Chairperson of the House and my colleagues, following in the footsteps of my other colleagues, may I say that, as the legislature of Limpopo, having read and looked at the inputs made by the public and knowing pretty well that it is our function as politicians to make sure that we harmonise all our laws, we see this as one of the Bills which will be able, if passed, to take this country forward. If passed into law, the Bill will improve service delivery through the establishment of government components and specialised service delivery units within departments.
It will further determine employee candidates in the legislatures and municipalities. The Bill will require the exhaustion of internal remedies before external legal remedies in the case of disputes of a labour nature. This Bill, if passed into law, will also effectively address the question of employees who take pension from the age of 55 without losing pension privileges. It will also address the redeployment of people with scarce and special skills to where they are most needed by our people.
The Bill will also adequately address the changing of departments by employees without any negative effect on their pensions and salaries. The Bill, however, as it attempts to do, should clearly stipulate that employees in management and senior administrative positions shouldn't occupy public representative positions, as this has proved to be an impediment to service delivery.
In conclusion, the legislature of Limpopo, having considered and supported the provisions of the Bill, and taking into consideration the inputs made by the people out there, urges this House to pass this Bill into law, as this is one of the best ways of unlocking blockages in the Public Service administration and as it is one of the ways which will enable us to move swiftly towards the delivery of effective service on the ground. We support the Bill. Thank you. [Applause.]
Mr G B BHENGU (KwaZulu-Natal): Hon Chair of the NCOP, hon Ministers present, hon members of the Council, colleagues, I have been mandated by the KwaZulu-Natal legislature to support this Bill. The mandate was conferred by the majority of the legislature on 15 November 2007. The Bill tightens up a number of problem areas in conditions of service for public servants, and I not going into details.
The most important areas that have been problematic relate to the transfer, retirement, discipline, dismissal, outside work, assignment of power, grievances and political rights of employees.
The Bill also makes provision for alignment of conditions of service of the general Public Service and sectors with their own employment laws such as educators, SAPS, Defence, Intelligence and Correctional Services. A committee of Ministers will need to concur with the determination of annual salary adjustment. Perhaps most importantly, the Bill makes provision for two new structures known as a government component and a service delivery unit.
A government component is a separate institution within the Public Service; answerable to the Minister and partnered with the department, it is subject to the Public Finance Management Act. Its employees are public servants and it will have a ring-fenced function allocated to it, which will either be assigned or delegated or statutory. The advantage of the government component will be that services will be streamlined closer to the point of delivery and, where deemed necessary, they can re-incorporate some public entities. A component can be established by proclamation of the President or the premier of the province, which must be preceded by a feasibility study.
Service delivery units are similar to government components, but, unlike government components, are able to perform services related to socioeconomic rights, which government components are not able to do. The objective behind government components and service delivery units is thus to customise administrative and operational arrangements to soothe the service delivery environment. There will be better government via direct accountability and decision-making as close as possible to the point of service delivery. Political heads will have more direct control over service delivery outcomes without the need to create entities outside the Public Service.
In conclusion, it gives me pleasure on behalf of the KwaZulu-Natal legislature to support this Bill.