The hon member is in a hurry to get an answer, Madam Speaker.
Hon members are aware that the Moral Regeneration Movement is a joint initiative between civil society and government at national, provincial and local levels. As far as national government is concerned, some departments are running programmes aimed at strengthening the moral fibre of our society, but also at strengthening themselves within the departments. However, I do believe that much more can be done and more departments can participate in this programme.
Your question, hon member, relates to what government is doing to ensure that its employees, the public servants, are imbued with the principles and values of moral regeneration. I think that this is a crucial question, because if we were succeeding to the extent that we want to succeed in this regard, we would not be talking about corruption or poor service delivery in pockets of our civil society. That is why we, therefore, need to have targeted and dedicated programmes to address these challenges.
We are also aware that, in the Public Service, we have adopted the Batho Pele principles. We speak directly to the issue of morality. The Department of Public Service and Administration has programmes on Batho Pele, which have the potential to strengthen the moral values of public servants, and we expect departments to provide reports on what they are doing or planning to do to instil these values within their departments and amongst their employees. This is also expected to happen within the overall compliance and requirements of Batho Pele. We will be in a position to give more detailed feedback to this House once the Minister for the Public Service and Administration has received progress reports from departments.
Hon members, the most critical intervention that, I would like to argue, needs to be made in strengthening the moral fibre of our society is within families; it is by parents and communities because it is here that we plant the seeds of positive values amongst our young people. The responsibility should not only be shifted to schools, the government and organised civil society. It is particularly families that need to instil moral values, starting from childhood. So, we need parents to be a critical component of the Moral Regeneration Movement.
I'd like to take this opportunity to urge not just parents and families and those who are in care of young people and children, but also the hon members to play a role in advancing moral regeneration in their constituencies and to support the initiatives that are undertaken in their communities by different stakeholders, church groups, youth groups, education and so on, so that we can have a comprehensive approach. [Applause.]