Ri perile ... [Good evening.] ... Chairperson, the Deputy Minister for the Public Service and Administration, chairperson of the portfolio committee, hon members of the portfolio committee, hon Cabinet colleagues and Members of Parliament, the chairperson of the Public Service Commission, chairpersons of boards of institutions associated with the Ministry, senior leadership of our institutions, leaders of the trade union movement present here, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, we present to this august House the Budget Vote for the Ministry of Public Service and Administration for the 2011-12 financial year, in respect of which we are giving an account of the performance of the following: the Ministry itself, the Department of Public Service and Administration, DPSA; the Public Administration Leadership and Management Academy, Palama; the State Information Technology Agency, Sita; the Public Service Commission, PSC; the Centre for Public Service Innovation, CPSI; the Public Service Sector Education and Training Authority, PSETA; and the Government Employees Medical Scheme, Gems.
In financial terms, the budget we are presenting today for the entire Ministry stands at R690,1 million, with R384,8 million allocated to the DPSA, R118 million to Palama, and R151 million to the PSC. A share of R14,8 million of the DPSA allocation is for the CPSI, and R21 million is for PSETA operational activities. Both Sita and Gems are self-sustaining and do not require allocations from the Ministry.
The PSETA's funding, under our control, is limited to operational activities, while they draw assistance from the National Skills Fund, NSF, to cater for skills development programmes.
Our work is focused on the minimum of having to realise one of the 12 outcomes in our outcomes-based performance approach, which is Outcome 12. It instructs us to work under the theme: An efficient, effective and development-oriented Public Service, and an empowered, fair and inclusive citizenship.
The maximum focus of this portfolio has to deal with all those issues that will ensure the total consolidation, stabilisation and activation of the state machinery around the sustenance of the values of our administration, as enshrined in our Constitution and affecting all three spheres of government, as well as the state-owned entities.
Let me mention that we are talking about the following: promoting and maintaining a high standard of professional ethics; promoting efficient, economic and effective use of resources; ensuring a developmental administration and responding to the needs of the people; maintaining an accountable public administration; and enforcing a public administration representative of the people of this country. The PSC continues to monitor compliance with these values through annual reports on the state of the Public Service.
We know that we still have departments that find it optional to respond to the findings of the PSC. As we indicated through the reports of the PSC in our debate last year, our Deputy Minister is representing us in leading compliance in this regard. This constitutes the mandate of the Ministry of Public Service and Administration, lest we forget, and this is for those who only know us as a Ministry of salaries, hiring and firing.
In order to realise these values, we set ourselves to embark on the following activities: improving service delivery quality and accessibility; maintaining effective systems, structures and processes; leveraging information technology as a strategic resource enabler; eliminating barriers of entry into the Public Service and facilitate effective entry and cadre development; encouraging effective human resource management practices through norms and standards; promoting a healthy and safe working environment for all public servants; ensuring appropriate governance structures, citizen engagements and public participation; fighting corruption effectively; and contributing to improved public service and administration in Africa and in the international arena.
The Ministry continues to deal with issues across the Public Service in discharging our mandate. One of the examples in this regard includes reviewing the Ministerial Handbook. This handbook is an instrument that is providing guidelines on dealing with matters regarding benefits and privileges to which the following categories of public officials and their families are entitled: Ministers; Deputy Ministers; Premiers; Members of Executive Councils, Presiding Officers and Deputy Presiding Officers of Parliament, including yourself, hon Chairperson.
The main focus of the review is to standardise the interpretation of the handbook, amend sections thereof, and give more space to concentrate resources in the area of service delivery. It is also aimed at providing for those categories of officials and their families who are not taken care of in the current dispensation, such as officials with disabilities.
We have a draft amended version of the handbook, after having thoroughly consulted all interested parties, and after benchmarking with several countries on the continent and in the world. We referred the draft amended version to Cabinet for authorisation, and will further engage with this matter. We want to indicate that we will take on board and engage Parliament in as far as dealing with all these issues is concerned. If all progresses according to our plans, we will go public on the issues raised in the review document during the Public Service Week that we are going to have next month.
The point we want to stress in this regard is that we are not placing ourselves at the centre of determining the tools of trade and financial support for those officials. We are providing for administrative instruments of control, so that there is no room for such to be used out of context or outside the intention and spirit of the matter for their development. It is important for us to say this, because we know that as a country we created a commission that deals with such issues as determining the tools of trade for our public officials to do their work. Furthermore, we are continuing to intervene in situations where there are disputes between executive authorities and accounting officers at national and provincial levels, so that our resolve on value-laden processes is not compromised at any level. Through these interventions we have managed to influence the transfer of some of these officials who, in the interest of the public and effective service delivery, had to be transferred. We also managed to facilitate the early exit of some of these officials for the same reasons, although informed by different circumstances.
This is not an easy task, as oftentimes we spend more time dealing with one case due to the fact that our first call is to find amicable settlements in such matters. It should not be forgotten that ours is a government subscribing to the rule of law and administrative law, in terms of which there is nothing like an arbitrary application of sanctions, and all have a right to be heard and to seek recourse from the courts of this country.
We are proud that in these difficult situations we have acquitted ourselves so well that we have had more of these cases concluded administratively, and not through the courts of law. The main point in this regard is that we always strive to have a balance between executive authorities and accounting officers, so that the political-administrative interface between them is always in the interests of accelerating service delivery. Where there is a serious and irretrievable breakdown of relationships, the solution should not be counterproductive and compromise values.
I want to state here that the Ministry is including this aspect in our project of repositioning the Public Service, so that we manage this effectively. If it will take the amendment of the Public Service Act to do so, we are prepared to champion that cause. Our Deputy Minister is leading this project in a mission informed by the desire to further position the entire Public Service to deliver in this, our developmental state. We will achieve this by creating a conducive environment for the Public Service to be what we envisage, as well as managing the human resource processes from recruitment to retirement better.
Still on Ministry responsibilities, we are vigilantly taking the fight forward to ensure compliance with the values of our administration at the local sphere of government. In this regard, we will work closely with the relevant departments to ensure that the provision of the Constitution is realised; that the values of administration find expression in whatever we do at the level of all three spheres of government and in state-owned entities. Soon our Deputy Minister will lead us in unveiling a programme of action to deal with this matter.
The idea here is to give effect to the commitment we as the ANC made, which is to build better communities through the delivery of better services to the people at the coalface. As the classic English saying has it, you "strike while the iron is hot". We believe that ours is to make a mark to ensure that what remains in people's minds, after the victory celebrations for the local government elections held recently, is smarter and faster working for accelerated delivery and clean governance.
We are taking seriously the fight against corruption at the Public Service level. We have established the Anticorruption Unit with a view to fighting the scourge, and making every effort to do so.
As we talk about this issue, we should refer to what entomologists would say in characterising the insect, the wasp. They say that a wasp has a lifetime of stinging capability, unlike a bee, which has one sting. It has the capacity of transforming itself and evolving to survive. Once stung by a wasp, you become very scared of it. A wasp only attacks when confronted or when it believes that its nest is threatened. It has the competency of targeting, and never misses. Wasps come in different shapes and sizes, and fit their targets accordingly - we know of wasp-the-elephant, which stings strongly, no matter how big the target is; wasp-the-donkey, which will put even a stubborn target on the run; and wasp-the-juvenile, which attacks at the fastest speed and no one can evade him.
Lava va nga risa tihomu ku fana na mina va ta swi tsundzuka leswaku eka ndhawu leyi u nga tshama u lumiwa hi mimpfi, u nga tlhelela eka yona ntsena loko xolwe a ku sindzisa. Swi ta va tano eka mfumo. Lava vo yiva, lava va tirhisaka swiyimo swa vona ku tifumisa swi nga fambi hi ndlela, lava va rhangelaka hi lunya ro tikisela vanhu hi ndlela yo hlota nseketelo eka ntlangu wa vukungundzwana, va ta titwela.
Ku hambana exikarhi ka mimpfi ya hina na ya ntumbuluko hi leswaku, mimpfi ya hina eka mfumo yi ta luma na vaxolwe, naswona yi na vuswikoti byo landza na hi risema. (Translation of Xitsonga paragraphs follows.)
[Those who have herded cattle, like I have, will remember that you could only return there where you were once bitten by a wasp, when the bully insisted on you going. It will be like that also in government. Those who steal, those who abuse their positions to enrich themselves, those who deceitfully lead others with suppression in order to garner support in the game of corruption, will feel the consequences.
The difference between our wasp and a natural wasp is that our wasp in government will bite even the bully, and it has the ability of following through the stench.]
We are going to elaborate on the success stories of this unit during the Public Service Week next month, in which you are welcome to participate. We warn all those involved, including corruptors, corruptees and environment- manipulators that they had better not find themselves on our list, for it is going to be hot!
The Public Service Induction, PSI, is one of the key mandatory programmes that Palama is currently rolling out. There is the PSI for nonsenior management members, SMS, and Wamkelekile, which is an induction for senior management members. Palama has converted this into a programme of action. Wamkelekile has been converted in order for it to be available on an eLearning platform for those senior managers who cannot attend the classroom phase.
It is critical to note that the induction programme that Palama provides for new entrants into our Public Service, as well as the reinduction programme, is meant to ensure the inculcation and sustenance of the values and attributes of a Public Service cadre.
Notable also is the fact that Palama will soon become a preparatory school for our public servants. To mention a few, 90 gender mainstreaming training sessions have been conducted, with 1 866 officials being trained recently. Furthermore, 20 new Palama courses have been assessed for gender sensitivity and inclusivity.
We created Sita as an agency to achieve cost saving by facilitating the bulk buying of information technology, IT, services; co-ordinating partnerships between government and industry players; and improving IT accessibility by the public. We will give a targeted report on the record of the Sita's performance during the presentation of this same budget at the NCOP in two weeks' time. We are going to do that under the theme: Sita today, Sita tomorrow, Sita into the future. There we will give account of why we embarked on a turnaround strategy, what the strategy entails, what we have achieved through the strategy, and what we are doing to consolidate the gains arising from the strategy. We are doing this simply because of the time constraints today.
On 4 June 2010 we launched the Multi-Media Innovation Centre. It provides a learning platform for the public sector on innovation implementation, in support of government's efforts to entrench the culture and practice of innovation to improve service delivery. It is a walk-through centre that, amongst other things, showcases public sector innovation and provides a safe environment to incubate and test solutions that improve or enhance service delivery.
In our budget debate last year we indicated that the Creative Problem Solving Institute, CPSI, in partnership with the Department of Basic Education, DBE, and the SA National Council for the Blind, has developed an appropriate assistive device for visually impaired teachers. It will assist them to function more independently in the education environment. Today, we are reporting that training material was designed and developed, and that training was conducted in four provinces. From October 2010 to February 2011, 20 assistive devices were piloted and tested by visually impaired teachers throughout the country. The project is now ready to be handed over to the DBE.
For this financial year, PSETA has planned four critical projects: the Integrated Rural Youth Project in partnership with the DPSA; North West Unemployed Youth Empowerment; training co-operatives; and the military veterans, which focuses on upskilling military veterans in tour guiding or new venture options.
As Members of Parliament will be aware, government as an employer established the Government Employees Medical Scheme, Gems. It was to address the historic imbalances and inequities in respect of the provision of conditions of service to Public Service employees. These inequities and imbalances were identified in the 1999 Personnel Expenditure Review and by public sector trade unions, as well as the majority of public servants.
We should, of course, not lose sight of Resolution 7 of 2000 of the Public Service Co-ordinating Bargaining Council, PSCBC, where the employer and labour agreed to investigate the restructuring of medical assistance for Public Service employees. The Gems story is a story of success in the partnership between government as the employer and organised labour, and I am proud to announce that we have continued to work together to deal with such important issues as the restructuring of the scheme's administration. Allow me, Chairperson, as I conclude, to introduce a topic to be considered as food for thought for all of us present here. In doing so, I confirm that it is true that wage negotiations are on between the government and labour at the PSCBC. As usual, it is not easy. We continue to work as government and organised labour to conclude the negotiations without any disruptions to services.
The issue for our homework is that we are starting a campaign called My public servant, My future. In terms of this we will accelerate the following: employer-employee contact and information-sharing; reflections on the general issues around the state in which our public servants work and are compensated; services that our public servants are delivering; the role of civil society, academia, traditional institutions, legislative bodies and institutions supporting constitutional democracy; and others. This will be in answering questions related to the state of our public servants, all with a view to finding each other and possibly contributing to finding solutions that conventional wisdom, systems and practices are not providing.
In conclusion, our resolve to deepen good governance transcends our borders, hence our championing of, among others, the following: the African Peer Review Mechanism, APRM; post-conflict reconstruction and development in affected countries on the continent; United Nations Convention Against Corruption; and also participation in the Organisation for Economic Co- operation and Development in dealing with the issue of bribery as a manifestation of corruption by officials at international business level.
Mutshamaxitulu, lexi nga heriki xa hlola. [Chairperson, everything that does not end is a bad omen.]
Chairperson, Minister for the Public Service and Administration, hon Richard Baloyi, Deputy Minister, hon Ayanda Dlodlo, hon Members of Parliament, Public Service commissioners present, the director- general, chairpersons of boards, chief executive officers and heads of Public Service and Administration institutions, guests, and ladies and gentlemen, before I start, I want to indicate that I'm pleased to welcome Prudence Masango and Mahlogonolo Banyatsang from Bona Lesedi Secondary School in Mamelodi, who are attending the debate on today's Budget Vote as part of the programme of the Public Sector Education and Training Authority, PSETA, the Take a Girl Child to Work initiative. [Applause.] I would really like to thank them for also making me "take a girl child to work" on this hectic day.
It is again that time of the year when Parliament meets and debates Budget Votes for the provision of services to the people of South Africa. My task is to deliberate on Budget Vote No 12: Public Service and Administration. The Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration is certainly delighted to have had constructive deliberations with the department, which has culminated in its Budget Vote report.
Today's Budget Vote deliberations take place precisely eight days after our country's local government elections in which the ANC, our movement, won decisively. [Applause.] We are certainly indebted to our people for the courageous and dedicated support they have so eloquently demonstrated by making the right mark at the polls.
The budget presentation is also taking place against the backdrop of Africa Day, which we celebrated just yesterday in recognition and acknowledgement of the political, economic, social and cultural strides Africa has made so far. It is indeed our time as Africans to assert our presence on the global stage. I thought you would be happy as South Africans that we have made such good strides.
In his conversations about politics in the world, one of our eminent writers, Ngugi wa Thiong'o, writes in his celebrated book Writers in Politics:
What gift shall we, the living, bequeath to the unborn? What Africa shall we hand over to the future?
This question compels us to think about the future and determine our relevant strategic priorities, which are not only relevant but also responsive to the new societal demands of our changing world. In this way we would be in a better position collectively to hand over to South Africa's future a society that we could be proud of, individually and collectively.
Furthermore, we believe that the five overarching strategic and political priorities relating to education, health, safety and security, rural development and job creation, which translate into the 12 key outcomes that our government has prioritised over this political term, constitute a key component of what we, as a collective, can bequeath to our future generations. I think the government has done well there.
Chairperson and hon members, after the committee's deliberations with the department on its Strategic Plan for 2010-14, we are pleased to report that the department is committed to dutifully forging ahead, determined to contribute to the country's mission of building a better life for all despite the challenges it is facing. The department's Strategic Plan has been developed in line with the outcomes approach to government's performance, as articulated in the June 2010 guide to the outcomes approach, and its purpose is as follows:
... to ensure that government is focused on achieving the expected real improvements in the life of all South Africans. The outcomes approach clarifies what we expect to achieve, how we expect to achieve it and how we will know whether we are achieving it. It will help spheres of government to ensure that results improve the lives of citizens rather than just carrying out our functions.
In line with the requirements of the new outcomes approach for government's performance, the department has endeavoured to align its high-level outputs and key activities not only with its key government Outcome 12, but also with supporting all other government outcomes. The 12th outcome is to ensure:
an efficient, effective and development-oriented public service and an empowered, fair and inclusive citizenship.
Pursuant to the realisation of these outcomes, the department aims to translate the medium-term vision's five priorities and the key government outcomes into tangible deliverables by 2014.
However, without the required budget, the constitutional obligation and the strategic and political thrust that the department seeks to achieve might not be realised, and the public good will only be an inspirational ideal, rather than a tangible reality. Now, our icon of the struggle, former President Nelson Mandela, provides guidance in this regard, and counsels us that the purpose of the Budget is to bring a better life for all. It is about transforming our country together, all of us.
Without any equivocation, the budget occupies the pride of place in the realisation of the constitutional promise and the key outcomes. We therefore consider it imperative that we collectively support this budget as an implementation instrument for the achievement of the department's strategic and political priorities, and for the benefit of the people of this country. In this context, we are of the view that it is completely meaningless for us as members of this House to suggest otherwise. Just imagine our saying that we don't support such a well planned Budget. What would it mean?
In 2004, in a special report to Parliament entitled Speeding Up Transformation, wherein they aptly captured what oversight is all about, the authors correctly stated that:
Oversight is a critical part of a democratic society committed to effective government and transformation. It ensures that government remains in touch with the people and that problems in delivery are recognised and addressed.
This means, among other things, that we continue to search for more innovative ways of exercising oversight responsibilities in this committee and in Parliament as a whole. It was in this context that we embarked on the strategic collaboration of institutions as an initiative. We will have to continue and consolidate our relationship with the committee's counterparts in the NCOP, particularly the Select Committee on Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, which is our counterpart, in order to collectively conduct oversight over provinces.
Our intention here as NA and NCOP committees is to focus on public administration practices, and to ensure that we will be working collaboratively with the premiers' oversight committees, public accounts committees, and local government committees in provinces. Our goal is to form mutually beneficial relations with strategic oversight partners in our collective task of exercising oversight. Other strategic partners include the Auditor-General's Office and the Public Service Commission, which were established in terms of Chapters 9 and 10 of the Constitution respectively.
With all the partners mentioned, we are exploring the possibility of an overarching oversight approach that will allow us to effectively hold government departments accountable regarding their public administration processes.
Chairperson, the Public Service Commission has an oversight function over the Public Service, on which it reports to Parliament and specifically to this committee. More will be said by other members of this committee, but what I wanted to indicate is that the misfortune of collapsing the Budget Vote opened up a serious discussion on all independent institutions established in terms of Chapter 9 and 10 of the Constitution.
Much progress has been achieved, as the presiding officers of Parliament have established the Office on Institutions Supporting Democracy. A lot has been achieved by the Deputy Speaker and the Office on Institutions Supporting Democracy in their interaction. Therefore, it is safe to say that that kind of discussion and that ruffling of feathers made us look in totality at the Chapter 9 institutions and how they can impact on our democracy, and we are grateful for that.
Due to the informative nature of the Public Service Commission's report, our committee is making sure that Parliament takes this report seriously and that it is implemented. We are of the view that the clustering of the committees of Parliament, not only in name but in actual work, will go a long way in addressing the deficit in the collective and collaborative approach with other departments regarding cross-cutting matters emanating from the Public Service. We therefore look forward to the day when we have a report with recommendations from the parliamentary clusters to the National Assembly.
Chairperson, organisational design in the Public Service should be aimed at addressing the issue of uniformity in the application of legislation and administration management principles across the various levels of government. What obtains in national and provincial administration should obtain at local level as well. We must always remember that South Africa is a unitary state. We are pleased that the Ministry of Public Service and Administration has since December 2010 been conducting workshops for the provincial executives which focus on the government's objectives of effective and efficient managing and leading the Public Service.
Despite the fact that the Public Administration Management Bill, also known as the single Public Service Bill, is not or will not be forthcoming due to its mooted withdrawal, there is a stern belief that the legislation, in this case the Public Service Act of 1994, may have to be amended to ensure that the uniformity of administration and management principles across spheres of government is a reality.
Regarding matters relating to the systems of the department, on 25 February 2011 the hon Minister launched the go-live Integrated Financial Management System module which, amongst other things, aims to improve the capacity of the Public Service and to manage its human resources more effectively. I won't elaborate. We welcome this development and hope that the State Information Technology Agency will be on its toes.
The mandate of the Public Administration Leadership and Management Academy, Palama, is to raise the skills levels of public servants in order to improve the capacity of the state to deliver services. The committee appreciates the vision of transforming Palama into a training institution and fully fledged management academy. As we turn our eyes towards the future, the committee is of the view that it might be necessary for the Public Service Commission to consider conducting an impact evaluation study on all parts of Palama's Executive Development Programme that have been implemented. The well-meant Palama Indaba, which will bring all education stakeholders together for an institution we are awaiting in the country, should happen now.
Hon Chairperson, the committee has noted with concern the following matters as outlined by the Auditor-General and the Public Service Commission, which require attention. I shall not elaborate on them, but they are: noncompliance with the financial disclosure framework; flouting of tender procedures; improper management of capital assets; no supporting evidence for purchases by government departments; an increase in the cost of financial misconduct; failure of public servants to sign performance agreements; performance agreements not including dates for reviews or performance assessments; and public administration not being broadly representative of the South African people in order to address the imbalances of the past.
Hon Chairperson, we believe that these challenges that the department is confronted with are not insurmountable. We are pleased to indicate that the committee has conducted intensive oversight over these matters, and will continue to find remedial methods with the department on possible ways of addressing them. We are hopeful that these challenges will be addressed to ensure that the department effectively delivers on its mandate. Other entities that provide services to the South African public administration - the Government Employees Pension Fund, the Government Employees Medical Scheme and the Centre for Public Service Innovation - should heed the call to action. The time to work is upon us!
In conclusion, we as the ANC really support this Budget Vote before the House for adoption, in order for the real work to commence. But we should not forget the guiding words of our former President Nelson Mandela who advised us that the purpose of the Budget is to bring a better life for all.
While we ensure that the department has the necessary financial resources to be able to implement its Strategic Plan and the programmes that it has submitted to our Parliament, we are definitely going to hold it accountable, and there is no compromise in this regard. Our people out there are waiting for services to be delivered to them for a positive impact on their lives. The renewal of this mandate on 18 May 2011, during the local government elections, once again says it all. We cannot disappoint our people. I thank you. [Applause.]
Mr Chairman, would we all agree that in a budget debate it is appropriate to ask probing questions? Should a professional Public Service not be staffed with competent and dedicated professional officials? Does effective service delivery by all public departments, including Education and Health, not rely on the commitment of appropriately qualified officials, and how well they are managed?
Does this department not receive R690 million to achieve exactly this purpose? Is it thus not appropriate to enquire how this department is managed?
Did the then Minister for the Public Service and Administration, Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi, not emphasise the importance of human resource planning five years ago? If this is the norm, with which the DA agrees, how is it possible that the 2010 State of the Public Service Report by the Public Service Commission found that the Public Service is still facing considerable challenges in the area of effective human resource management?
Why did the Public Service Commission find that just 16 out of 144 departments - a compliance rate of only 11% - submitted human resource development plans? Is that why the chairperson of the Public Service Commission, Dr Ralph Mgijima, concluded that the Public Service was not at a point where it could confidently say that most of its managers were adequately competent in human resource management?
Meneer die Voorsitter, is dit nie waar dat die korrekte aanstellingsprosedure noodsaaklik is vir doeltreffende bestuur nie? Erken Minister Richard Baloyi dit nie inderdaad nie as hy verwys na ...
... the right people, with the right skills, at the right place at the right time, all the time.
Is dit nie so dat doeltreffende aanstellings akkurate posbeskrywings vereis nie, Minister? Hoekom bevind die Staatsdienskommisie dan dat talle basiese beginsels nie nagekom word nie, soos dat poste geadverteer word sonder posbeskryings, en dat daar vir slegs 36% uit 122 poste posbeoordelings gedoen is?
Kan ons saamstem dat een van die basiese beginsels van doeltreffende departementele bestuur is om werknemers verantwoordelik te hou vir die nakoming van hul pligte? Hoe word dit anders gedoen as deur die gebruik van pligstate, prestasie-ooreenkomste en prestasiemetings?
Nou, hoekom word hierdie meganismes, wat op papier beskryf word, dan nie gemplementeer nie? Hoekom bewys ons slegs lippediens aan prestasie- ooreenkomste? (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)
[Chairperson, is it not true that the correct appointment procedure is essential for effective management? Is Minister Richard Baloyi not, in fact, acknowledging this when he refers to ...
... the right people, with the right skills, at the right place at the right time, all the time.
Is it not true that effective appointments require accurate job descriptions, Minister? Why, then, has the Public Service Commission found that several basic principles are not being complied with, such as posts that are advertised without job descriptions, and that job evaluations have been done for only 36% out of the 122 posts?
Can we agree that one of the basic principles of effective departmental management is to hold employees accountable when it comes to discharging of their duties? How can this be done differently than through the use of duty sheets, performance agreements and performance assessments?
Well then, why are these mechanisms, which have been mapped out in writing, not implemented? Why are we only paying lip-service to performance agreements?]
Why is there a Performance Management and Development System, if senior managers simply do not submit the performance agreements requested from them? If heads of departments do not comply with requirements, how can you expect their subordinates to comply? In addition to that, why are so many heads of departments never formally evaluated? Furthermore, is it surprising that the level of compliance is declining, if performance incentives are paid without evaluations being done? If fewer grievances are finalised, is it surprising that there is more and more resentment amongst employees?
Therefore, won't we all agree with President Zuma, who said that "we face a crisis of accountability"? If officials are not held accountable, is it not logical that financial mismanagement and corruption will follow?
To fight corruption, is it not essential that senior managers entrusted with public funds should maintain a high standard of professional ethics? Should their integrity not be beyond reproach? Does it not make sense that they must disclose their financial interests by the end of April every year? Is it not worrying that the compliance rate of senior managers in the whole Public Service over the past three financial years has never been more than 50% and that it has been declining? How can a Minister enforce compliance in other departments, if in his own not one of the 98 senior managers submitted their financial disclosures by due date?
Is it surprising that voters have more trust in a government that complies? Is anybody surprised that the Western Cape government has ... [Interjections.] [Applause.] Is anybody surprised that the Western Cape government has a 100% compliance rate? [Applause.]
Why should officials have the discretion to decide whether or not to investigate cases of alleged corruption? Why is it that half of all departments have no anticorruption strategy at all? Is one of the most basic principles of effective management not to maintain discipline?
Did the Public Service Commission not recommend to Cabinet that they should charge noncompliant officials with misconduct in terms of the Code of Conduct? Why has no feedback been received from departments on 63% of cases referred to the National Anti-corruption Hotline? If even Minister Baloyi's own acting director-general did not submit his financial disclosure by due date, how can we expect the Minister to enforce compliance in the rest of the Public Service?
Why are officials suspected of fraud or corruption often just suspended from duty for long periods with full pay? Why are so many senior managers lenient in imposing disciplinary action against the guilty? Why do they only give written warnings and not dismiss the guilty? Does the Public Service Commission not recommend that all fraud is reported to the police?
Why did the Minister make so many promises today? Why did he not tell the House whether or not he has fulfilled last year's promises? In conclusion, is it now clear why on 18 May 2011 the support of the voters for a certain party declined while that for another party grew significantly. [Applause.]
Why should the DA support this Budget Vote, given the disintegration of human resource management, of appointment procedures, of accountability, and of financial discipline in the Public Service? [Applause.]
Chairperson, I need to mention upfront that I am not the hon Leonard Ramatlakane. [Interjections.] The speech belongs to him. If you want to know me, you must come to my office.
Hon Minister and members of this House, the Department of Public Service and Administration remains a critical department regarding government programme implementation.
It is an important department, because it regulates state machinery. The core function of this department is to ensure that all government personnel adhere to the code of good practice. It is this department that regulates uniformity within government personnel policies. It is this department that must ensure that the Senior Management Service, SMS, and other personnel receive empowerment and training aimed at improving service delivery.
Additionally, the Public Administration Leadership and Management Academy, Palama, and State Information Technology Agency, Sita, account to the Department of Public Service and Administration. These institutions receive direction from the Department of Public Service and Administration. The Minister is therefore entrusted with the responsibility of steering the ship to safe shores.
The Budget Vote today, and that of the previous year, should help the Minister to crack the whip so that the President's state of the nation address directives can be implemented. In the past, as mentioned, Minister, the department has dropped the ball. When you speak about changing the focus of Palama, it inherently says that you see weakness. The leadership's voice is not emphatic when it comes to governance, rooting out corruption, and promoting good practice in the Sita. In addition to the Sita's irregular expenditure of R214 million, it has also not complied with the Public Finance Management Act. We have grave concerns that the Minister is not cracking the whip on the mismanagement of public funds.
We are even more concerned that he is not voicing his concerns publicly about the fact that public funds have been mismanaged to such an extent. The Minister should be saying that the funds that have been mismanaged should be recovered, be repaid and/or justice be served upon the perpetrators. [Interjections.]
The department continues to drop the ball when it comes to enforcing general compliance with the Senior Management Service Handbook. We continue to see long suspensions with pay. Furthermore, officials avoid disciplinary hearings by taking a transfer or a negotiated transfer to a sister governmental department as a way to close their misconduct hearing. Why is it that the department, Minister, continues to fail in enforcing compliance with the regulations?
The matter of fighting corruption and the conduct of the Senior Management Service remains a pipe dream. The Senior Management Service failed to declare its public interests and continued to receive bonuses through using its family names. Only 15 directors-general had declared their financial interest by the 31 May deadline in 2010. What is more, the noncompliance in respect of signing performance agreements is a direct result of the executive authority's failure to enforce and maintain accountability and compliance.
Cope can only conclude that these actions by the Senior Management Service, or the department's failure, are a clear indication that the President's anticorruption calls are being defied. [Interjections.] If this is not true, what then has been done? Which Senior Management Service official has been shown the door?
Furthermore, the Constitution is clear about Chapter 9 institutions such as the Public Service Commission, PSC. Every year, we repeat ourselves, saying that the budget should be separated, because the joint budget compromises the PSC. When are we going to move forward on this issue?
Moreover, it is regrettable that the ruling party has thrown out the debate about the integration of the Public Service. This is therefore no longer a matter for consideration.
Finally, Cope wants to hear of a practical plan on how to manage the public sector wage bill. The Minister of Finance has reported that close to 40% of government's Budget goes to salaries and doesn't continue to grow. Leadership is needed within the department. This will ensure that the long- term interests are secure, thereby improving services and avoiding the contraction of those services in time to come. I thank you.
Chairperson, this department has one of the toughest mandates in government, specifically the mandate to improve the service delivery from government to the people of our country. Batho Pele embodies the idea that should be first and foremost in the minds of all government employees and officials: the ideal of service.
Aristotle once said that man is a zoon politikon [political beast] and that the highest office man can aspire to in life is the office of public service in and for the public good, and further that politics can and should lead men and women to excellence when it comes to community life. The sad reality is that this ideal has been trampled underfoot by the greed and corruption of many government officials, and politics is now seen by many as just another avenue towards a life of power, status and affluence. We are indeed a very far cry from the rule of the philosopher kings, as envisaged by Plato in his ideal republic.
Mr Minister, your department is at a veritable coalface. You are responsible for creating the norms and standards that will lead to the overall improvement of service delivery by government departments.
The IFP commends the department for recent policies and regulations that have been adopted to curb corruption, but the test of any policy or regulation lies in its implementation. One such policy is the Financial Disclosure Framework for senior managers in the Public Service. This framework requires senior managers to disclose in prescribed forms all their interests that need to be registered to be scrutinised by the Public Service Commission, PSC, in order to identify any potential conflicts of interest. One would expect senior managers to set a good example by complying with this requirement. Regrettably, in the 2009 PSC report no less than 1 743 managers failed to comply. We are yet to hear what punitive steps the department will take to discipline such managers.
We are currently in service delivery crisis mode. Sporadic outbreaks of service delivery protests are occurring nationwide and have, in many instances, led to the death of civilians and damage to property and infrastructure. Situations such as these cannot and must not be allowed to arise again.
The principles of Batho Pele must be entrenched in our Public Service sector. Impact assessments must be conducted, continuous monitoring should take place and, where the principles are found to be lacking, swift corrective actions should be implemented immediately. Our citizens must be engaged with their service delivery concerns, and solutions should be found in partnership with our people.
Initiatives such as Project Khaedu, with its management toolkit for problem identification, must have the full support of government and should be greatly encouraged, with mandatory participation for all Senior Management Service members.
The department must however be complimented on its effort to curb excessive government spending through its cost commitment measures such as restriction of the use of business class travel and participation in the government fleet management scheme, and by reducing the size of government delegations to both national and international destinations, which also have the desired knock-on effect of reducing the government's carbon footprint on the environment.
Corruption has no place in government and those found guilty of perpetrating such, as mentioned above, should feel the full might of our law.
Government cannot serve two masters; it exists solely at the will and behest of the people whom it serves. There is no place for self-serving officials in government. Let the clarion call resound. The IFP supports the Budget Vote. I thank you. [Applause.]
Hon Chairperson, hon Minister, hon Deputy Minister, hon members, friends and guests, I would like to start by saying that the constituency where I am deployed, Dipaleseng, where the council sits in Balfour, Mpumalanga, remains convincingly in ANC hands. This is not surprising to us, as the ANC is the only party in South Africa that has the best interests of all South Africans in mind, not just the rich.
The fact that the ANC victory was not commented on by our so-called free press reaffirms the idea that in general the South African press is not independent at all. If Balfour had fallen - and I say "fallen" - into the hands of opposition parties, that fact would have been splashed over every front page in South Africa. Independent press? I think not. One of the biggest challenges facing this country is corruption. Within the Public Service corruption is widespread and is beginning to take the shape and size of organised crime. Billions of rands are removed from government coffers by these criminals. [Interjections.] Corruption must never be seen as a sexy thing to participate in. It is counter-revolutionary and every disciplined citizen of this country must take a stand against this disgusting behaviour by exposing and reporting it wherever it occurs.
The Minister for the Public Service and Administration must be applauded for establishing the Special Anti-Corruption Unit, SACU. So far the SACU has investigated 30 cases referred to it by National Treasury and is currently investigating some 8 cases which involve around 265 employees in various national and provincial departments in the Public Service.
The mandate of the SACU is to facilitate, co-ordinate and conduct the management of strategic information, investigations and disciplinary proceedings regarding corruption, and related misconduct cases in the Public Service.
The budget allocated to the SACU for the financial year 2011-12 is an amount of R8,4 million - R4,2 million to be spent on goods and services and R4,2 million allocated for compensation. If one bears in mind that corruption costs the South African taxpayer billions of rands annually, then it is clear that more money and resources need to be allocated to the