Chairperson, this department has one of the toughest mandates in government, specifically the mandate to improve the service delivery from government to the people of our country. Batho Pele embodies the idea that should be first and foremost in the minds of all government employees and officials: the ideal of service.
Aristotle once said that man is a zoon politikon [political beast] and that the highest office man can aspire to in life is the office of public service in and for the public good, and further that politics can and should lead men and women to excellence when it comes to community life. The sad reality is that this ideal has been trampled underfoot by the greed and corruption of many government officials, and politics is now seen by many as just another avenue towards a life of power, status and affluence. We are indeed a very far cry from the rule of the philosopher kings, as envisaged by Plato in his ideal republic.
Mr Minister, your department is at a veritable coalface. You are responsible for creating the norms and standards that will lead to the overall improvement of service delivery by government departments.
The IFP commends the department for recent policies and regulations that have been adopted to curb corruption, but the test of any policy or regulation lies in its implementation. One such policy is the Financial Disclosure Framework for senior managers in the Public Service. This framework requires senior managers to disclose in prescribed forms all their interests that need to be registered to be scrutinised by the Public Service Commission, PSC, in order to identify any potential conflicts of interest. One would expect senior managers to set a good example by complying with this requirement. Regrettably, in the 2009 PSC report no less than 1 743 managers failed to comply. We are yet to hear what punitive steps the department will take to discipline such managers.
We are currently in service delivery crisis mode. Sporadic outbreaks of service delivery protests are occurring nationwide and have, in many instances, led to the death of civilians and damage to property and infrastructure. Situations such as these cannot and must not be allowed to arise again.
The principles of Batho Pele must be entrenched in our Public Service sector. Impact assessments must be conducted, continuous monitoring should take place and, where the principles are found to be lacking, swift corrective actions should be implemented immediately. Our citizens must be engaged with their service delivery concerns, and solutions should be found in partnership with our people.
Initiatives such as Project Khaedu, with its management toolkit for problem identification, must have the full support of government and should be greatly encouraged, with mandatory participation for all Senior Management Service members.
The department must however be complimented on its effort to curb excessive government spending through its cost commitment measures such as restriction of the use of business class travel and participation in the government fleet management scheme, and by reducing the size of government delegations to both national and international destinations, which also have the desired knock-on effect of reducing the government's carbon footprint on the environment.
Corruption has no place in government and those found guilty of perpetrating such, as mentioned above, should feel the full might of our law.
Government cannot serve two masters; it exists solely at the will and behest of the people whom it serves. There is no place for self-serving officials in government. Let the clarion call resound. The IFP supports the Budget Vote. I thank you. [Applause.]