Capacity-Building Across the Three Spheres of Government: Department briefing

PUBLIC SERVICE AND ADMINISTRATION PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE
14 June 2006
CAPACITY-BUILDING ACROSS THE THREE SPHERES OF GOVERNMENT: DEPARTMENT BRIEFING

Acting Chairperson: Mr M Baloyi (ANC)

Documents handed out:
Capacity Building: The Three Spheres of Government
Building a one stop culture in the Public Service

SUMMARY
The Department briefed the Committee on issues relating to capacity building across the three spheres of government while building a one-stop culture in Public Service on cost recovery by Municipalities.  Members raised concerns about service delivery, the deadline for targets set by the Department, and the support given to municipalities.

MINUTES
Briefing by the Department of Public Service and Administration
Prof Richard Levin (Director-General) and Dr Kenny Govender (Chief Director) briefed the Committee on the strategies on capacity building across the national, provincial and the local spheres of government.

They presented the initiative to build a one-stop culture in public service and covered the background of the programme based on the findings on a commissioned study, which showed that the state did not have the requisite capacity to deliver on Government’s socio-economic objectives. There was a need for high-level skills in the following sectors: Health, Education, Criminal Justice, Local Government, South African Police Service and Trade and Industry.

The presentation highlighted current initiatives in response to the acknowledged needs. Those included capacity assessments in various departments and sectors. Comprehensive proposals to that effect would be submitted to Cabinet Legotla in July 2006. Some issues raised in the presentation included learnerships and internships, of which the Department targeted at least 5% percent by 2009 for approved establishment; the use of foreign workers in response to the problem of scarce and critical skills; an investigation into the audit of the functioning of sector specific training institutions such as parastatals; government departments such as Health, Agriculture, Defence, Water Affairs; and the Education technical centres such as vocational and artisan training. (Please see documents for full presentation)

Discussion
Mr M Sikakane (ANC) was concerned about the increased unemployment rates and the way in which the Department had handled the matter. He felt that there was no intention to eradicate poverty regardless of the programs introduced, such as ASGISA, which he believed the people knew little about despite its implications forthe economy. Parliamentarians were also guilty of that ignorance.

Mr I Julies (DA) commented that service delivery remained a key issue in dealing with challenges facing South Africa. He added that there were a number of programmes introduced, but services were still not being delivered. The cause for that could be that there was not a thorough understanding of roles at grass roots level. Councillors needed to work closely with all stakeholders concerned to ensure that people received services.

Mr B Mthembu (ANC) commended the Department for sharing the findings of the commissioned study. He was pleased with the findings and looked forward to seeing action taken in response to the findings. He asked what the impact of the constitutional agreement to address challenges of the country was and what some of the challenges were with regard to reaching learnership targets in 2009.

The Department responded the current constitutional dispensation was not adequately applied, which was something the Department hoped to change. On the reaching of targets, there were structures that were put in place to ensure that by 2009 all programmes were in place. The decision to reach targets by 2009 had been taken in 2003 and challenges included lack of physical facilities, resources to accommodate interns, lack of mentors to assist learners as well as lack of funds to fund learnership programmes. The Department however hoped to resolve such challenges.

Ms P Mashangoane (ANC) asked to what extent the Department supported municipalities and if this was done as part of an Integrated Development Plan. She commented that 2009 was too far a date for the Department to reach its goals on monitoring evaluation. She asked if it was possible to bring the date closer and said that she appreciated the willingness of the education aspect to recapitalise further education and training as means of addressing the problems at hand.

The Department responded that there was a Municipal Development Programme in place in which the South African Local Government Association was involved. The Department of Provincial and Local Government was engaged in discussions that had just been finalised. The Department had agreed to share the report on the outcome of such discussions with the Committee. The process was engaged in ensuring that the Integrated Development Plan was influenced by aspirations and the needs of people.

Ms M Matsomela remarked that building a one-stop culture could be easily misunderstood by people at the grass roots level as well as by service providers. One way to prevent that would be to change mindsets so that they understood and dealt with issues differently. Middle managers themselves failed to understand critical issues at hand and it was imperative to focus on taking people through change and implementing the Batho Pele principles.

The Department acknowledged that there were unintended consequences at the municipal level where computers were not working properly and which then had an impact on servicing the needs of the people. Another concern was under-spending in some levels of governance. The notion of changing mindsets remained a challenging issue for all.

The meeting was adjourned.