst other things, "seeks to ensure that every South African, especially the poor, experiences an improved quality of life". Clearly, we have achieved so much, but we are not there yet.

There is certainly, more that still needs to be done in order to build a developmental state underpinned by our history and socio-economic realities. We must accept that the public service administration of our country is at the epicentre of this mammoth task.

Chairperson, the Honourable Members would recall that in line with the five priorities of our government, 12 outcomes were necessarily adopted in the current political cycle as part of our government`s results-based approach. This innovation was of strategic necessity to ensure that the collective efforts of the government are strategically focused towards the achievement of specific outcomes that have a value-adding impact to our country and its people.

It is indeed a great pleasure today Honourable Chairperson to debate Budget Vote 12 of the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA). Allow me therefore, to take this opportunity to express my gratitude on behalf of the Committee, to the Hon Minister and Hon Deputy Minister and the entire staff of the Department for their co-operation and their tremendous work done so far with regards to the departmental mandate.

In 2010, President Zuma, signed performance agreements with the Ministers in relation to the new outcomes-based approach adopted by government. The Honourable Minister Sisulu is tasked to lead outcome 12 focusing on achieving "an efficient, effective and development oriented public service and an empowered, fair and inclusive citizenship". The department is really doing well even though much still needs to be done. The outputs of outcome 12 are as follows:

Service Delivery Quality and Access;
Human Resource Management and Development;
Business Process, Systems, Decision Rights, and Accountability;
Tackling corruption effectively; and
Citizen participation and Social cohesion.
The aspect of a "fair and inclusive citizenship "still remains a challenge and we believe that various clusters of government will do justice to their critical aspect. The sooner we focus on "Citizen Participation and Social Cohesion" the better for our country. "Ho sinyehile kantle ka kwana. Tantang e kgongwa ke lerule. Ha ho ngwane motle. Re tlamehile ho ruta setjhaba sa heso hojara boikarabelo ka nako tsohle. Ba tlamehile ho lemoswa hore Mmuso ona, ke wa bona. Lefatse lena ke la bona. Ebang ho nale lebaka la ho ipelaetsa (Pubic Protest) batlamehile ho ipelaetsa ka tsela e nepahetseng. Ba seke ba senya ntho tse abetsweng bona tse kang ntlu ya ho polokela ya dibuka, makoloi asipolisa, diholo tsa setjhaba, jwalo-jwalo. Hore ba be le boitemohelo bo jwalo, ba tlamehile ho eletswa, ba be ba rutwe. We need to embark a deliberate actions to conscientise our society to this reality."

Indeed, the Portfolio Committee will always ensure that it assists the Department in achieving the highlighted outputs.

Many different interventions have been undertaken to ensure that the Department delivers services to the people of this country. The Honourable Minister has already indicated to the Portfolio Committee that there is a need to fix the engine in order for the Public Service to function effectively and efficiently. The Committee agreed with the Minister. There is collective agreement that our public service must be efficient, effective and development-oriented in order to achieve the goal of a national democratic society.

President Zuma`s words are instructive in this regard, as he said "what we need is a different type of public servant; a public servant who respects the citizens he or she serves. A public servant who values the public resources she/he has been entrusted to manage. We need a public servant who comes to work on time and performs his or her duties diligently. We believe that we can all work together in the context of our different mandates to indeed achieve "an efficient, effective and development oriented public service for the real and tangible benefits of our people."

The Portfolio Committee therefore fully supports the noble ideal of the developmental state that is willing, capable and caring. Certainly, as articulated in the Reconstruction and Development Programme, "no political democracy can survive and flourish if the mass of our people remain in poverty, without land, without tangible prospects for a better life. Attacking poverty and deprivation must therefore be the first priority of a democratic government".

Performance Monitoring and Evaluation Mid-Term Report

In tandem with the national evaluation policy framework of our government led by the Department of Performance Monitoring & Evaluation (PME), it has been possible to determine the extent to which the 12 outcomes or priorities are being progressively achieved through the Mid-term Review Report.

In terms of the Mid-Term Review of Outcome 12, some of the key challenges that have been identified include the following:

There was overly centralised and inappropriate decision-making processes in many departments;
corruption and maladministration threatened to undermine efforts to improve and expand service delivery
There is a high turnover rate of heads of department and senior management.
"Furthermore also the Mid-term Review Report concludes by revealing that:

There has been little progress to date in implementing a single public service (that is, incorporating the current public service at national and provincial level as well as municipal employees), and
The legislation on the single public service has not been finalised.
We therefore regard the Mid-term review report as an important instrument for our oversight work. We will still pursue the collaboration of committees for this report. The clusters of Parliament are best placed to develop a comprehensive programme of oversight using this report.

The National Development Plan and Departmental Initiatives Honourable Chairperson, in 2012, this august House, approved our country`s National Development Plan (NDP).

The NDP 2030 vision stipulates that "to address the twin challenges of poverty and inequality, the state needs to play a transformative and developmental role.

This requires well-run and effectively coordinated state institutions with skilled public servants who are committed to the public good and capable of delivering consistently high-quality services, while prioritising the nation`s developmental objectives".

As a Committee on Public Service and Administration, we will support the Minister in this regard to ensure that service delivery and socio-economic development and change for the benefit of our people is accelerated. Not leaving behind, our understanding of the National Democratic Revolution this committee will ensure that we do not underscore on liberating our people completely from the demon of the past.

Public Service Commission (PSC)

The Public Service Commission, as an Independent Institution Supporting Democracy has worked well with the committee. I want to emphasise Chairperson, that the PSC has always displayed respect and cooperation to Parliament and to this Committee in particular. There has never been a time where we had to tailor behind Media on its oversight reports.

The Commissioners in PSC are very clear that they report to Parliament.

We have raised critical issues that are constitutional to the Commission, and at all time, they do their best to cover every reasonable scope raised by the committee. As we speak today, PSC has moved away from the thematic approach on its reports, to a comprehensive framework that covers areas of oversight from various departments. This will create consistency in reporting. Just last week, the committee was presented with the approach of oversight over the Basic Values and Principles governing public administration which is Section 195 (1) of the Constitution. We have never felt undermined or disrespected at any stage.

We will always respect their Independence and collaborate with them on our oversight task Honesty, it does pay surplus. With this collaboration, we achieve a lot.

On Section 195 (2) of the Constitution of the RSA we still expect further work since this clause refers to: the Institution to which this principles apply at, that:-

(a) "The administration in every sphere of government." The aspect on Local government is still lacking on their oversight reports. We are aware that there is so much work that is done internally by the PSC amending its legislation to cover the local government
(b) Refers "Organs of State." This needs thorough focus. We are well aware that sufficient focus needs to be paid particularly to the courts of this country. We will partner with the Justice Committee and the Social Security Cluster as Governance cluster to oversee the Courts. Yes of course, some of the judgements passed leaves much to be desired. Possibly it`s because no sufficient focus on oversight in this area has been done. In this Democracy there are no holy cows, oversight is a mandate given to Parliament and it will be done. Clear separation of powers and roles will always be observed. A major concern is that we cannot have the Judicial System that only favours the rich and the wealthy, while the poor get punished further, simply because they cannot afford to pay very expensive Lawyers. This State must undo the Injustice of the past.

Kuyamangalisa ukubona amajele egcwele izigangi ezingabantu bethu abampofu. Izigwilii zona zikwazi ukuqasha abameli abadumile, ukuba bazikhulumele emacaleni azo. Kubi ukubona abampofu bebolela emajele, kodwa izigwili nogombela kwesakhe bekhululeka ngenxa yokuba "ne-Dollar" - Kusho khona ukuthi le nkululeko akusiyo eyabantu bethu abampofu. Sisacubungula kabanzi imithetho yezinkantolo ukuze singashaywa ingwiji khwebu. Ozakwethu abakwesokunene, bakukhonzile ukugijimela enkantolo kusho khona ukuthi bazitshele ukuthi bazoshaywa yivoti ebantwini, bese besibusa ngazo izinkantolo. Cha, angeke sikumele lokho!

(c) Refers to "Public Enterprises." I know that most work is done during oversight conducted by committees of departments and their entities.

Department of Public Service and Administration

Our government in general and the Department of Public Service and Administration in particular, must address the skills gaps in the Public Service. The professionalisation of the public service is one aspect that the NDP highlights as critical for our country. The Committee is therefore pleased that the Department is championing the idea of "Professionalising the Public Service". The School of Government concept for developing and empowering a capable "public service cadreship" is fully supported by the committee. This task is huge; it demands that the Department consults widely with all its stakeholders. The Committee fully supports the Department in driving the process of ensuring that public servants are provided with proper training and development.

The Human Resource Council South Africa (HRCSA) that is lead by the Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe has done extensive work on the Integrated Plan for the Country`s Human Resource. The secretariat is house in the Department of Higher Education and Training, lead by the Minister Nzimande. A presentation done to the Committee alerted us to the need for all Committees of this Parliament to engage on this strategy. Work done, highlight key bottle-necks that require our attention if we are to transform this country on skills. We must initiate change, e.g. ANC has quarter for women. Disability for MPs is automatically mainstream for ANC even within this Parliament.

Honourable Chairperson,

The Committee also supports the Department in its efforts of establishing an Office for Standards and Compliance in the Public Service in order to "promote professional ethics and compliance to norms and standards" within the public service domain. The envisaged added impetus on strengthening corporate governance with regards to declaration of interests by public service management is also supported by the Committee. The Public Service Commission does play a critical role in this regard.

During the 2012/13 financial year, provinces where affected by the Section 100 of the Constitution as a result of non-compliance with the public service regulations and prescripts. National government had to intervene to deal with severe managerial challenges faced by some provincial departments. For instance there was an intervention in Limpopo.

It is important that the Department, through its envisaged Office for Standards and Compliance in the Public Service, ensures that there are improvements in matters of governance and accountability over governments departments.

Honourable Chairperson,

The Department as part of its priorities must make sure that it eliminates corruption in the public service. The Portfolio Committee acknowledges though the work done by the Anti-Corruption Task Team for investigating individuals involved in corrupt activities. The call for an Anti-Corruption is also supported. The Committee would like the Department to speedup the processes of finalising of the Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS). The Committee shares the view of the Department that the IFMS will minimise corruption and therefore strengthen good governance in the public sector. The Committee will continue to support and play its oversight role in all the above mentioned initiatives of the Department.

MDGs- Global and Local Context

Chairperson and Honourable Members, our entire development agenda does embrace the MDGs." We are now left with about two years to arrive at the target date for achieving the eight "critical economic and social development priorities". A close perusal of the United Nation`s 2012 World MDG Report, reveals that two years to the deadline, "the world has met some important targets—ahead of the deadline".

The optimistic observation by the Secretary General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon is inspiring.

"Achieving the MDGs by 2015 is challenging but possible. Much depends on the fulfilment of MDG - 8, the global partnership for development.

The current economic crises besetting much of the developed world must not be allowed to decelerate or reverse the progress that has been made. Let us build on the successes we have achieved so far, and let us not relent until all the MDGs have been attained".

Oversight

In the previous financial year, the Committee for Public Service and Administration (DPSA) pronounced at this rostrum, that it will continuously explore ways and means of ensuring that it executes its oversight function in an effective manner that will ultimately benefit the Department in particular and government in general.

The Committee therefore adopted and implemented a more dynamic collaborative and overarching approach to oversight. We will be out there in full force as this Committee in collaboration with all clusters of Parliament to unlock any bottle-neck in the Public Service.

In conclusion, Members of Parliament and distinguished guests, please allow me to take this opportunity today to encourage the Department of Public Service and Administration, its entire staff members, PALAMA, the Public Service Commission and all the associated entities to forge ahead with task of ensuring that the public service is professionalised and developmental- oriented for the benefit of our people of this country. To fellow Members of the Portfolio Committee, thank you very much for your commitment to ensured that the Committee fulfils its Constitutional mandate. The efforts of the support staff attached to the Committee are also appreciated.

Working together we definitely can do more!

We support this Budget Vote.

Thank you