STATE OF THE PUBLIC SERVICE REPORT 2009

1. STATE OF THE PUBLIC SERVICE REPORT 2009 The State of Readiness of the Public Service for 2010 and Beyond PRESENTATION TO THE Portfolio Committee for Public Service and Administration 16 SEPTEMBER 2009

2. OUTLINE • Introduction • Overview of Performance • Conclusion

3. INTRODUCTION • The Public Service Commission’s SOPS reports are a series of high level annual oversight reports providing an overview on the performance of the Public Service. • Performance is assessed against the 9 Constitutional values and principles of public administration • The reports are based on the oversight work of the PSC, but also draw on other research. • Each edition is also based on a specific theme, and the theme for the current edition is The State of Readiness of the Public Service for 2010 & Beyond

4. A HIGH STANDARD OF PROFESSIONAL ETHICS • The hosting of the World Cup involves a lot of resources • Importance of a professional Public Service which does not tolerate corruption & inspires public confidence cannot be overemphasised • Based on its oversight work, the PSC believes that critical areas for improvement include the management of misconduct (cases take long & sanctions are inconsistent), financial disclosures (80% compliance rate in 2007/8), responding to cases from the National Anti-Corruption Hotline (12.4% in 2007/8), supply chain management. • An effective anticorruption partnership between government, business and civil society is key, & the NACF should be leveraged for this purpose.

5. EFFICIENT, ECONOMIC AND EFFECTIVE USE OF RESOURCES • There will be additional service demands given the envisaged influx of sports tourists, but public value in service delivery must not be compromised. • Areas for attention include improving the quality & credibility of travel documents, queue management at Ports of Entry, boosting capacity of police stations in host cities, improving Emergency Medical Services, and addressing the skills of public servants (including soft skills) • The country should not lose focus on building institutional capacity to promote development.

6. PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION MUST BE DEVELOPMENT ORIENTED • Successes are noted in reducing the proportion of people living below the poverty line. • However, much of the progress has ridden on the back of favourable economic growth. • Hosting the World Cup should be used as an opportunity to support job creation, infrastructure development, and the development of skills for project planning and implementation. • The Public Service needs to develop a deeper appreciation of its role in development and poverty reduction.

7. PROVISION OF SERVICES IN AN IMPARTIAL, FAIR AND EQUITABLE MANNER • The event will be scrutinised to see whether it opens up opportunities fairly and equitably. • Focus should not just be on achieving fairness, but also on being seen to be fair (perceptions important, as experiences from the recent xenophobic attacks point out) • Also, access to opportunities not enough on its own for redress. It is important to also promote the use of these opportunities • The implementation of the Promotion of Administrative Justice Act (PAJA) is still inadequate. There is no reason for performance in this area to remain unsatisfactory.

8. PEOPLE`S NEEDS MUST BE RESPONDED TO & THE PUBLIC MUST PARTICIPATE IN POLICY-MAKING • Preparations for the 2010 event have involved encouraging examples of citizen participation. • These should serve as lessons for the Public Service. • Efforts by the executive to connect with citizens izimbizo have been noted, but these can be deepened. • Important to resist sacrificing public participation at the altar of managerial freedom • Development of skills to promote public participation still not receiving adequate attention • In this process, citizens should be treated with courtesy to feel that their views are valued

9. PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION MUST BE ACCOUNTABLE • Despite the many accountability mechanisms in place, compliance is still not optimal • Performance agreements (PAs) are a key accountability mechanism, but compliance remains unsatisfactory. Even more concerning is that performance incentives are sometimes awarded without a performance appraisal. • The existence of qualified audit opinions also remain a cause for concern (especially considering departments that are key for the 2010 event). • Other critical areas include internal financial controls, risk management, fraud prevention, and capacity to investigate fraud

10. FOSTERING TRANSPARENCY BY PROVIDING TIMELY, ACCESSIBLE AND ACCURATE INFORMATION • The World Cup and its opportunities have been widely advertised through various media • There are pockets of excellence regarding the Batho Pele principle of information • The Promotion of Access to Information Act seeks to foster transparency, but adherence remains unsatisfactory. • Systems for managing requests for information still inadequate • The possibility of language as an information barrier • However, there are enough good practices around for departments to learn from

11. GOOD HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND CAREER DEVELOPMENT PRACTICES MUST BE CULTIVATED • 2010-related pressures should not lead to unaccountable HRM practices. • Consistency in the application of norms and standards remains a challenge. • Work place skills plans are still weak. • Filling of posts still takes long and some departments are unable to complete their human resource plans. • Strengthening human resource components is a priority to address these challenges.

12. PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION MUST BE BROADLY REPRESENTATIVE OF THE SOUTH AFRICA PEOPLE • The World Cup is an opportunity to showcase the diversity of the country. • Most of the targets in the Public Service have been met, but gender and disability remain a challenge. • Apart from achieving numeric targets, attention must be paid to addressing diversity management, which should include greater gender and disability sensitivity. • More guidance can be provided on this by the Departments of Labour and Public Service and Administration.

13. CONCLUSION • The Public Service should take advantage of the hosting of the World Cup to bolster its capacity to be responsive, effective and efficient. • This event has injected substantial resources which can be leveraged to strengthen public administration not only for 2010, but the period beyond. • It will be crucial to address many of the recurring challenges that have continued to impact negatively on the performance scorecard for the Public Service.

14. THANK YOU! Indran Naidoo Deputy Director-General: M&E E-mail: indrann@opsc.gov.za