Ek praat altyd mooi. [I always do.]
Chairperson, firstly I wish to thank the Minister and her department for the presentation and in particular, the Minister for attending our committee briefing on the Public Service Amendment Bill. The Bill seeks, amongst other things, to improve staff mobility arrangements for the Public Service and introduce government components as a new institutional form within the Public Service, as well as specialised service delivery units. It also seeks to enhance compliance with the Act through compulsory discipline of transgressors and reporting on such matters.
Government components have evolved from government agencies. A government component will only be established after a feasibility study has been conducted. It is not clear what its purpose will be as it cannot perform functions related to the delivery of a service such as housing, health care, food, water, social security, etc.
The Minister, through a regulation, may also establish a consultative body. This body will consist of prescribed employees. The connotation of these prescribed employees is open-ended and it is not clear who these employees are. This body will either be consultative or advisory. It would have been expedient to categorically say that the function of this body would take one form or other, that is, consultative or advisory and not either of these. Consultative would mean that the Minister would not act before she consults and they have given her a directive. Advisory capacity could mean that the Minister is not obliged to take the advice.
With regard to the functions of the specialised service delivery units, the functions are clear because the units can perform specific functions that would enhance service delivery of a department within a department. An executive authority may delegate human resource powers to the head of a unit and not to the head of department. The unit head operates on delegated powers.
The Bill also makes provision for the transfer and secondment of heads of departments. This is a political matter because the head of department executes policy of the government in a national or provincial department.
In all cases of the appointment of a head of department, a Cabinet committee comprising of the Minister under whom the head of department will serve recommends the candidate to the President. In the case of a province the procedure is different, as the Premier or MEC decides who this is going to be, because the province is another sphere of government.
This, of course, is a potential for conflict if the President were to transfer a head of department to a province where the Premier belonged to a party other than the President's political party. It might be said that the appointment of a head of department is an administrative matter, but this is not so. It remains a political matter.
Whilst the Bill is a good regulatory mechanism regarding conditions of service and service delivery, this Bill will be repealed soon after the draft Single Public Service Bill becomes law, as there will be bulk transference of sections from the Public Service Act and the Public Service Amendment Bill to the draft Single Public Service Bill.
As the hon Minister said, "You ain't seen nothing yet". The creation of a single Public Service is nothing more than placing the Public Service under one central control leading to a central bureaucracy. The DA would rather strengthen our local, provincial and national governments to improve service delivery.
More sinister, however, is the draft proposal being circulated of a Public Administration Management Bill, PAMB, which may become law in 2009. This Bill is set to curtail municipalities' autonomy by transferring decision- making to central government and bringing local public sector employees under Pretoria's control.
As the Minister said, and I repeat: "you ain't seen nothing yet". The DA cannot support the centralisation of power and a single Public Service, and therefore not the Bill. Thank you. [Applause.]