Chairperson and members of the Select Committee on Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, chairperson and members of the SA Local Government Association, my counterpart the Minister of Public Functions from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mr Botoro Bodias, distinguished guests, our senior leadership of the Public Service and ladies and gentlemen, vamanana, vatatana, vaboti, vasesi; riperile n'wana manana [mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters; good evening to you and to my sibling].
Yesterday we addressed the National Assembly where we outlined our programme of activities through all the portfolios over which we have executive authority to account to Parliament. In doing so, we stated our priorities, which included the following: improving the capacity and efficacy of the state; improving the delivery and quality of public services provided; ensuring honesty and transparency; sustaining participatory governance; and promoting international relations and co- operation. We have also analysed the financial resources year-to-date expenditure actuals, on the basis of which we communicated a year-end projected expenditure of 96%.
We have finally committed ourselves to the following plan of activities over the given period. By next week, we will have pronounced the final position on the implementation of the occupation-specific dispensation, OSD, after a deadline we set yesterday, 30 June 2009. We will communicate a time-bound 2009-10 salary negotiation programme soon - and we can assure hon members that it is not our desire to have a long, drawn-out negotiation process.
We are committed to quality which we measure by time. This means following up on issues raised in public participation fora such as izimbizo, the National Council of Province's programme of "Taking Parliament to the People" and the National Assembly programme of "People's Assemblies" - and we'll do that with immediate effect.
Other goals include: enforcing compulsory signing of performance agreements and enforcement of penalties for noncompliance, all with immediate effect; ensuring the implementation of a time-bound response window to the reports of the Public Service Commission; introducing a broader turnaround strategy for the State Information Technology Agency, Sita, by the end of July 2009; finalising the further transformation process of the Public Administration Leadership and Management Academy, Palama, by November 2009; introducing a community development programme turnaround strategy by December 2009; addressing the nation on the Auditor-General's report dealing with conflicts of interest in which it was reported that there were some public servants who had interests in some companies that were, in turn, doing business with government - we will soon address the nation on that report to indicate the practical steps we intend taking forward; hosting a public sector summit by December 2009; and introducing the graduate top-up training programme immediately, and sustaining it as we progress.
Maybe we need to expand on this because there are unemployed graduates in our country and people are saying they are unemployable, yet they are graduates. The top-up programme, which Palama is introducing and sustaining, is meant to ensure that these graduates are employable. Chairperson, these are our short-term pledges and please hold us to them. We are presenting ourselves fully understanding that the separation of powers, which is part of our democracy, also has the confession part which is power relations. And we know very well that in that understanding we are accountable as an executive to Parliament and included in that establishment is this august House.
We also promise that by the end of the financial year we will have done the following: ensured a continuous reduction and final elimination of qualified audit reports by provincial and national government departments; facilitated the development of an accelerated policy implementation framework so that we can see ourselves in a situation in which we are equal to what is expected of us in terms of policy implementation; hosted a service delivery summit; and assessed the impact of the capacity-building interventions introduced so that we know exactly what we have to do.
It is for that reason we are saying Palama is the way to go. Palama is the new name for the SA Management Development Institute, which deals with the training of leadership and the introduction of new entrants into our Public Service. We have committed ourselves to performing an impact assessment of the internship programme in removing barriers of entry to the Public Service particularly and the entire job market in general. We will also have connected all existing Thusong centres to Internet technology by the end of the financial year and will connect each new one on establishment. Finally, by the end of the financial year we will have performed a corruption impact assessment so that we can see if corruption is an issue and if it has an impact on service delivery. What is the common manifestation of corruption? Where is it located in terms of the sector? We are going to do this and have committed ourselves to ensuring that corruption-fighting instruments are introduced - starting with the corruption Act, the national anti-corruption Act and following with the anticorruption strategy. We have held anticorruption summits, made decisions, and clearly stated what we can and cannot tolerate. How effective are these instruments going to be? What are we doing to actually implement all of them so that we accelerate the implementation of decisions that we have taken?
We promise to introduce to Parliament the Public Administration Management Bill, thereby ending the debate on the question of a single Public Service. We will also synchronise the programme of wage or salary negotiations with the government's budget cycle as they are related. This sounds like a heavy programme, and some may ask questions on what informs our confidence. What makes us believe that we will walk the talk in committing ourselves to doing all this? Our position on issues like this is that it takes dedication and effective management to realise the objectives that people and institutions set for themselves.
Working together within the Ministry for the Public Service and Administration as well as the entire Public Service, we can do all these things and still more. Our commitment to service delivery informs us that if we are to be true to our constitutional and electoral mandate, we should be available to do more than ordinary things. Hard work is the name of the game and nothing else.
A very important question was asked yesterday when we were debating the Budget Vote in the National Assembly - whether we were not far from implementing the Batho Pele policy. I indicated that when people said we were far from, or not far from, or not so far, or not near to implementing Batho Pele, they should first have a full understanding of what the policy is all about. And I want this House to debate this issue either today or at a later stage, but soon. It is necessary that we do so, because the meaning goes beyond just putting people first. It means a lot, and if we were to pause for a moment here and then say exactly what it means, you would not be surprised to hear someone saying it means that we must put people first - even if you put them first to explain to them why services should not be provided to them. I would not be surprised if members present here or those who are watching do that. That's the reason why we need to talk about Batho Pele. What is it all about?
But, I want to put it very clearly that I'm not saying that we should debate this matter, because I have no doubt that Batho Pele is the way to go. I know that we are on board as far as the implementation of Batho Pele is concerned - at least at the average level of our general performance on policy implementation recorded over our 15-year record of service delivery.
Let me remind this House of what the Batho Pele policy binds us to do. I'm going to go through the eight principles of Batho Pele, not just the heading which has to do with the redress, setting of standards and so forth. By doing that you are not going deep enough in terms of what it means. It binds us to do the following: citizens shall be consulted about the level and quality of the public services they receive and, where possible, they should be given a choice about the services that are offered; citizens should be made aware of what services they should expect; all citizens should have equal access to the services to which they are entitled - see, it talks about entitlement; citizens shall be treated with courtesy and consideration; citizens should be given full and accurate information about the public services they are entitled to receive; citizens should be told how national and provincial governments are run, how much they cost and who is in charge - maybe that also applies to the NCOP and the National Assembly; citizens should be offered an apology, a full explanation and a speedy and effective remedy if the promised standard of services is not delivered and, when complaints are made, citizens should receive a sympathetic, positive response; and public services should be provided economically and efficiently.
Of course, I know that we may not exhaustively deal with all these issues on any single day. I want us to appreciate that the ANC government does as expected in order to live up to what is expected of us through the Batho Pele policy, as well as what is expected of the broader civil society as led by all of us in this House and those outside this House. It cannot be the responsibility of the government alone to implement Batho Pele. We all have some work to do.
Let us analyse only two principles out of the eight so that we understand that it takes more than government for us to realise the objectives of Batho Pele. In so doing, we will come to terms with the argument that I'm raising. The principle of redress calls on us to ensure that citizens are offered an apology, a full explanation and a speedy and effective remedy if the promised standard of services is not delivered, and that when complaints are made citizens should receive a sympathetic, positive response.
Suppose the level of consciousness is so high in the community that citizens know what this principle entitles them to receive: You can rest assured that we may well have to draw up an annual programme of apology, giving full explanations and raising more expectations as we try to give speedy remedies. This can cause people to reject the explanations given, the apology offered and the remedy provided. Therefore, you will be reinvited to do exactly what we have done.
This often happens when the level of understanding is such that, deliberately or accidentally, some people choose to be selfish and less concerned with what affects the state and more concerned with personal priorities. Let us take a situation that some of us may not like to hear about. We are affected by the unfortunate global state of the economy now and we can, therefore, not move with the same speed to deliver some of the services that were envisaged.
Meanwhile, the citizens know exactly what our programmes are for effective service delivery. If we explain the situation and, therefore, say that we may not be able to live up to what is expected, we may find a challenging situation, more especially if we have some among us - as, of course, we do - who would like to see themselves either actively believing that they are going to co-govern with the government or running a shadow administration to put forward their own priorities. That is what is giving us challenges.
It takes an informed, positive-minded and readily available civil society for us to succeed on this journey. Is our civil society ready to create space for government to implement the principles of Batho Pele? I doubt it. So, before we ask such questions of the government - as to how far we are with the implementation of Batho Pele and how much the government has done to comply with the policy - we should check the contribution we are making as civil society.
We have had so many comments recently, as the nation is discussing the implementation of occupation-specific dispensations in the Public Service. We have had some people conveniently contradicting themselves. When it suits them, some will say that those public servants who are assigned to do essential services should not be allowed to strike and when it suits them for different reasons the same people will say that the situation is provocative and so they should be allowed to strike. That's a clear contradiction. I heard a supposedly responsible adult yesterday saying that the doctors in KwaZulu-Natal abandoned their work very responsibly. This was said by a person who is supposed to be a public representative and a leader: "abandoning their work responsibly". I'm not sure what that is. It is sad when such reckless comments are made by people, some of whom have taken an oath to defend the Republic, and when the government, in fact, is doing its best to address the situation. We say thanks to the Minister of Health because he dealt with a serious blow from such empty-minded individuals.
The Batho Pele principle on openness and transparency calls on us to ensure that citizens are told how national and provincial departments are run, how much they cost and who is in charge. There are further questions that may be associated with this principle, one of which being that citizens would like to be taken on board as to what the government should spend money on. Fair enough, but I repeat: it takes an informed, positive-minded and readily available civil society for us to succeed on this course. Is our civil society ready to create space for government to implement the principles of Batho Pele? I doubt it - not in our situation where ulterior motives sometimes influence people's thinking. But we are not giving up. That is why, as the ANC, we believe that mass mobilisation around priority programmes is the way to go. I committed the Ministry for the Public Service and Administration yesterday, and I do today, that by the end of this financial year we will have analysed obstacles in the implementation of Batho Pele and we'll communicate the way forward out of this situation.
The debate on a single Public Service should not frustrate any person or structure. Maybe what worries people is their having the wrong perception, that the debate is all about doing away with the concept of the three spheres and creating only one structure of government in the country. No, that is not correct; that is not the intention. The issue is that we want to strategically align the institutions that comprise the machinery of the developmental state, to complement each other so as to operate effectively and fulfil the needs of all South Africans in a seamless arrangement. Let us further engage on this subject at the different fora where the issue, from time to time, is located.
To conclude, allow me to confirm that we are going ahead to all the provinces in our campaign to strengthen the African Peer Review Governing Council and to respond to the nine issues that have been raised about us as a country by our peers on the continent. We have been to Gauteng, Mpumalanga and the Northern Cape.
During the month of July we will be in the following provinces debating the following issues: Limpopo - poverty and inequality; the Free State - land reform; the North West - racism; the Western Cape - diversity management; and in KwaZulu-Natal - HIV and Aids.
In August we will finalise the programme in the Eastern Cape, focusing our debate on unblocking service delivery. We need to stress that these are national issues and not just for provinces. We are not discussing them in the provinces because we think they are prevalent, but because we are using provinces as a forum to engage. At the end of this we are going to have a national consultative conference at which we are going to have a plenary to reflect on all these issues because they have been raised about us by other member states of the African Union that have acceded to the African Peer Review Mechanism.
The journey to an effective Public Service is not my journey alone. It is not his journey; it is not her journey, but ours. Let's participate. Thank you very much. [Applause.]