Chairperson, hon Minister, and his counterpart and hon members, the past decade and a half of a democratic South Africa has experienced numerous challenges in the Public Service. These challenges have been a hindrance to service delivery, especially to both national and provincial departments.
The current nature and form of the Public Service character falls short of addressing these challenges. In addition, the Public Service Act of 1994 has proved inadequate and needs to be reviewed. The current system in the Public Service has failed to address the following issues in the Public Service.
Firstly, there is a lack of provision for the deployment of staff where they are most needed. Secondly, some government functions are provided through national or provincial departments and are not close to the point of service delivery. The functionaries tasked with such deliveries operate without direct accountability or decision-making ability. On the other hand, some government functions are provided via entities outside the Public Service without direct control and influence by its political head.
Thirdly, the Public Service Act of 1994 and its prescripts are frequently not complied with, which results in weak organisational and human resource practices as well as legal disputes. Fourthly, employees dismissed from departments for any kind of misconduct, including misconduct involving corrupt acts, are often reappointed soon after their dismissal.
Fifthly, employees suspected of transgressions sometimes resign and are appointed in other departments without disciplinary steps being taken or instituted or continued for those transgressions. Lastly, some provisions of the Act have resulted in legal disputes while others are obsolete, overly complex or conflict with legislation.
We need to recognise that certain organisational and human resource practices in the current Public Service Act directly or indirectly obstruct service delivery. Currently, some government functions are provided by national or provincial departments away from the point of delivery and without direct accountability.
The introduction of the Public Service Bill, also known as the Public Administration Management Bill, will go a long way towards addressing the above-mentioned challenges. The preamble of the Bill recognises sections of the Constitution, including, amongst other sections, section 197(4):
Provincial governments are responsible for the recruitment, appointment, promotion, transfer and dismissal of members of the Public Service in their administrations within a framework of uniform norms and standards applying to the Public Service.
Another section, section 151(3), states:
A municipality has the right to govern, on its own initiative, the local government affairs of its community, subject to national and provincial legislation, as provided for in the Constitution.
And section 153 states:
A municipality must -
(a) structure and manage its administration and budgeting and planning processes to give priority to the basic needs of the community, and to promote the social and economic development of the community; and
(b) participate in national and provincial development programmes.
The exercise of legislative and executive authority for local government is regulated by the Constitution and three Acts, namely the Local Government: Municipal Demarcation Act, the Local Government: Municipal Structures Act, and the Local Government: Municipal Systems Act. These statutes deal comprehensively with local government, leaving a few issues relating to financial management, budgeting, borrowing, Treasury control, property rating and taxation to be covered by the Local Government: Municipal Finance Management Act and the Local Government: Municipal Property Rates Act.
The Public Administration Management Bill has the following aims. It aims to improve staff mobility arrangements for the Public Service by allowing for the deployment of staff where they are most needed, but with due consideration of the circumstances of affected employees.
The Bill aims to introduce government agencies as a new institutional form to be accommodated within the Public Service to enable direct service delivery through a focused, ring-fenced, separate entity under the direct control of the Ministry. It also aims to enhance compliance with the Act through investigation and compulsory discipline of transgressors and reporting thereon.
The Public Administration Management Bill aims to enable the institution of disciplinary steps against employees for alleged transgressions at their former departments. It aims to introduce anticorruption measures to prohibit the re-employment of persons in the Public Service dismissed for specific kinds of misconduct, such as misconduct involving corrupt acts. The Bill also aims to address a number of legal difficulties arising from the day-to-day application of the Act as well as arbitrations and court cases.
Lastly, it aims to simplify the Public Service Act through streamlining several provisions, removing obsolete provisions and aligning the Act with other legislation in order to facilitate its application.
The Bill will impact on local government in the following ways. A single Public Service is deemed a massive undertaking designed to improve service delivery by integrating the front office, the back office and the institutions delivering service to the people. The initiative aims to integrate all spheres of government, which will allow citizens to receive government services as a whole in a convenient location, without having to travel far and wide. The progress made in the implementation of the Thusong centres initiatives is an indication of how this Bill will satisfy the demand for service delivery. There are at least 100 Thusong centres that have been built across the country, and they have been received in a good spirit.
The Bill further aims to harmonise the conditions of service across government so that it is able to work better. It will promote access to service and assist in instilling an ethos of people-centred service.
The Bill states that it proposes alignment, where appropriate, in recruitment and selection, remuneration and conditions of service, performance management and development, a competency framework, standards of ethics and misconduct, incapacity procedures, financial disclosure requirements, and procedures for the transfer, secondment and deployment across the full spectrum of national, provincial and local government.
The Bill will enhance our anticorruption initiative. It introduces anticorruption measures to prohibit the re-employment of persons in the Public Service dismissed for specific kinds of misconduct.
Some key amendments introduced by the Bill include the introduction of government components that will function as separate institutions within the Public Service, with their heads serving as accounting officers in terms of the Public Finance Management Act.
The Bill respects the powers vested by the Constitution in municipalities, particularly in their power to appoint, direct and dismiss their own employees. While the Bill does contain provisions that, in carefully circumscribed circumstances, enable the Minister for the Public Service and Administration to set limits in terms of conditions of employment, these provisions do not compromise or impede municipalities in exercising their rights or performing the functions conferred on them by the Constitution.
It must be remembered that we inherited a fragmented Public Service which served our people according to the colour of their skin. The so-called experienced and skilled public servants, who were not comfortable with the new dispensation, left and established consultancies which continued misleading our institutions because they didn't understand our transformation agenda.
Our intention and approach to a single Public Service will assist in having a co-ordinated bargaining approach, which will hopefully minimise the looming labour action. This approach, informed by the Batho Pele principles, should be understood within the context of nation-building and promoting allegiance to one unitary South Africa, where poverty, unemployment and lack of shelter will be a thing of the past and where our people will live in peace and prosperity. We support the Vote. Thank you very much. [Applause.]