Public Service Seminar 2012: plans, adoption of minutes and oversight report

Meeting report

Chairperson's Introductory Remarks
The Chairperson noted that although it had been planned that the Committee would meet with the new Minister, he was unable to attend this meeting as he was attending the Conference of Parties (COP 17). His apology was noted and accepted. However, she welcomed the Director General of the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA or the Department), and invited him to address the Committee.

Adoption of Committee Minutes
The Committee adopted its minutes of 14 September, 19 October, 26 October and 16 November 2011 without amendments.

Minutes of the meeting on 9 November 2011 were adopted with minor changes.

Committee’s Report on Oversight to various entities during July & August 2011
The Committee adopted its Oversight Visit Report to various entities during July & August 2011 with minor grammatical changes.

Discussion
Ms H Van Schalkwyk (DA) pointed out that the oversight visit was well organized and insightful, and commended the Members for the work done.

The Chairperson agreed, adding that this was one of the best oversight visits that the Committee had undertaken.

Department of Public Service and Administration briefing
The Chairperson noted that the Committee had been disappointed on occasions when the Department had not been present to brief the Committee on draft legislation.

Mr Mashwahle Diphofa, Director General, Department of Public Service and Administration, repeated the apologies of the Minister, and said that he did want to meet with the Committee. He commented that it had been unfortunate that the Department had been invited by the Committee to attend meetings but had failed to do so, and he apologised and assured the Committee that he would look into the matter and find out why this was so. He assured Members that it would not happen again.

Mr Diphofa indicated that the invitation to the new Minister had indicated that the Committee wanted to get a sense of what his priorities would be. The Minister was leading a two pronged process to deal with the priorities. Firstly, the Department had been asked to focus on issues raised by during the Budgetary Review and Recommendation Report (BRRR) process and the Auditor General, with a view to taking the suggestions on board for the next financial year. This process was ongoing, and would address all the issues for which the Minister was responsible, including government Outcome 12, with all of its seven outputs. There would also be a focus on issues of regional integration, such as the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM). There would be a summit of Heads of State in January next year. The Department would be attending to operational plans also for the 2012/13 financial year.

Mr Diphofa concluded by repeating that he hoped the Department would not again fail to appear when called to the Committee. The Department fully accepted that it was accountable to the Committee.

Discussion
The Chairperson pointed out that the Committee had met with the Minister, but only discussed what was on the agenda at the time. The Committee needed a time frame as to when legislation on local government would be completed, in light of the problems being faced in this area. This matter had been outstanding for some time. It had been promised that this would be completed in the current financial year and therefore the Committee hoped that the Department would adhere to this.

Mr G Hill-Lewis (DA) also asked if the Department would comply with the original time lines set for the legislation on local government.

Mr Diphofa replied that the Minister had included this aspect as part of his input for the State of the Nation Address. The Department and Ministry were currently taking stock of issues arising in the past, and holding consultations. A final response could only be given after conferring with the Minister, and he promised a formal response later.

The Chairperson responded that the Committee understood that the legislation issues was one concerning a political mandate, and therefore, whilst the Committee understood that the Director General could not make pronouncements on it, it nonetheless hoped that Mr Diphofa would inform the Minister of the concerns.

Public Service Seminar to be held in 2012
The Chairperson gave an overview on the Public Service seminar to be held in 2012, noting that it would be run by Parliament, and would focus on issues observed by Parliamentary Committees during oversight. She had met with the Chair of Chairs on this matter. A proposal for the seminar had been made and Members were invited to give feedback. The seminar would provide an opportunity to interact with the National Planning Commission Report. The seminar’s main themes would be mainstreaming and collaboration, and it would be arranged into the four Clusters of Economic, Safety, Social and Governance. The seminar would look at the impact on implementation of government objectives contained in the government outcomes.

She noted that the matters to be discussed would be grouped into topics dealing with oversight, corruption, human resources development strategy, an integrated public service and public participation.
The area of oversight would cover capacity building for Members of Parliament, coordination and collaboration, and the Cluster system. There should be concrete training programmes that would build the capacity of Members of Parliament. The area of corruption would highlight the need for a radical programme on corruption. Corruption was ongoing and it seemed that people were not scared of engaging in it, so a much stronger deterrent message had to be sent out. All Parliamentary committees would have to zoom in on this issue. The human resources development strategy would look at how the public service was promoting human resource development.

The Chairperson noted the need for oversight in all spheres of government, as indicated in Chapter 10 of the Constitution, and said that the integrated public service discussions would focus on this. The public participation aspect would look to what progress had been made to have a participatory democracy within the public service, and how best the citizenry could be included within the democracy. She pointed out that many people were still unaware of their rights, and where to find services. Citizens needed to be made aware of these aspects.

She concluded that clear outcomes needed to be crafted for the Seminar. She said that it would be attended by the Speaker and the President or Deputy President. She asked Members to comment on the framework.

Discussion
Ms van Schalkwyk pointed out that nothing was said about the question of ethics, and she asked if this would be handled under the broad topic of corruption.

The Chairperson replied that this was correct, and added that the topic of ethics was important and would not be overlooked.

Mr A Williams (ANC) pointed out that the five topics of oversight, corruption, human resource and development strategy, the integrated public service and public participation were very broad headings, and there would have to be more detail in the topics to be discussed under each. He said that, for instance, human resource and development strategy must include questions around capacity building.

Mr L Ramatlakane (COPE) felt that the five key areas of focus were comprehensive, but agreed that more detail needed to be developed around each area. The objectives that needed to be achieved also should be stated.

The Chairperson stated that the Seminar might be held in the second term and not the first.

Mr Hill-Lewis pointed out that the National Development Plan made five specific proposals with regards to the public service, and four of these were covered in the framework just outlined. The proposal to have a single administrative head of the public service was not included. That would be an interesting discussion, and was one that deserved proper discussion and research.
 
The Chairperson agreed that it was an important discussion that would be ongoing, and the topic would not be lost. However, it was intended that this would be covered under the discussion on the integrated public service.

The Chairperson said that if there were no adjustments proposed, then the framework would be used as outlined, with the necessary expansion.

The Chairperson thanked members for their input and cooperation during this last Parliamentary session.

The meeting was adjourned.