Chairperson, hon Minister for the Public Service and Administration, hon members of the National Assembly, chairperson and members of the portfolio committee, leadership of the trade union movement, the executive of the portfolio organisations, distinguished guests, fellow South Africans, this is my sixth Budget Vote, but the first I make as the Deputy Minister for the Public Service and Administration.
It is indeed an honour and a privilege to have been placed in a department that is so central to service delivery for our nation. It is also a huge responsibility and one that is never more keenly felt than when service delivery protests erupt and ordinary people voice their displeasure with the lack of service delivery.
My role is, of course, to support the Minister as he leads our collective effort to achieve the objectives outlined. In support of the Minister there are a few key priorities that I wish to re-emphasise: firstly, the need for us to build the capacity of the state in order to deliver on our promise of a better life; secondly, to review the governance arrangements within which the three spheres of government align themselves efficiently to deliver on the mandate to our people, which is to serve as a single Public Service; thirdly, the need to better harness the power of technology to support our efforts and modernise the way we do business as government and to ensure that e-government, as it is commonly referred to, becomes an efficient tool of service to the people.
The ANC was re-elected in 2009 on the back of the Together, we can do more campaign. There is increasing frustration, and we acknowledge that, at the slow pace of service delivery, poor quality, high cost and lack of responsiveness by government to citizens. This frustration is felt across the spectrum of South African society, especially by the urban and rural poor, and is often directed at different spheres of government, including provincial and local government.
Whatever the reasons - be they housing, sanitation or unemployment and desperation - service delivery protests are symptomatic of challenges that we face as a nation and as a government. Let me start with service delivery and the capacity of the state to deliver.
South Africa, we have to admit, lacks a well-performing Public Service. Only 58% of the population is in fact satisfied with the services delivered. Historically, satisfaction rates have been as high as 81% in 2004. Since then there has been a steady decline in public opinion towards the current satisfaction of public services.
No, of course, some factors are responsible for the poor performance in the Public Service. Some of these we recognise are the persistent underperformance by management, dysfunctional and ineffective back office systems and slow bureaucratic decision-making, amongst others.
In addition to the above, human resource systems in the Public Service are also seriously inefficient: Only 7% of departments fill vacant posts; recruitment is not strictly based on merit; skilled staff are not successfully retained; and disciplinary procedures take too long.
All of this has certainly undermined the capacity of the South African state, and in turn has reduced its capacity to be an effective instrument of service to our people. The question that remains to be confronted is: What has to be done? What are we going to do to fix the problems?
Chairperson, I am indeed very disappointed by Ms Dreyer, who spoke on behalf of the opposition. While there was a lack of substance in her contribution to this particular debate, Ms Dreyer agreed with us. [Interjections.]
Oh! Hon Dreyer, my apologies. She agrees with us that there are indeed serious problems to fix. [Interjections.]