Chairperson, Acting Minister Oliphant and Deputy Minister, and hon members, as we start this debate, it is fitting that I dedicate this budget debate to the late Minister Roy Padayachie who was to deliver his first Budget Speech as the Minister for the Public Service and Administration. As we all know, he passed on a week ago in a foreign country, representing our country in an African Peer Review Mechanism meeting. Once more, we pay tribute to the late Minister with the words that his vision, efforts, concerns, messages and dreams will remain a compass to direct and measure what must be accomplished.
When we met the late Minister on 25 April, he told us to adopt the budget of the department because he had the political will to do the work that must be done. He went on to summarise that key amongst the things that must be done is strengthening access to service delivery to the people, improving the internal efficiency of the Public Service, implementing the State Information Technology Agency, Turnaround Strategy, accelerating training and development of a Public Service cadre, repositioning the Public Administration Leadership and Management Academy, Palama, into a school of government, and tackling corruption effectively in the Public Service.
We agree that the outline represents important pillars of a working state, a state that wishes to address the plight of the people, the poorest of the poor, the voiceless in the squatter camps, and the working class in the villages struggling daily to make ends meet. The working class battle on a day to day basis to receive clean drinking water, and our Public Service officials must ensure that water is drinkable, but fail in most cases. The five articulated areas are key to the daily survival of our people, in particular the poor people who depend on each and every one of the 1,3 million state officials at the national and provincial levels, as well as the 250 000 at the local level.
As we debate this budget, we know that there are more than a million state employees, or public servants, most of whom will be happy to receive a salary without doing enough work for the day, some of whom value their wellbeing above that of the schoolchildren who walk barefoot for kilometres daily, only to find teachers absent from the classroom. Some of these officials couldn't care less about the thousands of communities spending days without drinking water, because they have not ensured that the dams are filled. This happens on most weekends in Botshabelo in the Free State, Limpopo and, of course, Mpumalanga, where the dirt runs in the streets of Mandela Park in Secunda, with no action from the provincial Public Service officials or from the local government officials. More and more communities are raising their voices through demonstrations.
The Public Service Commission is a constitutional Chapter 10 institution, which is required to be independent. Year on year we debate whether it should be one. I think, as Members of Parliament, we have to make sure that we don't offend the Constitution with the Public Service continuing to do what it is doing.
As we debate this budget and call for its adoption, the Department of Public Service and Administration, DPSA, must get serious about the strengthening of access to service delivery by all spheres of government. This department must champion the service delivery message at all, and to all. The DPSA must ensure that the director-general and senior management services comply 100%, including the signing of performance agreements, and not 50% as suggested by the annual performance plan, APP.
It's clear that the Public Administration Leadership and Management Academy, Palama, has the major task of educating the 1,5 million state employees of all spheres of government in doing what is right, that is, to provide service and respect the constitutional right of our people in all aspects. It is time to call for more integration and pooling of resources through the Department of Labour, the Public Service Sector Education and Training Authority, PSETA, the Department of Higher Education and Training, and FET colleges in order to achieve maximum results. We must evaluate value for money and refocus the evidence base.
We call on the Minister to ensure that the last Auditor-General's report that reports on irregularities within the State Information Technology Agency, Sita, is addressed and that the culprit is turned in. The State Information Technology Agency must also address the inclusiveness of the service provider's lists and rosters in vetting.
We need to hear sooner rather than later about action taken regarding the 32 outstanding cases of mismanagement. We don't appreciate the wait-and-see attitude, which equals to abdication of political responsibility. We call for action. The board, too, promised action but not results. We need to see the results. We want to see the walk in the talk. In honour of the late Minister, I think we should support this Budget Vote.
I need to say, in closing, that the programme of appointing personnel, particularly senior management in some departments, takes two years; 25 months in the other departments. This is a matter that must receive serious attention from the department. I thank you. [Applause.]