Date: 24/08/2004
Source: Ministry of Public Service and Administration
Title: G Fraser-Moleketi: Parliamentary Media Briefing, August 2004
PARLIAMENTARY MEDIA BRIEFING: BRIEFING ON GOVERNANCE AND ADMINISTRATION MS GJ FRASER-MOLEKETI MP, MINISTER FOR PUBLIC SERVICE AND ADMINISTRATION, 24 August 2004
Introduction
Government has taken transparency to the next level with the publication of its Programme of Action on the Government website. The Government Programme of Action (POA) was adopted in June 2004 and it outlines the agreed outputs of the DG Clusters, including those of the Governance and Administration (G&A) Cluster. Reflected below are some of the highlights of the first reporting period covering July 2004 and August 2004.
Batho Pele Campaign
A major achievement of the G&A Cluster in the past month has been the articulation of a strategy to revitalise Batho Pele in government, identifying new goals and targets in transforming the culture and ethos of the Public Service and thereby improving service delivery. We have taken our inspiration from the words of the President at the State of the Nation Address at the beginning of this year: "We must be impatient with those in the Public Service who see themselves as pen-pushers and guardians of rubber stamps, thieves intent on self enrichment, bureaucrats who think they have a right to ignore the vision of Batho Pele, who come to work as late as possible, work as little as possible and knock off as early as possible."
The programme we have developed accentuates and encourages a positive predisposition in the Public Service. It was based on the findings of a review of the implementation of the Batho Pele principles in government. The first focus area is "taking services to the people". This involves the development of a comprehensive, integrated 2014 access strategy for the Public Service. We have done considerable work in this area already, as I will outline under "integrated service delivery". Another important aspect of this work is to cascade Batho Pele to Provincial and Local Government.
Cabinet has agreed that public servants who interface directly with the public should be identified by nametags. This links to the second area, the "know your service rights campaign", aimed at informing the public on how to seek redress for poor service. Thirdly we will focus on setting up management systems to monitor the rate of service delivery by public servants, identify the frequency and types of complaints and queries received and to become more pro-active, such as informing citizens when their licences or passports will be expiring.
We will request Ministers and Public Service Commissioners to pay unannounced visits to service delivery centres; we will also be requiring senior managers to spend time in service delivery centres, to assist with service delivery and to learn first hand of both the challenges and the successes at the coalface of service delivery. Finally we intend to review our human resource management systems in the light of Batho Pele, especially the performance management systems for public servants, and will infuse Batho Pele into the training programme for public servants.
Departments and service delivery centres will of their own accord continue to find ways to improve service delivery to the people. There are many simple and straightforward ways of improving service, including adjustments that can be made that do not cost anything. For example, a service delivery centre can ensure that a full staff complement is on duty at lunchtime, requiring public servants to take their lunch before or after, but making it easier for citizens to engage with government in what is often the only time they can get away from work. The Batho Pele programme is ambitious, but we are confident that we will succeed in transforming the service culture of the Public Service.
Integrated Service Delivery
Integrated service delivery has two related aims: firstly, to make a wide range of government services available from a single location or source - and secondly, to ensure that that location or source is located as close as possible to the people, especially the previously marginalised rural and urban communities. A good example of this kind of initiative is the Multi-Purpose Community Centre (MPCC). The Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) has now completed 57 MPCCs out of the planned 60 for the year. It is planned to have an MPCC in every municipality by 2024.
Nine MPCCs (Mbazwana, Sterkspruit, Mapela, Lerethlabetse, Atlantis, Mpuluzi, Tombo, Namahadi, Galeshewe) were the locations for the launch of the Batho Pele Gateway on 3 August 2004. The Gateway is a portal, which contains information on government services and may be found at www.gov.za. A call centre (dial 1020) is also operational in six languages. The MPCCs form part of the access strategy for the Gateway, and currently the nine pilot MPCCs have Gateway connectivity. Several Post Offices are also connected. In this way information on a range of government services may be found in one location, and through the efforts to expand the reach of Gateway may also be found close to the people. In the next phases of Gateway, service transactions will be available online. Currently phase 1 will be consolidated, especially the expansion of access to the portal and the improvement of the quality of information.
Another critical element in government's efforts to bring information and services closer to the people is the Community Development Worker (CDW) programme. The programme was announced in February 2003 and preparations were made for four provinces to implement in July 2003. A learnership was developed and registered in February 2004, and the first enrolments took place in February and March. 495 learners were enrolled in five provinces (Eastern Cape, North West, Northern Cape, Gauteng and Limpopo), and were deployed to 138 municipalities. The Local Government and Water SETA funded the initial training and also sought funds for the learnership from the National Skills Fund. R52 million has now been obtained to fund 2087 learnerships. New enrolments will therefore follow soon. The Western Cape, Free State and KwaZulu-Natal will participate in the new intake. The development nodes will be prioritised for the deployment of CDWs. Handbook on CDWs has been developed and distributed to all the provinces to ensure a common understanding of the programme.
Participatory Governance
The Presidency and GCIS are currently making preparations for the Imbizo Focus Week from 24 to 30 September 2004 and the Presidential Imbizo. The Imbizo programme will be further refined in September, drawing on our experience of the past five years, in particular including door-to-door interaction in the programmes. Community monitoring and evaluation of Government's performance have been strengthened by the publication of the Government's POA on the Government website, and the public reporting of progress through media briefings and the regular posting of progress updates on the site. The site also has a facility for the public to make comments on Government's performance.
Human Resource Management and Development
A draft information guide for departments on the retention of skills and a scarce skills strategy has been developed and implemented in the health sector. The Integrated Performance Management and Development System (PMDS) will be reviewed and simplified. The Human Resource Development Strategy for the Public Service is under review and the South African Management Development Institute (SAMDI) has entered into partnerships with departments for the provision of training on basic administration, Batho Pele and frontline service delivery.
Part of human resource management is the need to improve the physical work environment of public servants. The Department of Public Works is compiling a Service Delivery Improvement Programme for each national department and institution. A holistic maintenance plan has been developed to improve existing accommodation and to address the maintenance backlog over the next ten years. The initiatives of Public Works to improve the physical work environment are linked to the projects of Batho Pele aimed at improving the service delivery experience for the citizen.
Institutional Integration
Institutional integration seeks to create seamless service delivery by reducing fragmentation in government and strengthening cooperation between service delivery institutions in all three spheres of government. Another crucial objective of the project is to improve mobility between the three spheres of government. Currently transfers between spheres are complex because of different conditions of service. Local government has embarked on a programme to rationalise their conditions of service and the Department of Provincial and Local Government (DPLG) is developing legislation to regulate centrally human resource matters in local government.
The review of public entities has progressed well and the work is almost complete. The review seeks to provide the tools for departments to assess the performance and relevance of the public entities that report to them, but also seeks to develop a legislative framework for public entities to ensure uniformly high standards of corporate governance. Final reports on classification of public entities, corporate forms, human resource and performance management frameworks, and corporate governance have been prepared. Legislative proposals will be made in October.
Intergovernmental Relations
In his State of the Nation Address in February 2004, the President announced that government would give priority to drafting legislation on Intergovernmental Relations (IGR). On 25 June 2004, an Extended Cabinet workshop was convened whereby national Ministers and Deputy Ministers, Premiers and MECs responsible for Local Government were in attendance. The meeting considered progress in drafting the Bill on Intergovernmental Relations. The importance of drafting IGR legislation was endorsed and also its specific intention to provide greater clarity between the national, provincial and local spheres of government as they seek to provide for coherent government and seamless service delivery. The meeting agreed that this legislation remains a key priority for 2004.
Municipal Infrastructure Grant
The Municipal Infrastructure Grant is a R15, 6 billion conditional grant aimed at supporting municipal capital budgets to fund and accelerate the provision of basic infrastructure at local government level. It will be used for the provision and maintenance of municipal roads, sanitation, and water, among others. The grant will put municipalities at the centre of service delivery and will help in government efforts of halving unemployment and poverty by 2014 in line with the Growth and Development Summit Resolutions. The grant, which was launched about two weeks ago, will be implemented within the guidelines of the Expanded Public Works Programme, which mainly focuses on labour intensive methods of construction and maintenance.
Monitoring and evaluation
Government has a number of monitoring and evaluation systems in place, including Cabinet's bi-monthly monitoring of Cluster progress implementing the Government's Programme of Action. On 4 August 2004 Cabinet approved proposals relating to a framework for a government-wide monitoring and evaluation system and a project plan for the design of a conceptual platform for the framework. The envisaged system will operate in all spheres of government, led by The Presidency, Premier's Offices and Mayor's Offices. Initial work includes a review of existing systems and a needs analysis. The design project will be completed by early next year.
Issued by: Minister for the Public Service and Administration
24 August 2004
Source: Ministry of Public Service and Administration
Title: G Fraser-Moleketi: Parliamentary Media Briefing, August 2004
PARLIAMENTARY MEDIA BRIEFING: BRIEFING ON GOVERNANCE AND ADMINISTRATION MS GJ FRASER-MOLEKETI MP, MINISTER FOR PUBLIC SERVICE AND ADMINISTRATION, 24 August 2004
Introduction
Government has taken transparency to the next level with the publication of its Programme of Action on the Government website. The Government Programme of Action (POA) was adopted in June 2004 and it outlines the agreed outputs of the DG Clusters, including those of the Governance and Administration (G&A) Cluster. Reflected below are some of the highlights of the first reporting period covering July 2004 and August 2004.
Batho Pele Campaign
A major achievement of the G&A Cluster in the past month has been the articulation of a strategy to revitalise Batho Pele in government, identifying new goals and targets in transforming the culture and ethos of the Public Service and thereby improving service delivery. We have taken our inspiration from the words of the President at the State of the Nation Address at the beginning of this year: "We must be impatient with those in the Public Service who see themselves as pen-pushers and guardians of rubber stamps, thieves intent on self enrichment, bureaucrats who think they have a right to ignore the vision of Batho Pele, who come to work as late as possible, work as little as possible and knock off as early as possible."
The programme we have developed accentuates and encourages a positive predisposition in the Public Service. It was based on the findings of a review of the implementation of the Batho Pele principles in government. The first focus area is "taking services to the people". This involves the development of a comprehensive, integrated 2014 access strategy for the Public Service. We have done considerable work in this area already, as I will outline under "integrated service delivery". Another important aspect of this work is to cascade Batho Pele to Provincial and Local Government.
Cabinet has agreed that public servants who interface directly with the public should be identified by nametags. This links to the second area, the "know your service rights campaign", aimed at informing the public on how to seek redress for poor service. Thirdly we will focus on setting up management systems to monitor the rate of service delivery by public servants, identify the frequency and types of complaints and queries received and to become more pro-active, such as informing citizens when their licences or passports will be expiring.
We will request Ministers and Public Service Commissioners to pay unannounced visits to service delivery centres; we will also be requiring senior managers to spend time in service delivery centres, to assist with service delivery and to learn first hand of both the challenges and the successes at the coalface of service delivery. Finally we intend to review our human resource management systems in the light of Batho Pele, especially the performance management systems for public servants, and will infuse Batho Pele into the training programme for public servants.
Departments and service delivery centres will of their own accord continue to find ways to improve service delivery to the people. There are many simple and straightforward ways of improving service, including adjustments that can be made that do not cost anything. For example, a service delivery centre can ensure that a full staff complement is on duty at lunchtime, requiring public servants to take their lunch before or after, but making it easier for citizens to engage with government in what is often the only time they can get away from work. The Batho Pele programme is ambitious, but we are confident that we will succeed in transforming the service culture of the Public Service.
Integrated Service Delivery
Integrated service delivery has two related aims: firstly, to make a wide range of government services available from a single location or source - and secondly, to ensure that that location or source is located as close as possible to the people, especially the previously marginalised rural and urban communities. A good example of this kind of initiative is the Multi-Purpose Community Centre (MPCC). The Government Communication and Information System (GCIS) has now completed 57 MPCCs out of the planned 60 for the year. It is planned to have an MPCC in every municipality by 2024.
Nine MPCCs (Mbazwana, Sterkspruit, Mapela, Lerethlabetse, Atlantis, Mpuluzi, Tombo, Namahadi, Galeshewe) were the locations for the launch of the Batho Pele Gateway on 3 August 2004. The Gateway is a portal, which contains information on government services and may be found at www.gov.za. A call centre (dial 1020) is also operational in six languages. The MPCCs form part of the access strategy for the Gateway, and currently the nine pilot MPCCs have Gateway connectivity. Several Post Offices are also connected. In this way information on a range of government services may be found in one location, and through the efforts to expand the reach of Gateway may also be found close to the people. In the next phases of Gateway, service transactions will be available online. Currently phase 1 will be consolidated, especially the expansion of access to the portal and the improvement of the quality of information.
Another critical element in government's efforts to bring information and services closer to the people is the Community Development Worker (CDW) programme. The programme was announced in February 2003 and preparations were made for four provinces to implement in July 2003. A learnership was developed and registered in February 2004, and the first enrolments took place in February and March. 495 learners were enrolled in five provinces (Eastern Cape, North West, Northern Cape, Gauteng and Limpopo), and were deployed to 138 municipalities. The Local Government and Water SETA funded the initial training and also sought funds for the learnership from the National Skills Fund. R52 million has now been obtained to fund 2087 learnerships. New enrolments will therefore follow soon. The Western Cape, Free State and KwaZulu-Natal will participate in the new intake. The development nodes will be prioritised for the deployment of CDWs. Handbook on CDWs has been developed and distributed to all the provinces to ensure a common understanding of the programme.
Participatory Governance
The Presidency and GCIS are currently making preparations for the Imbizo Focus Week from 24 to 30 September 2004 and the Presidential Imbizo. The Imbizo programme will be further refined in September, drawing on our experience of the past five years, in particular including door-to-door interaction in the programmes. Community monitoring and evaluation of Government's performance have been strengthened by the publication of the Government's POA on the Government website, and the public reporting of progress through media briefings and the regular posting of progress updates on the site. The site also has a facility for the public to make comments on Government's performance.
Human Resource Management and Development
A draft information guide for departments on the retention of skills and a scarce skills strategy has been developed and implemented in the health sector. The Integrated Performance Management and Development System (PMDS) will be reviewed and simplified. The Human Resource Development Strategy for the Public Service is under review and the South African Management Development Institute (SAMDI) has entered into partnerships with departments for the provision of training on basic administration, Batho Pele and frontline service delivery.
Part of human resource management is the need to improve the physical work environment of public servants. The Department of Public Works is compiling a Service Delivery Improvement Programme for each national department and institution. A holistic maintenance plan has been developed to improve existing accommodation and to address the maintenance backlog over the next ten years. The initiatives of Public Works to improve the physical work environment are linked to the projects of Batho Pele aimed at improving the service delivery experience for the citizen.
Institutional Integration
Institutional integration seeks to create seamless service delivery by reducing fragmentation in government and strengthening cooperation between service delivery institutions in all three spheres of government. Another crucial objective of the project is to improve mobility between the three spheres of government. Currently transfers between spheres are complex because of different conditions of service. Local government has embarked on a programme to rationalise their conditions of service and the Department of Provincial and Local Government (DPLG) is developing legislation to regulate centrally human resource matters in local government.
The review of public entities has progressed well and the work is almost complete. The review seeks to provide the tools for departments to assess the performance and relevance of the public entities that report to them, but also seeks to develop a legislative framework for public entities to ensure uniformly high standards of corporate governance. Final reports on classification of public entities, corporate forms, human resource and performance management frameworks, and corporate governance have been prepared. Legislative proposals will be made in October.
Intergovernmental Relations
In his State of the Nation Address in February 2004, the President announced that government would give priority to drafting legislation on Intergovernmental Relations (IGR). On 25 June 2004, an Extended Cabinet workshop was convened whereby national Ministers and Deputy Ministers, Premiers and MECs responsible for Local Government were in attendance. The meeting considered progress in drafting the Bill on Intergovernmental Relations. The importance of drafting IGR legislation was endorsed and also its specific intention to provide greater clarity between the national, provincial and local spheres of government as they seek to provide for coherent government and seamless service delivery. The meeting agreed that this legislation remains a key priority for 2004.
Municipal Infrastructure Grant
The Municipal Infrastructure Grant is a R15, 6 billion conditional grant aimed at supporting municipal capital budgets to fund and accelerate the provision of basic infrastructure at local government level. It will be used for the provision and maintenance of municipal roads, sanitation, and water, among others. The grant will put municipalities at the centre of service delivery and will help in government efforts of halving unemployment and poverty by 2014 in line with the Growth and Development Summit Resolutions. The grant, which was launched about two weeks ago, will be implemented within the guidelines of the Expanded Public Works Programme, which mainly focuses on labour intensive methods of construction and maintenance.
Monitoring and evaluation
Government has a number of monitoring and evaluation systems in place, including Cabinet's bi-monthly monitoring of Cluster progress implementing the Government's Programme of Action. On 4 August 2004 Cabinet approved proposals relating to a framework for a government-wide monitoring and evaluation system and a project plan for the design of a conceptual platform for the framework. The envisaged system will operate in all spheres of government, led by The Presidency, Premier's Offices and Mayor's Offices. Initial work includes a review of existing systems and a needs analysis. The design project will be completed by early next year.
Issued by: Minister for the Public Service and Administration
24 August 2004
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