PC Pservice: Discussion on Ghana & Indonesia Study Tour Report

Meeting report

The Chairperson explained that the draft programme and outstanding minutes would not be adopted because there not enough Members to form a quorum.

Ghana and Indonesia Study Tour Report
The Chairperson reminded Members that the purpose of the study tour to Ghana and Indonesia was to look at public service institutions and how they were utilised to benefit the national interest. The Committee should collaborate with the Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs as well as the Select Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs on issues of common interest. The Committee should rather ask itself what kind of legislation was required instead of simply talking about a single public service. The Department of Public Service and Administration should update the Committee on how far it had gone with the Public Service Bill. She said that the Committee should review the role of the Thusong Advice Centres and how they could also be used by the traditional leaders.

The role of the Public Administration Leadership and Management Academy (PALAMA) could be expanded as in Ghana, where it was used for training Members before they started working in Parliament. The Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration was a fully fledged university that conferred accredited degrees. South Africa needed to put up systems in place for an effective and proactive disaster management strategy. Calamities like floods and hurricanes did not announce when they hit the country’s shores. It was important to take heed of the lessons learned and try to implement the best country in this country.

Discussion
Mr A Williams (ANC) suggested that PALAMA should train the leadership at the local government level such as municipal managers.

Mr E Nyekemba (ANC) agreed with this suggestion.

Ms H Van Schalkwyk (DA) said that PALAMA should not only be a facilitator but should have recognised qualifications for all spheres of government. The South African Local Government Association (SALGA) should be consulted when such an initiative was undertaken.

The Chairperson explained that the Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs would look at courses for senior leadership that could be provided by PALAMA.

The Chairperson suggested that PALAMA could even train State Owned Enterprise (SOE) executives. PALAMA should convince the Committee if they wanted to upgrade into a fully fledged university.

Mr Nyekemba noted that the training of Members of Parliament in other countries was a good thing. In South Africa Members just went through a simple induction about how the National Assembly and the National Council of Province worked.

Mr Williams suggested that Committees should have more support staff- like researchers and content advisors dedicated to each Committee as was the case in Indonesia.

The Chairperson replied that in Indonesia each Committee had seven people working as Committee support staff, in South Africa it could be at least one person doing research and some content advice work for each Committee.  Some of the issues raised by the Members would be raised at the 2011 PALAMA e learning Indaba. The Chairperson challenged Members to ask themselves whether one researcher was enough for the Committee.

The meeting was adjourned.