Support by the Department of Public Service and Administration to NEPAD: briefing

Meeting report

PUBLIC SERVICES AND ADMINISTRATION PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE
21 August 2002
SUPPORT BY THE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SERVICE AND ADMINISTRATION TO NEPAD

Documents Handed Out:
Summary of the Governance and Public Administration presentation
Report on the NEPAD Capacity Building Roundtable
NEPAD Capacity Building Plan June 2002
Comparative Data on Governance and Public Administration in Africa
Terms of Reference: Writing of a case-study on a Public Sector reform Initiative
Terms of Reference: Analysis of Donor Support for Public Sector reform Initiatives
Pan African Conference of Ministers and Administrative Heads of Public Service Ministries & Departments
Press Statement by Public Service Commission ( Appendix 1)

SUMMARY
The Department briefed the Committee on capacity building in governance and the type of support which the Department could offer to NEPAD. It was noted that the capacity building initiative was important because past continental efforts had failed due to implementation problems. There was a need to develop relevant capacity in national and international contexts and to strengthen the capacity of African leaders to leverage resources and experiences to achieve sustainable public administration interventions.

The capacity building initiative would have ten continent wide case studies that would help enrich and strengthen the knowledge base of public sector reform. On governance and public administration data, the initiative would document and develop a database on African public administration institutions. Other activities to be undertaken within the capacity building support initiative would include the development of governance project indicators and an analysis of donor support to reform initiatives.

MINUTES
The Department was represented Mr Salim and Miss Kulu from the DPSA. Mr Salim said that the presentation was not on NEPAD's progress but rather they would focus on capacity building in governance. He began with the background to the governance and public administration support. Through the DPSA South Africa has been active in issues of governance and public administration. The Minister advises the UNPAM and is also a general rapporteur on a number of international institutions that deal with Public Services and Administration. Mr Salim said that the Directors General had expressed their wish to meet more often and requested South Africa to play host to the next meeting.

The capacity building initiative was important because past continental efforts had failed due to implementation problems. Revenue generation problems were also another area that Mr Salim identified as being problematic and said that there was need for information exchange in order to learn from others.

Miss Kulu made a presentation on research and knowledge exchange. She dealt with the need for Africa to build a knowledge platform for African public administration decision making. She said that there was need to develop relevant capacity in national and international contexts and to strengthen the capacity of African leaders to leverage resources and experiences to achieve sustainable public administration interventions.

The capacity building initiative would have ten continent wide case studies that would help enrich and strengthen the knowledge base of public sector reform. On governance and public administration data, they said that the initiative would document and develop a database on African public administration institutions. Other activities to be undertaken within the capacity building support initiative would include the development of governance project indicators and an analysis of donor support to reform initiatives.

The two presenters then outlined the expected outcomes of the capacity building initiative as peace and security, enhanced performance in economic and political governance, effective regional integration, improvements in development and implementation of regulatory frameworks, revenue collection and delivery of services with fiscal austerity. They said the initiative also expected the programme to help lessen dependence on imported capacities, systems, methodologies and knowledge.

Mr Salim and Miss Kulu then outlined a number of challenges that the initiative faced. These include demonstrating links between governance and service delivery realities, evolution of NEPAD and AU structures, resource mobilization, demonstrating initial success to ensure programme sustainability and enhanced participating and engagements with all stakeholders.

Discussion
A Member noted that, since the nations that are involved in the NEPAD initiative are autonomous and not identical and may not accept the prescriptions of another nation what was the mandate of DPSA? And how was the DPSA empowered to drive the initiative or plan? Who had empowered the initiative?

A Member pointed out that public reform programs require political will and that there was a need for real political commitment. She then suggested that tertiary institutions take part in the process. She said it was important to note that African students that go for studies abroad for studies rarely returned to apply the knowledge they gained. There was need for the initiative not to forget indigenous knowledge, and there was a need to preserve such knowledge. She said that this preservation of indigenous knowledge should be made a thematic area. She asked the DPSA if they had looked at this. She suggested that while NEPAD addressed issues of research and development there was also a need for it to look at training on democracy and its values as well as developing human and financial resources to reduce over-reliance on "imported" resources. The Member asked whether tertiary institutions were involved in the capacity building initiative.

A Member asked the DPSA to elaborate on the level of involvement of institutions of higher learning. He also said that civil society should be involved and that the role of the portfolio committees should be identified. He asked whether the Department had the capacity to participate and further asked the DPSA to elaborate on the capacity that had been built within DPSA. He said that it was very important that the DPSA has the capacity to effectively participate in the initiative since it was obvious that South Africa would be expected to take a leading role. He then asked what the focus of the DPSA was in the NEPAD capacity building initiative.

In his answer Mr Salim said that since nations were autonomous there is a need to be careful in implementing the initiative. On the mandate of the DPSA, Mr Salim said that this came from three important sources which he outlined as:
-the last Pan African meeting of Meeting of Ministers of Public Service. He said at this meeting there was a direct request for South Africa to host the next meeting of Ministers of Public Services.
-the meeting of the Directors General in Tanzania also requested South Africa to host the next meeting. However, some research work had already started in Tanzania.
-at a meeting held in Pretoria on 8 March, 2002, the steering committee of NEPAD requested South Africa's support in shaping the capacity building programme.

Mr Salim then said that there was a need for contact with institution partners in spite of language problems. This was a challenge that the DPSA faced. On capacity, he said that there was capacity in South Africa. He sighted Statistic SA as an example of the capacity that was available to develop a statistical database.

Miss Kulu added her response to some of these questions. She said the initiative recognized indigenous knowledge. However, this was difficult to access because sometimes it is not easily given. She said the case studies that are a part of the capacity building also intended to serve this purpose. The case studies would be continent wide and would ensure continent wide participation but also provided an opportunity to share tools of success and failures. She said lessons would then be drawn on why particular initiatives succeeded or failed. On the involvement of tertiary institutions she said that this would be ensured especially in areas where theoretical knowledge was required. She pointed out that there would be a need to balance the involvement of various participants in order to deal with reality. She assured the forum that the tertiary institutions were directly involved as well. On capacity she said that the DPSA was the designated capacity and that they were trying to do different things to ensure they have the capacity to deal with their responsibility. She said this included tapping into resources of other institutions to leverage resources and pulling in strategic partners.

Mr Salim added that the various activities for political and corporate governance, exchange of information and the mobility that the initiative offered was seen by the DPSA as an opportunity to learn. There was a need for critical thinking of the benefits of their involvement in the continental initiative.

Adv Madasa (ACDP) asked the DPSA if they were aware of the NEPAD framework and the national states. He asked the DPSA what they were doing on coordination within South Africa between DPSA and other Departments to avoid conflict.

The Department representative said that it was admirable that the initiative was doing what should have been done before, namely to develop an initiative for Africa that was coming out of Africa. Other regions had tried and while some such as the EU and the US had succeeded, there were others that had failed. Even the EU had not completely succeeded. He asked the DPSA if there was an effort to learn from failures and success of other regions such as the US and EU. He asked if the learning is being done while maintaining Africa. He also asked if there was a process and progress to involve social partners, particularly in the public sector.

On coordination, Mr Salim said there was coordination which was ensured through international relations. On the level of involvement, he said it is ensured by the secretariat of NEPAD. On involvement within South Africa, Mr Salim said he was aware that some legal frameworks did not speak to each other. He said that there was therefore need ensure that this was addressed. He said that there was also hope that in a year or two, pubic service Acts of countries in the continent would be available "at the click of a button".

Miss Kulu answered the question on learning lessons from international experiences. She said that historically the African continent had learnt from mistakes of other but had also learned to copy examples of success. She said that there would therefore learning continually and glean from the best practices. She however cautioned that in some cases, successful examples that have been copied have not worked because of the differences in context. There was therefore a need to contextualize best practices in the experiences of the continent. She said the learning that was taking place was from others but also from within the continent.

Mr Salim then explained that the e-government conference was initially to be held in Morocco. However, due to the leverage in the business sector in SA and because it had the biggest IT industry in the continent as well as strong link between the business sector and the IT, it was recommended that the conference be held in South Africa. He also said that there was need to think of how to engage the public and private sector and that the participation was valued by the secretariat.

In closing, the Chairperson, Mr Gomomo said that since the entire Portfolio Committee was made up of South Africans there was need to work together regardless of political affiliation in order to make the initiative work. He encouraged Members of the Committee to attend meetings, be objective and lead. He asked the forum that since they represented society there was a need for Members to understand the initiative so that they can articulate it well to the people they represent. He also said there was need to develop structures that would ensure that the civil society is reached. He suggested an informal meeting for the committee.

The meeting was adjourned.
Appendix 1
PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION
PRESS STATEMENT BY PUBLIC SERVICE
COMMISSION
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST21 2002

PARLIAMENTARY PRESS BRIEFING

The Public Service Commission has undertaken work in the areas of Good Govennance and Human Resource Management producing several reports covering a wide range of issues. For the purposes of this press conference, we will however, be focusing on our achievement in two key thematic areas. These are Performance Management and Anti-Corruption.

The need to assess the extent to which managers have succeeded in achieving the objectives of Government has necessitated the need for PSC to develop a framework for the evaluation of HODs which was approved by Cabinet. The framework was implemented for the evaluation of HODs for the 2000/2001 financial year. Notwithstanding the first implementation of the framework, a total of 35 HoDs have been evaluated both nationally and provincially. All the provinces except Western Cape have decided to implement the framework.

In view of the importance of performance agreements as an instrument to evaluate performance and to improve service delivery, the PSC decided to investigate the management of senior managers performance agreements. In a number of senior managers that responded to this survey, it is important to note that most of the HODs had signed performance agreements. There is, however, a need to move from quantitative performance criteria to qualitative performance criteria for all senior managers.

The work on Performance Management has highlighted the need for a focus on the competencies of managers. This has received some attention in the PSC's report on The Verification of Qualifications of Senior Managers in the Public Service. The report showed that most Senior Managers are well qualified, in terms of the number of tertiary qualifications they hold. It also showed that the vast majority of these qualifications are authentic, with only 2 of the Senior Managers not holding authentic qualifications. The report did point to the following, which is of importance with regards to performance management.

Whilst managers are well qualified, most of these qualifications are in the Arts field. This needs to be augmented with both legal and commercial skills, and the report recommends that greater emphasis be paid to these areas of training.

There is a dearth of management skills, and specific training in this regard is needed.

For effective performance management to take place, it is necessary that such skills are put in place in the first instance. For historic reasons black managers have tended to obtain more

qualifications in the Arts field. It is now necessary for them to be provided a broad range of skills so as to perform more effectively.

It is important to note that in specific areas (Disability) there needs to be more emphasis on performance development. The Report on Disability Equity in the South African Public Service found that black females with disabilities were the most disadvantaged. They are the least represented in the Public Service, and are employed at the lowest salary levels. They had to cope with race, gender and disability discrimination. For their performance to be developed and enhanced, special attention was required.

For Affirmative Action to be successful, it is necessary that emphasis be placed on performance development.

The Public Service Commission was mandated by Cabinet in July 1999 to be the flag carrier of the National Anti-Corruption programme of action. Following this decision the Commission convened a series of cross-sectoral task team meetings which paved the way for the implementation of one of the resolutions at the National Anti-Corruption Summit, namely the establishment of a National Anti-Corruption Forum (NACF) to coordinate the sectoral strategies. The NACF was officially launched in Langa, Cape Town, in June 2001.

The PSC also actively participated in the development of a National Anti-Corruption Strategy for the public service. As an active member of the Anti-Corruption Coordinating Committee, established to oversee the implementation of the anti-corruption strategy, the OPSC was also tasked with the implementation of projects of this strategy, one of which involved a close study of the 13 state institutions who all share aspects of the anti-corruption mandate. The purpose of the audit was to investigate the possibilities of improving the performance of these agencies as they all shared certain aspects of the anti-corruption agenda. The audit found that South Africa has the necessary institutional capacity to combat and prevent corruption and that the establishment of a single agency would not be appropriate at this stage. Rather, attention needs to be given to improving coordination between existing agencies.

The Commission also undertook a National Ethics Survey, Ethics in 2001, Ethics in Practice" in conjunction with the auditing firm KPMG and Transparency South Africa. The purpose of the survey was to assess the ethical infrastructure in place in the public, private sector and in civil society. It revealed the need for an ethics overhaul of major public institutions throughout the country.
Research was also conducted during 2001 and 2002 on the existence, functioning and Management of ilotlines in the public service. The research drew on a more comparative experience, examining how hotlines could be managed effectively, assessing how effective hotlines are currently functioning and dealing with the question of anonymous whistle-blowers. The research also explored the possibility of establishing a national hotline.

During 2001, the PSC conducted Risk Management workshops in seven of the nine provinces. The report reflects the low status of Risk Management practices in these provinces and provincial departments. The report found too that Institutions are not able to provide officials in operational posts with the required background, information, knowledge, skills and work tools that will ensure the effective implementation of risk management strategies.

The PSC produced an Explanatory Manual of the Code of Conduct. The intention of this explanatory manual is to enhance the understanding of the Code and to ensure a greater level of


institutionalization of the Code as part of the ethics infrastructure of government departments. Each public servant will receive a copy of this explanatory manual.

Government is concerned about conflict of interest in the Public Service and has extended the system of Financial Disclosure for Senior Managers to ail SMS managers, from director upwards. All such managers are now required to submit their forms annually. The PSC is managing the emerging asset register. New measures have been proposed in a report on the effective management of the asset register, including electronic submission of financial disclosure forms.

The PSC also completed a Report on requirements for Blacklisting of businesses, organizations and individuals proved to have been involved in corruption or unethical conduct. This report suggests that anti-corruption pacts be included in all contracts issued by government.

The PSC has reviewed its findings and recommendations spanning a vast set of Public Service issues on Good Governance and Human Resource Management. Several lessons are being derived from this work. These include the need to strengthen the implementation of basic personnel practices, as well as the need to support departments in dealing with misconduct and corruption. Finally, Good Governance in the Public Service requires the consolidation and development of performance measurement and evaluation. The PSC has therefore decided to organize its work around two key strategic methodological areas as it moves into the future. These are: Investigations and Mom.tonng and Evaluation.

Issued by the Public Service Commission.
Contact: Professor SS Sangweni (Chairperson)
Telephone 012 352 1022

Media Contact:

Noleen De Free (PSC Communications): (012) 352-1070/ 082-782 1780























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