Chairperson, hon members, let me apologise on behalf of the Minister for Public Service and Administration. She is abroad and has asked me to present the Bill. I also need to apologise that I will not be able to make closing remarks on this debate, because I have another commitment at 3 o'clock.
I trust that we all agree that effective service delivery requires an efficient and accountable administration devoid of red tape, with strong anticorruption and compliance measures. The regulatory framework for the administration should, whilst embedding stability and certainty, also facilitate dynamic innovation to allow for the use of new institutional and technological instruments to enhance the provision of services.
The Bill before you today for the second reading provides an opportunity for Parliament to strengthen the democratic values and principles governing public administration - as contained in Chapter 10 of our Constitution - with respect to national and provincial departments.
These values and principles include a high standard of professional ethics, efficient economic and effective use of resources; a development-orientated public administration; impartial, fair, equitable and unbiased provision of services; and responding to the people's needs.
We need to recognise that certain organisational and human resource practices in the current Public Service Act directly or indirectly hinder service delivery. In broadening access to services for the masses of our people, we must continuously identify innovative ways of delivering services. Currently some government functions are provided by national or provincial departments, away from the points of service delivery and without direct accountability and decision-making by those functionaries responsible for their delivering. Other government functions are provided by entities outside the Public Service without being directly accountable to a political functionary.
We have also come to recognise that compliance with Public Service prescripts does not meet the desired standards. The weakening human resource management results in time-consuming and costly litigation. Employees dismissed by departments for corruption-related and other types of misconduct are often reappointed by other government departments soon after dismissal, which means that misconduct does not carry effective sanctions. Employees suspected of transgressions sometimes resign and are appointed in other departments without disciplinary steps being instituted against them or, if they are instituted, they have been instituted without being sustained.
The primary aim of the amending Bill is, therefore, to improve the organisational and human resource framework for national and provincial departments to address these obstacles to service delivery. This includes facilitating the easier day-to-day administration of the Public Service Act by addressing certain legal difficulties, simplifying or clarifying several provisions, removing obsolete provisions and aligning the Act with other legislation.
The Bill proposes the introduction of a new institutional form, separate from departments but within the Public Service - a government component as well as specialised service delivery units ring-fenced within departments. The heads of government components will serve as accounting officers in terms of the Public Finance Management Act.
The component model is suitable for an institution with a unique identity that has specific measurable functions that can be logically grouped in terms of a particular service delivery model. Such a component may have original statutory functions or be assigned to delegate the statutory functions, or a combination of these.
The assignment of statutory functions of the executive authority to the head of a component, with accompanying shifting of accountability, is proposed to be subject to Parliament's approval. Government components may, however, not engage in socioeconomic functions to give effect to the rights envisaged in sections 26 to 29 of the Constitution.
A government component is partnered with a principal department, which will assist the executive authority or third department, that is the responsible Premier or MEC in the case of such an Office of the Premier, or a provincial department with oversight of such component.
The advantages of using this organisational form in the Public Service include the customisation of the administrative and operational arrangements designed to suit a particular service delivery environment, better governance through direct accountability and decision-making as close as possible to the point of service delivery which will be an added advantage.
Political heads will also have more direct control and influence over service delivery outcomes without the need to necessarily create entities outside the Public Service. While proposing this alternative service delivery model, it is important to stress that it is not intended to fragment the state. On the contrary, it responds directly to forms of fragmentation that have already occurred through the establishment of public entities. Indeed the government component model will also be an institutional mechanism to reincorporate some public entities, where appropriate and if required, into the Public Service. The responsible Minister or political head of that component could also, if required to, create an advisory board to advise on service delivery matters or to accommodate stakeholder interest.
In addition to the government component model, the Bill also proposes an enabling provision for the establishment of specialised service delivery units within departments. The features of these units are similar to those of government components except that they may, unlike such components, perform services pertaining to constitutional socioeconomic rights. Moreover, these units will operate within departments while government components will be separate accountable institutions outside departments.
Provision is also made that when the executive authority or head of the relevant department delegates human resource functions affecting specialised service delivery units, these functions must be delegated to the heads.
Subject to the Treasury's approval and special arrangements regarding accountability, the Bill also provides for compulsory financial delegations to the unit head.
To assist with the enforcement of the provisions of the Public Service Act, executive authorities are compelled to take disciplinary steps against heads of department transgressing its provisions and heads of departments to take such steps against transgressing employees. They are also required to report transgressions to the Minister for the Public Service and Administration and the Director-General of the department respectively.
The Minister for the Public Service and Administration may also report transgressing national executive authorities to Cabinet and transgressing provincial executive authorities, through the relevant Premier, to the provincial cabinet in question. That Minister must also annually report transgressions to the relevant committees of Parliament and of the provincial legislatures concerned.
A further important measure to improve compliance with the Public Service Act is the compulsory implementation by political administrative heads of the directions of the Public Service Commission regarding certain human resource matters.
The Bill also proposes the institution of disciplinary steps against the employees at their new departments for alleged transgressions at departments where they were formerly employed.
Anticorruption measures are to prohibit the re-employment of persons in the Public Service dismissed for specific kinds of misconduct. Examples of misconduct involving corrupt activities are also contained in the Bill. It is proposed that the prohibition on re-employment should endure for a stipulated period, and the different periods may be prescribed by regulation in respect of different types of misconduct.
A number of the amendments in the Bill will enhance employees' rights, which include compliance measures that extend to collective agreements. These measures will assist employees where departments fail, to the employees' detriment, to comply with collective agreements and other Public Service prescripts.
Provision is made for a fair process before employees may be transferred to other government departments in the public interest. An employee may make representations on why she or he does not want to be transferred. These representations must then be considered and weighed against the public interest, and that is to better serve the needs of the people.
Employees of government institutions outside the Public Service who voluntarily join a national or provincial department will be transferred in order to recognise their years of service and certain benefits, for example pension and leave credits.
Under the current Act employees need permission to undertake remunerative work outside of the Public Service. The Bill proposes criteria that the employer must consider when deciding whether to give such permission, namely that such outside work should not interfere with the relevant employee's functions or be in conflict with the code of conduct applicable to public servants.
Certain restrictions on political rights of employees are removed and employees are permitted to participate as candidates in elections. They may be candidates without resigning from the Public Service during the election period. Only when they are elected and accept such election will their employment in the Public Service terminate.
Provision for disciplining employees moving from one department to another will enhance the morale of compliant employees. That means that transgressing employees cannot avoid being disciplined by simply resigning and obtaining employment elsewhere in the Public Service. Similarly, the prohibition on the re-employment of employees dismissed for particular categories of misconduct, including misconduct relating to corrupt acts for a specified period, would assist the morale of honest and otherwise compliant employees.
If this Bill is adopted by Parliament and signed into law by the President, I submit that it will contribute to the efficiency and effectiveness of the organisational and human resource framework for national and provincial departments. This it will do by introducing new service delivery models and enforcement mechanisms, as well as by improving the day-to-day administration of the Public Service Act. While compliance in itself does not guarantee efficient and effective service delivery, it is a necessary step in ensuring improved performance, which is what all of us seek in public services. Indeed all the measures proposed in this Bill are designed to enhance governance, accountability and compliance that I am convinced will lead to better service delivery.
I would like to thank the Select Committee on Local Government and Administration for its vigorous engagement on the proposed measures in the amending Bill. Their participation was aimed at ensuring that these measures accord with the constitutional values and principles of public administration. I also thank them for facilitating public participation through the provincial legislatures.
As hon members are aware, government intends to propose draft legislation to create a single Public Service and administration in the three spheres of government for consideration and debate by Parliament during 2008. I urge all stakeholders to analyse the provisions of the draft legislation for the Public Service to ensure that interest groups and the general public are correctly informed about its scope and purposes. We should all debate this legislative initiative in a robust yet innovative and constructive manner in order to create the conditions for a better life for all our people. Thank you very much, Chairperson and hon members. [Applause.]