Gender and Disability in Public Service; Citizens’ Forums; Citizen Satisfaction Survey

PUBLIC SERVICE AND ADMINISTRATION PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE
8 August 2006
GENDER AND DISABILITY IN PUBLIC SERVICE; CITIZENS’ FORUMS; CITIZEN SATISFACTION SURVEY

Acting Chairperson: Mr R Baloyi (ANC)

Documents handed out:
Gender and Disability in the Public Service Budget Priorities for 2007/2008 Presentation to the Portfolio Committee: 8 August 2006
The Citizens’ Forums Toolkit Presentation: 8 August 2006
Citizen Satisfaction Survey: Criminal Justice Sector: Presentation, 8 August 2006

SUMMARY

The Department of Public Service and Administration made a presentation on gender and disability in the Public Service which the Committee felt was too short on useful factual data.

The Public Service Commission presented its findings on the Citizens’ Forums Toolkit and Citizen Satisfaction Survey in the Criminal Justice Sector.  The Committee commended the Commission on its work, but queried politicising the forums and the process of how forum facilitators were appointed.
 
MINUTES

Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) presentation

The Department presented some of its strategies, policy challenges and opportunities concerning gender and disability in the public service.  These included failures to meet national equity targets. With changes in South Africa’s economic outlook and intergovernmental cluster relationship, they hoped to do better in future. Some of the Department’s strategic leadership challenges were turning stakeholder input on gender and disability into project innovation for policy outcomes.

Concerning disability, the Department mentioned three areas of focus for 2006-2010, which included increasing recruitment rates, access to communication, technology, and meaningful work and building employability. They intended to implement these policies by working with disabled people’s organisations, linking resources of the disability network to allied organisations, and strengthening existing resources and stakeholder consensus. 

The Department described some of the issues concerning gender inequity and outlined a plan of action, which included: coordinating policy and action for socio-economic growth and development, increasing efforts to redress gender inequality and generalising best practices across the Public Service and regularly monitoring performance in measuring impact.

The Department also described some lessons learnt. These included a need for new rules of engagement and accountability, an open door policy for collaboration and more diversified skills.  The Department also made managerial challenges a priority to overcome.  These included new project management models, and learning the subtleties of unfamiliar sectors, bridging resource and competency gaps, and engaging stakeholders.

Discussion

The Acting Chair thanked the Department for the presentation but was doubtful if it would meet the Committee’s expectations. He stated that there was room for improvement in the way the Committee communicated to presenters exactly what was expected from them. For example, he wanted factual evidence supporting statements concerning gender and disability in the public service during the presentation.  He also mentioned a need for concrete facts that could support the Committee and a need for more details. Examples of particular departments that were doing well on gender and disability issues would have been helpful.

Mr I Julies (DA) emphasised the need to reach the 2% disability target in the public service. He also wondered why the disabled were not represented in this meeting.

Ms H Engelbredtt (Acting Chief Director for Employment Equity at the Department of Public Service and Administration) stated that historically the disabled had been excluded by the education system.  The Department needed a closer look at what disabled persons brought to positions when recruiting. She noted the comment about disabled persons being represented by a disabled person.

Ms D Tsukudu (Chief Director of Employment, Health and Wellness at the Department of Public Service and Administration) said that it still faced problems such as people with disabilities not being placed in positions matching their abilities because they are disabled.

The Acting Chair re-emphasised the need for the presenters to have concrete facts to support their statements. He also queried whether the Department had any interaction concerning women’s issues with the Commission on Gender Equality (CGE).

Ms Engelbredtt confirmed that it had been interacting with the CGE, mainly around planning and communication concerning the direction, thrust and calendar of the Commission. The community development worker was seen as a source of information but also one who could advise and assist citizens with requests and information. She stated that her presentation had been a summary and that more detailed facts would be forwarded to the Chair.

Public Service Commission (PSC) presentation

The presentation covered key points about the Citizens’ Forums Toolkit.  These included the PSC mandate, the concept and practice behind the Citizens’ forums and items to consider when conducting the Citizens’ forums. 

The main concept behind the Citizens’ forums is to provide citizens a place of assembly for public discussion on matters of public interest that concern them.   The concept evolved as a means whereby institutions independent of the executive participate jointly in proposing measures to improve service delivery.

The Citizens’ Forum Toolkit had been developed based on PSC pilot projects in the Eastern Cape and Mpumalanga in 2002-2003.  The Eastern Cape’s focus was the poverty alleviation programme of the Department of Social Development, and Mpumalanga’s focus was the primary health care programme of the Department of Health. 

The Toolkit includes a step-by-step guide and CD on how to conduct Citizen’s Forums. Forum groups should be kept small enough to manage and be more than just about complaints or party politics.  Facilitators should also prevent expectations from participants to rise higher than could be delivered.  Community cooperation and follow-ups of proposals made during the forums were also key aspects. The Commission also noted that the Citizens’ Forums were labour intensive, and depended on skilled facilitators, and timely feedback to work. 

While the Citizens’ Forum concept was still in its infant stage, the pilot communities had enthusiastically received it.  Training would be provided to departments nationally and provincially on the use of the toolkit. The PSC said it would act as a facilitating agency for any of the forums conducted and hoped the legislature, through its various committees, would facilitate the rollout of the toolkit.

PSC presentation on the Citizen Satisfaction Survey (Criminal Justice Sector)

This study concluded that there was an ongoing need to monitor and evaluate services through extensive consultation; that information mechanisms would have to be created and that there needed to be more attention to creating access for disabled and rural populations. There also needed to be more coordination amongst departments of the Criminal Justice Sector.

The study found that while urban respondents were generally satisfied with physical access to service points, rural respondents were not.  It also found most citizens dissatisfied with the availability of information. With the South African Police Services (SAPS) they found that users of administrative services were overall more satisfied with the level of service than users of crime related services. The latter rated slow service and the attitude of police officers as key among their concerns.

Among the courts they found that a fifth of court users were confident in the court system but only 14% said they would be willing to pursue a case or be a witness.  Less than half of court users felt justice was administered fairly and equally to everyone.

Discussion

Mr R Sikakane (ANC) commented on the good quality of the presentation.  He queried how the Citizens’ Forum facilitators differentiated between personal and popular demands (what individuals needed vs. what the population at large demanded). 

Mr I Julies (DA) stated that there was a need to separate politics from the people’s needs.  He discouraged including politics in the process.

The Acting Chair queried how issues dealt with in the forums were identified.  He also wondered about including the proposals of local government as part of the process.

Mr J Diphofa (Deputy Director-General: Monitoring and Evaluation, Public Service Commission) stated that the forum recommendations were proposals on how to address needs. He also noted that in terms of approval of facilitators, the processing of applications takes longer.

Mr J Ernsten (Deputy Chairperson: Public Services Commission) stated that he was monitoring the effectiveness of the methods tried.

The Acting Chair said that he would be monitoring the effectiveness of the methods they had tried. He agreed that politics should not be part of the forums, but they should not be oversensitive.

Mr K Khumalo (ANC) suggested that constituency offices could also be useful for the Citizens’ Forums.

Mr Ernsten stated that in South Africa things are often discussed from a political perspective.  He also said that the Committee would have a report from them on a united approach to the community.  He suggested that by doing both, the result could be a very focused Citizens’ Forum. He also reminded the Committee that the Commission was a research and investigation institution and . 

Mr I Julies (DA) noted that one did not need ANC membership to qualify for a house, a home or a car.

The meeting adjourned.