STATE OF THE PUBLIC SERVICE REPORT 2002

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STATE OF THE PUBLIC SERVICE REPORT 2002

• 21 February 2003

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The Public Service Commission

• The Public Service Commission constitutionally
  mandated to monitor and evaluate the public
  service and to promote a high standard of
  professional ethics
• The PSC initiates own research and responds to
  requests
• Principals are Parliament and the Executive at
  National and Provincial level

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This report

• Second edition of the State of the Public Service
  report
• Values prescribed in the Constitution used as an
  analytical framework
• First edition had a historical, problem analyzing
  perspective
• This edition intended as a strategic, high level
  overview with a focus on future challenges facing
  the SA public service

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The SA Public Service

• Employs over 1 million people with 70 of them in
  provincial administrations
• Excludes parastatals and local government
• Generally very large organizations
• Complex and managerially challenging
• Has been a fundamental change from a single
  system to making each entity responsible for its
  own good governance

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Major challenges

• Policy implementation, coordination and
  integration of service delivery
• Many provincial administrations still vulnerable
  and need support, although there are cases of
  excellence
• Good governance is overall challenge
• Needs to be supported by improved performance
  management, innovative service delivery
  partnerships and better use of human resources

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Efficient economic and effective use of resources

• Is a performance evaluation framework for
  assessing public service delivery
• Elements that make up this framework include
  strategic plans, budgets, implementation
  strategies and processes, monitoring and
  evaluation systems, reports and audits

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Efficient economic and effective use of resources
(cont)

• Elements generally being adopted and implemented,
  although they are demanding and some public
  service elements have not successfully shifted to
  this modern management style
• PSC calls for the explicit adoption of a clear
  performance evaluation framework that shows how
  these various elements should work together

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Human resource management and career development

• Transformation of the public service a priority
  since 1994
• Includes decentralisation and increasing
  managerial accountability
• Deracialising conditions of service,
  restructuring and redeployment and ending
  discrimination have been priorities

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Human resource management and career development
(cont)

• Remaining challenges include improving the
  evaluation system, the management of discipline,
  adjusting work organisation, improving the use of
  IT, and supporting clearer job pathing
• PSC calls for finalisation, consolidation and
  promotion of the new HRM framework, with a
  special emphasis on training

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Professional ethics

• Public sector corruption is a serious problem
• Legitimate empowerment and affirmative frameworks
  and policies are being manipulated for individual
  gain
• PSC undertakes investigations that aim to
  identify the systemic weaknesses that permit
  corruption

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Professional ethics (cont)

• Combating corruption requires institutional
  ethics infrastructures including codes of
  conduct, fraud prevention and risk management
  strategies as well as financial disclosure
• PSC promotes a return to fundamentals such as
  proper filing and administration as well as
  proper controls
• Minimum anti-corruption capacity is needed in
  every department, and basic training in ethics
  should be a requirement for every public service
  manager

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Other constitutional principles

• Development orientation
• Needs to be greater clarity on a national
  strategy for development that incorporates
  poverty alleviation and social development
• Local authorities have a lead role to play in
  this regard, but cooperative governance with the
  public service remains a challenge

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Other values (cont)

• Responsive, participatory policy making
• At all levels conscious efforts made to promote
  a participatory approach to policy making,
  although these are inconsistent and undermined by
  the current weakness of civil society
• Clear policy guidelines on what constitutes an
  acceptable level of public participation in
  policy making should be provided, and more
  innovative techniques should be promoted and
  adopted

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Other values (cont)

• Accountability
• Well developed regulatory framework to support
  accountability in place, but not fully
  operationalized and implemented
• PFMA key legislation in this regard -emphasis on
  requiring certain capacities in place is sound
• Risk management and fraud prevention strategies
  important, but often inadequately tailored to
  meet specific needs of individual institutions

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Other values (cont)

• Transparency
• Relates to ensuring access to information and
  providing clear simple reports on important
  matters
• Can be demonstrated through Annual Reports- PSC
  research shows that standard of public service
  Annual Reports has improved, but certain bodies
  need to improve
• Departments should have a clearly allocated
  monitoring and evaluation function that plays a
  lead role in drafting annual reports that meet
  Treasury guidelines in every way

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Other values (cont)

• Representivity
• Government has performed well in efforts to be
  more representative of the population, but
  segmented nature of racial distribution across
  the occupational levels remains a concern
• Disabled people still seriously underrepresented
• Employment equity programmes should be supported
  by capacity building and training programmes
  activated upon recruitment

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Conclusion

• Values described in the Constitution set a very
  high standard for the public service
• Changes already profound and fundamental
• Sustainable development requires strong public
  administration
• PSC is committed to using its knowledge and
  findings to contribute to the process of building
  SAs public administration capacity