Poverty Reduction Programme Audit, & National Anti-Corruption Hotline Effectiveness: assessment by Public Service Commission

PUBLIC SERVICE AND ADMINISTRATION PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE
13 June 2007
POVERTY REDUCTION PROGRAMME AUDIT, & NATIONAL ANTI-CORRUPTION HOTLINE EFFECTIVENESS: ASSESSMENT BY PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION

Chairperson: Mr P Gomomo (ANC)
           
Documents handed out:
Evaluation of the National Anti-Corruption Hotline
An Audit of the National Anti-Corruption Hotline
National Anti-Corruption Hotline Toolkit
Report on the Audit of Government’s Poverty Reduction Programmes
Measuring the Effectiveness of the National Anti-Corruption Hotline (NACH) (available at www.psc.org.za)

Audio Recording of the Meeting

SUMMARY
The Public Service Commission presented the Report on the Audit of the Poverty Reduction Programme, which it said was a first phase in studying and evaluating the effectiveness of these programmes. South Africa had previously had no measurement method or standards, norms or indicators. International measurements would be used but there was a need for South Africa to create its own. There had been challenges as many definitions of poverty existed, and one was proposed by the PSC for relevant stakeholder to consider and make further input. There was also no central project database from departments. Project databases existed in various formats, but were not updated. The Commission had now created the first database that departments would be encouraged to use and update. Members asked questions on the minimum per capital measurements, the need to develop own standards, whether there was a widening or lessening of poverty, linkages to local and provincial governments, the need to recognise access also as a poverty issue and the context of the studies in relation to the Millennium Development Goals Poverty Reduction Programmes.

The Commission then presented its evaluation of the National Anti-Corruption Hotline, which was set up in 2004 to detect incidents of corruption and to raise awareness that government was serious about combating corruption. The hotline was not well known but 2 296 cases of alleged corruption were reported, 76% of calls being in English. 60% of reporters chose to remain anonymous. The Commission had developed a toolkit, and felt there was a need to educate public servants more about the Protective Disclosure Act. It would like to have investigative powers even if only in some limited cases. National departments were slow at giving feedback on the cases referred to them. Questions by Members related to the status of the Commission's investigative powers, the high percentage of dismissals for corruption in Limpopo, whether any rehabilitation was carried out on those suspended or dismissed, the need to educate public servants into the scope of corruption, and to define it, and positive attempts to instil good work ethics. Members suggested that trends at different levels should be investigated separately. Further questions were raised on financial mismanagement and reporting of sexual harassment.

MINUTES
Report on the Audit of the Poverty Reduction Programme: Public Service Commission (PSC)
Mr Andrew Naidoo, Chief Director: Public Service Commission, said that the government had shown a great commitment to addressing the many inequalities. The PSC decided to take an audit of the poverty reduction programmes, and this report was the first phase. The methodology involved local and international literature that was used to establish how poverty was defined.

The overall aim of the audit was to gain a better understanding of the definitions and criteria used to describe poverty, and of the interventions implemented to address it. The PSC faced a number of challenges when the audit was conducted. They could not contact all government officials responsible for the programmes, and there was no central project database. The Commission created the first database. There was also a lack of standardisation and key variables and indicators in project databases.

The PSC found that different definitions of poverty existed, all of which tried to reflect its multi-dimensional nature. Based on the audit, the PSC proposed that the following broad definition be considered:
“An individual/household is said to be in a state of poverty when they have no income or income below the standard of living, or are unable to meet their basic human needs”.

Different categorisations of poverty reduction initiatives existed. The study explored two main categorisations. The first categorised initiatives by the type of poverty they sought to address (income poverty, services poverty, asset poverty and capabilities poverty). The second categorised initiatives by the types of activities or programmes (social security, free or subsidised basic household services, subsidised individual services, housing, land reform, income generating projects, and public works programmes).

Of all these services, social security had the biggest number of projects and therefore a major share of 55.7% in budget allocations. Overall, there were 29 966 projects.

The report recommended that the term “poverty reduction” be used to describe programmes and projects that had a focus on improving the livelihoods or quality of life of individuals and households with no income, or with an income below the standard of living. The definition of poverty proposed in the report should be communicated to relevant stakeholders for their consideration and further input. The database developed by the PSC should be updated on an annual basis, until the government had been able to implement an appropriate system.

The report also recommended that a national strategy and norms and standards for the implementation of poverty reduction programmes be developed. Processes also needed to be developed to ensure the proper recording of information.

Discussion
Mr M Sikakane (IFP) asked Mr A Naidoo what the minimum per capita measurements for this study were.

Mr Naidoo said that there was a lack of agreement on what the measurement was within the PSC but in the meantime international measurements would be used. He pointed out that the report highlighted the contextual issues to be dealt with. South Africa did not have a measurement line. The Treasury and Stats South Africa were working on this.

Dr Norman Maharaj (Deputy Chairperson, PSC) said South Africa was a signatory to the United Nations Resolution to halve poverty by 2050. Therefore there was a need to understand what the country was supporting. The Millennium Development Goals focused on one aspect of income poverty. There were many others, like access poverty, where people did not have access to basic services. Internationally income poverty was the main focus, and the PSC wanted to make the definition broader.

The Chairperson said it was good to measure this on international standards, but South Africa needed to have its own standards.

Mr M Sikakane (IFP) said that people often claimed that the gap of poverty had widened since 1994. He had always wondered how people could reach such conclusions without any measurement method.

Ms J Ntlake (ANC) said that she would be more interested in knowing whether the reduction programmes were successful. She commented that this was a good starting point and asked if this was going to lead to a better understanding of what measurements were needed.

Dr U Roopnarain (IFP) asked whether this exercise by the PSC was working, as public resources were being used. She also wanted to know whether the PSC, from its research, thought poverty was decreasing in the country.

Dr Maharaj said the PSC could not say whether poverty was going down, as there was no database, standards, norms or clear indicators with which to compare. The current database with 30 000 projects was the first of its kind. If the departments could assist more, further comparative information would be available. He was surprised that universities had not come up with anything. Economists used all sort of terms to measure the situation, but there was still no answer to the fundamental question.

Mr A Harding (ID) asked whether the audit was done in all communities in the country.

Mr Naidoo said the PSC already had a sample from the report that was almost finished. He promised that the Commission would come back to show the Committee the sample.

Ms Ntlake asked how these projects were linked to what was happening on the ground, at local government level. She noticed this was done at provincial and national departments.

Mr Naidoo said that the information on projects was under provincial governments in the report and the local government sector had been the source.

Mr B Mthembu (ANC) said key concepts like reduction and alleviation were in the report. He noted that the PSC said these should be used separately. He wanted to know how the Commission had contextualised this in relation to the Millennium Development Goals’ Poverty Reduction Programmes. He said these programmes needed to be categorised. 

Mr Mashwahle Diphofa, Deputy Director General, Office of the Public Service Commission, said the PSC needed to continue the debate and it would be useful to go back to the fundamental issues that the report brought up. It showed that poverty manifested itself in many ways. Access was also an issue, and poverty was also about access to basic services and not only about how much money people had in their pockets. Mr Diphofa said eradication of poverty was the long-term goal and alleviation of poverty in the short term was a process to reaching that goal.

Dr Maharaj pointed out that 55% of budget allocations went towards social security and that more resources should go towards other projects like land reform, health and education.

Ms Ntlake said she was not sure whether the country would get to a stage where poverty ceased to exist.

The Chairperson commented that under a capitalist system, poverty could never be eradicated completely.

Evaluation of the National Anti-Corruption Hotline (NACH): Briefing by Public Service Commission
The PSC was given a mandate to run this hotline and it had operated since 2004.The main objective of the hotline was to detect incidents of corruption and to raise the awareness that government was serious about combating corruption.

The PSC conducted an evaluation of all information available from the PSC call centre, PSC database and through workshops conducted at national and provincial levels with senior managers and investigators who were involved in managing hotline cases in their respective departments.

The PSC noted that a worrying rate of 60% of reporters were anonymous. 76% of the cases had been reported in English. People were allowed to report in their home language, so as to report freely. A total of 4182 cases of alleged corruption were reported during the period 1 September 2004 to 30 November 2006, but after an evaluation, the PSC found out that only 2 296 were related to corruption.

Gauteng Province had the highest number of cases of alleged corruption reported via the NACH, followed by the Eastern Cape, KwaZulu Natal and Mpumalanga. Gauteng and KwaZulu Natal also had not given enough feedback on what had been done about the cases referred to them. At provincial level, the alleged abuse of government owned vehicles had the highest frequency of all cases reported. More public servants were reported at national rather than provincial level in respect of the soliciting of bribes. National departments were submitting feedback on progress with the investigation of cases at a very slow pace.

The PSC had developed a NACH Toolkit. The commission believed that if the departments applied the principles contained in the toolkit, the hotline would be improved. The PSC recommended that the provincial protocols also must be reviewed to relieve bottlenecks and determine whether direct referral to provincial departments would be effective. Departments were obliged by the Minimum Anti-Corruption Capacity requirements issued by Cabinet to create investigative capacity. The PSC also hoped to create more investigative capacity for itself. The Hotline would be marketed better in future.

Discussion
Mr A Harding (ID) said that people were scared to blow the whistle

Mr M Sikakane (IFP) enquired what the status was of the Commission’s investigative powers.

Dr Maharaj said that cases were referred to departments and the South African Police Service (SAPS), but there was a need for some cases to be investigated by the PSC itself. He reminded the Committee of the Protective Disclosure Act and said that 60% of the reporters chose to remain anonymous, which meant that many people did not feel they were protected by the Act.

Ms J Ntlake (ANC) asked what was meant by the statement that all the 20 cases of dismissals had taken place in Limpopo.

Ms P Mashangoane (ANC) also asked why it was only Limpopo that had been mentioned.

Dr Maharaj said Limpopo was serious about dealing with corruption. Great leadership had been displayed in the province with regard to dealing with corruption. The PSC had come up with an initiative called the Minimum Anti-Corruption Capacity Requirements to help departments deal with corruption. DPSA had done a study on whether the departments met and applied the requirements. PSC would now use this when evaluating departments.

Ms V Mentoor (ANC) said she was grateful for the establishment of the hotline, and for the calls, which showed that there was an avenue for public to raise complaints and report corruption. The fact that public servants knew there was a reporting mechanism was in itself a great achievement, and these must be commended even before looking at the trends. She was disappointed that national departments were the slowest in terms of reporting and felt that Cabinet Ministers and Heads of Departments should account. With regards to the reported non-adherence to official office hours, she said it had been agreed that these hours should be flexible (although this should not be abused) because of the challenges women faced in their domestic situation.

Ms L Maloney (ANC) asked what happened to the people who been suspended or dismissed from work. She felt there was a need to rehabilitate the people who had been dismissed so they did not suffer psychologically from this experience, and to prevent recurrence of the offences.

Dr Maharaj said there was nothing done to rehabilitate offenders. They were simply suspended and might face charges in the near future. They would then be exposed to rehabilitation through that system.

The Chairperson agreed that the monitoring of programmes and initiatives like NACH was important. He asked how corruption was defined.

Dr Maharaj said corruption was not well defined, and this resulted in people acting in ways that they did not realise amounted to corruption. Corruption was not only about money being stolen, as failing to keep regular and proper office hours without valid excuse was corruption through stealing of time.

Mr A Harding (ID) agreed that the definition of corruption was broad. He also suggested that those who performed well in the public service must be commended.

Dr Maharaj said the PSC would look at whether departments were doing something to instil a good work ethic or good behaviour and commend those who had done well, such as initiating “Employee of the Month” rewards and the likes.

Ms V Mentoor (ANC) believed it was a mistake to conglomerate the public service into one. Trends at senior management, middle management and lower levels should be looked at separately. She said the Commission would probably find more dedication and integrity at lower levels. She also suggested peer counselling for the offenders. Some managers inherently believed they could do as they pleased and not adhere to the ethical codes of the public service.

Ms Caroline Mampuru (Chief Director, PSC) said that financial mismanagement was common at lower levels of government.

Dr U Roopnarain (IFP) asked whether sexual harassment cases had been reported via the hotline.
 
Dr Maharaj said that he knew that harassment was one of the most difficult matters to deal with, as people were usually uncomfortable about reporting it.

Mr A Naidoo said he did not remember issues of sexual harassment being reported. 

Ms Mampuru pointed out that sexual harassment cases went to the Gender Commission only. She suggested that there was a need for PSC to educate public servants about this.

Ms V Mentoor said that even if the Gender Commission received sexual harassment cases, the PSC still needed to know about them. The education of public servants was very important so an environment for people to report freely could be created.

Ms C Mampuru stressed that the fact that no complaints had been sent through the hotline did not mean that there were no complaints. Some came through the Complaints Roll.

Committee Business: Budget Vote of the Minister of Finance
The Chairperson asked Members to briefly discuss the Minister of Finance’s Budget Vote. He felt the Budget Speech should be debated before it was voted on in the House.

Ms V Mentoor asked why the Minister of Finance’s budget passed without debate, as members did have the power to raise questions and withhold a vote until some issues were addressed.

Dr Maharaj said the process of making proposals to the Treasury would start in July. The PSC would make its submission to the Treasury and it was willing to work with committee in the submissions.

Mr K Minnie indicated that the DA would support the vote and the Chairperson commended this.

The meeting was adjourned.