Keynote address to the 8th Annual Conference of SAAPAM by Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi, Minister of Public Service and Administration, Cape Sun Hotel, Cape Town

Conference Theme: 'Sustaining Good Governance'

South African Association of Public Administration and Management (SAAPAM) President, Professor Tito Khslo
The Chairperson and members of the SAAPAM Board
Academics, colleagues, distinguished guests
Ladies and gentleman

All protocol observed

The annual South African Association of Public Administration and Management (SAAPAM) conference has become a standard item on the calendar of our public administration knowledge community in South Africa. It offers the opportunity for the intellectual and practitioner communities in this subject area to engage and hone our thinking and sharpen our discourse. I wish to thank you for inviting me again to address this 8th Annual SAAPAM conference. I trust that we will use the discursive space offered by this conference to once again contribute to the evolving South African field of Public Administration.

It also comes at an important moment because as India, Brazil and South Africa (IBSA) we are in the process of developing an approach to Public Management discourse as developing nations and nations of the south.

Ours is a very dynamic field, characterised by ongoing changes in response to the perpetual changes in the environment in which we are expected to operate. As has been the case so many times over the past decades we are currently in an intense period where internationally the search is on for deepened theoretical understanding in terms of our discipline. Those of you, who are following the evolving international literature at the moment, would have picked up on this. The International Review of Administrative Sciences carried a mini-symposium on this quest of finding what it terms a 'New Public Administration Theory' in its first quarter journal of this year. It used the prestigious 2006 Braibant lecture by Jocelyn Bourgon to anchor the discussion.

Bourgon's argument is essentially that although it offers some sound foundations for public administration, traditional public administration theory is challenged on a number of fronts. These include issues related to flexibility and responsiveness, the perceived divide between politics and policy implementation, as well as accountability frameworks for a new era in which high levels of distrust between citizen and government prevail. However, she also concurs with many others that New Public Management (NPM) Theory which succeeded Traditional Theory and that derives its intellectual foundations from Public Choice Theory equally fails to serve as a viable theory for public administration in the 21st Century. This failure she attributes to the fact that NPM theory started wholly from the wrong value propositions, namely private sector values unsuitable to the public domain.

Bourgon is, however, not a lone voice in terms of the current search for a better theoretical base that will also result in better practice. In a recent Festschrift for Gerald Caiden, the editorial team led by Demetrios Argyriades uses the work of Caiden over half a century to point to the shortfalls of more recent thinking and the urgent need to return a more informed, public focused theory, if the subject area is to be restored to a flourishing field. The editors specifically show how a tradition of comparative public administration which located issues of the administrative state in specific national and regional political and economic contexts has faded away, to be replaced by a propensity to elevate managerial techniques and tools in the abstract as the content of our subject discipline. The intellectually anaemic status of this has eroded the standing of our subject area immensely - internationally, but also in the South African context.

Ours is therefore an era of searching for better options. With it goes a responsibility in our intellectual community to rise to the occasion to formulate and test a new public administration theory that will both be capable of explaining practice but also to guide the direction of things to come and how best for practice to respond to contextual challenges. The responsibility is to prepare a cadre of public servants equipped to function in the prevailing and future situation.

If we look at the current debate, it is possible to extract some of the pointers to the direction in which the thinking is emerging.

The first aspect is the ethical and values base of public administration. In this regard there is a return to issues of a public orientation where shared or common interests of citizens are the compass, rather than a philosophy dominated by private and individual interests. It is an orientation searching for social justice, something that the neo-liberal philosophy that underpins NPM has patently failed to achieve. Testament to this failure are growing inequities both on individual level, but also mirrored on a global level in the growing gap of prosperity between the economically strong regions of the world and those classified as developing or under-developed.

This return to public interest does not mean hostility to issues of efficiency and - particularly - effectiveness. It is rather that these are seen as means to ensuring that the available resource base is deployed and managed in a way to serve the public and human development agenda, to promote social justice and enhance quality of life.

The second pointer is the centrality of citizens and the changes that this will mean in terms of ways of working. Greater direct accountability to citizens, more opportunity for participation and direct involvement in the delivery process, for example through social contracts and so forth. I have spoken often about this aspect and I think it is not contentious in our context. I will therefore rather concentrate on the third and final pointer to the future of public administration.

Marcel Pochard in discussion to Bourgon's suggestions for future public administration theory, points to the extensiveness of the role of the state, particularly in the future. He argues that this role will go much beyond the limited perception of delivery of services, either through direct or indirect means. In Pochard's words: "The state has missions even more demanding and compelling which consist in ensuring the control of all the forces and threats that weigh upon the world and are very varied and formidable - the power of ideologies or extremisms of all kinds the power of hidden forces such as drug networks or mafias which undermine states and constitute an ever present seed of disorder and conflict - powers connected with fantastic perspectives opened up by scientific discoveries, whether they concern genetic manipulation or the diversification of the methods of mass destruction, to confront these powers and threats we need strong states and public authorities capable of rising to the challenge and acting effectively, both at their own level and at the level of the world as a whole this role of public authorities seems to us more decisive for the future than that relating solely to everyday needs of citizens."

Pochard argues that this role will make different demands on the public administration than the service delivery role. It will demand again more of the traditional nature of administration, i.e. a capability to draw on the full range of traditional prerogatives of a public power in terms of regulation, control and sanction. It will also have to rely on strong, highly competent and impartial public servants capable of intervention, free of arbitrariness and ones able to stand up to 'titans.' Given this power, authority and administration will have to be subjected to control commensurate with such responsibility and power, keeping it entirely respectful to the rule of law.

This future scenario turns out to be depressing when the analysis of Archyriades et al. regarding 'capacity deficit' is read simultaneously with such need. Drawing on the works of Caiden the editorial team argues that one of the most significant contributors to the capacity shortfall is the sharp decline in public service professionalism, with repercussions in terms of performance, prestige and most of all, integrity. Fraud, self-serving orientations and the lack of character and commitment to speak 'truth to power' seem to have become dominant features of modern day administrators.

In addition to these 'new' demands on capacity, even with respect to the more traditional servicing role, we fall short. Thus during the past year the discussion internationally in our knowledge community has centred on finding ways to restore trust in government and public institutions. The Africa Chapter of the 7th Global Forum on Reinventing Government holds the view that government performance, meeting the needs of its citizens, is more than likely the single most important factor that influences trust in governance arrangements in a country. It also noted that public servants as a collective are thus logically at the centre of the future of African countries and their people. Trust in government would grow exponentially if public servants deliver, in a professional manner, services to the public. The opposite can only lead to socio-political instability and the denigration of human rights.

The responsibility for us as leaders in the public administration intellectual and practitioner community to shift to another gear, extremely fast, is therefore undeniable. Having pointed out the markers in the future direction of public administration, as is currently unfolding in the international discourse, I would like to highlight some of the initiatives that we as government are currently taking, either in national context or in terms of continental initiatives we drive and/or support - initiatives which, in my opinion, are responding to some of these future demands. This is not a comprehensive list of our doings. It is rather illustrative, and I would like to urge you to read my budget vote speech and the annual reports of the respective entities that fall in the Ministry if you are interested in a more comprehensive overview.

Allow me to highlight the following developments and initiatives:

* In March this year over 40 African states and African members of civil society, business and academia adopted the Ekhurhuleni Declaration on Fighting Corruption. The declaration calls upon African people to reassert traditional communal, egalitarian and democratic values and to ensure that these values are infused in all the instruments of government and form the basis of a national integrity system that counters the rampant pursuit of individual gain. The mainstay of our values is to be found in the Constitution, we must always respect that. Batho Pele espouses these values in the most tangible manner possible - caring, belonging and serving. This is such a practical expression of the traditional communal, egalitarian and democratic values that the Ekhurhuleni Declaration calls for.

* As a continent Africa is demonstrating her ability, willingness and innovation in championing good governance through the African Peer Review Mechanism. The African Peer Review Mechanism is an instrument voluntarily acceded to by Member States of the African Union as an African self-monitoring mechanism. Its primary purpose is to foster the adoption of policies, standards and practices that promote political stability, high economic growth, sustainable development and accelerated sub-regional and continental economic integration.

As you would know South Africa was recently reviewed in Ghana in July 2007. The review was hailed as a success and South Africa was praised for its good practices in various areas. As is the case always, there is room for improvement. The report also raises critical issues of importance for South Africa to consider in order progressing further along the road and we have addressed these in South Africa's comprehensive African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) Programme of Action (PoA).

The APRM is an innovative way of demonstrating leadership on good governance to the region and the world. It is a process from within Africa, owned by us as Africans and giving effect to our own values, which is traditionally more focussed on community, humanity and social justice than many other thought constructs that tends to dominate. It allows us as African societies to play a significant role in asserting ourselves in the development of new methodologies through which Africa's public administration defines good governance and development. In other words, for us in Africa this calls for a new kind of public administration scholar, academic or intellectual who is capable of understanding the multiple challenges that hinder our countries' development. A scholar whose research and intellectual arguments point towards finding solutions to such challenges while maintaining a desire for a departure from the status quo towards a new paradigm for Africa's development.

* Within the South African context our search for a more socially just and publicly spirited orientation is captured in our discussion and initiatives with respect to the developmental state. In the South African context, the state is constituted by a popular alliance of democratic forces that functions through a set of political and institutional arrangements with a primary focus on the eradication of poverty through shared sustainable employment-generating growth. State-society relations have been transformed and embedded in a 'People's Contract' that involves participation, dialogue, engagement and accountability by all the social forces in society.

* There is no doubt that at the core of principles and prerogatives for a developmental state are the ability of government to improve the quality of lives of ordinary citizens. It is thus incumbent upon the government to initiate intervention programmes in order to achieve this feat. One of the key challenges of the Public Service is to maximise efficiency and effectiveness in service delivery. It has come to the attention of government that one of the handicaps in service delivery is lack of suitable skills by functionaries of the state. For this reason, the Human Resource Development System (HRDS) vision 2015 should advocate for programmes aimed skilling, up-skilling and reskilling the Public Service corps for better performance and service delivery.

* The new Human Resource Development (HRD) Strategic Framework is a milestone in government effort to enhance performance and service delivery through capacity development. The Strategic Framework has designed, as one of its pillars for strategic intervention, a capacity development pillar that focuses on developing human capital for high performance. Areas of strategic intervention for capacity development include, amongst others:

* an integrated Adult Basic Education and Training (Abet) Framework
* e-learning for the Public Service
* establishing a national Public Service Academy, through the leadership of South African Management Development Institute (Samdi) with provincial chapters
* fostering partnerships with Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and Further Education and Training Colleges (FETCs)
* fostering learnerships, internships and traineeships.

* Key to the government's agenda is the delivery of basic services to improve the lives of the citizens and for ongoing social and economic upliftment. We have noted that current delivery initiatives are hampered by weaknesses in numerous areas including, amongst others: national frameworks and policies that do not extend to local government in the areas of service delivery and public administration and management, a continued 'silorised' approach in the delivery of services resulting in poor integration of delivery efforts across government, and, marked differences in remuneration and conditions of service in the public service and Local Government which make mobility and transfer of functions difficult. To address these challenges, the Single Public Service (hereafter referred to as 'the SPS') concept was mooted.

In its conceptualisation, the SPS is seen as a critical and strategic intervention of government to further enhance and strengthen the capability of the system of government (across the three spheres) to be able to successfully deliver on the State's developmental agenda. For enhanced service delivery and better integration of efforts, the SPS is based on the fundamental premise that the institutions across the three spheres of government that comprise the machinery of State have to be strategically aligned and harmonised to complement one another so as to more effectively fulfil the needs of South African society.

At this stage it is important to signal that a furore has arisen based on the lack of understanding of our government's decision to take this route. We took this decision against convention and debates in the continent about decentralisation which is touted as a panacea to all service delivery challenges. Our decision to have a unified public service and to grow the state in order to ensure that it is capable of meeting its development agenda came at a time when the world was still at the grasp of a New Public Management influence which advocated for shrinking government.

We took this decision because we believe that developing countries in Africa and elsewhere in the world need strong governments that lead administrative systems that bolster government efforts, and implement their policies with expertise, compassion, efficiency and effectiveness. Compassion is a critical element because it takes compassion to understand and to champion the interests of the poor and the under privileged who are largely dependent on their governments for livelihood. We identified that key to the challenges that are faced by government in service delivery is lack of integration and co-ordination to ensure effectiveness of government efforts and initiatives on the ground.

We then resolved to create a seamless service delivery system which creates a single window of access to services for citizens. It is motivated by our desire to ensure that citizens have easy access to services. Through the single public service citizens will be able access critical services closer to their localities. The SPS will also ensure a fair distribution of human resources and expertise to strengthen the capacity at those points of access particularly at local level.

The SPS therefore is part of the government's strategic vision aimed at strengthening the service delivery capacity of the State by broadly integrating the three spheres of government into a common institutional framework. It is about creating an integrated public service with harmonious systems, conditions of service and norms which will reduce fragmentation and promote more efficient coordination between the different spheres of government, thereby facilitating seamless service delivery to our people. Some of the benefits of the SPS includes the easy mobility of staff between the three spheres of Government thereby facilitating appropriate deployment of skills and allocation of functions where needed.

From the citizen's perspective, the State is constitutionally bound to ensure that services are in fact delivered to the citizens and, that these are of a high quality and delivered to their convenience. This challenges the State to find the most effective methods and channels to deliver these services within the system of government. It calls for a dynamic, modern delivery model and system that begins to cluster these services, to the convenience of the citizen, through a 'single window,' be this physical structure or in cyberspace.

Last, but by no means the least, I want to highlight our experience with GEMS, the Government Employees Medical Scheme. It is a practical example of a return to a public orientation, away from a dominant paradigm of private and individual interest. Created in 2005, GEMS is a health insurance plan that provides equitable access by public service employees to affordable healthcare benefits. GEMS and a new medical assistance policy for public servants were introduced by Government to redress past imbalances which saw lower earning public service employees, the majority of whom are black and female, excluded from enjoying access to a vital benefit. At face value it would appear that GEMS is merely a new employee benefit for public servants, but on closer inspection the implementation of GEMS lends significant support to broader social imperatives. Besides providing medical scheme coverage to over 500 000 employees and their families, the scheme is exemplary of a publicly inspired development orientation. It also:

* enhances the productivity of public service employees
* GEMS, provides healthcare benefits and disease management programmes to employees which in turn improves their health and well-being - enhancing productivity
* contributes to employment and skills development
* over 50% of its 400 call centre agents are previously disadvantaged, unemployed matriculants and graduates
* promotes broad-based Black Economic Empowerment
* the scheme's procurement processes centre on Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) and leading suppliers and partners have been selected on criteria which include their empowerment credentials
* responds to the challenges of the second economy
* more than 50% of GEMS membership did not enjoy medical scheme membership beforehand. By providing cover to these employees and their families and including them in the medical scheme or health insurance market, GEMS contributes to reducing the patient load in the public sector. More of the public sector's resources are therefore available for those who critically need and rely on them
* ensures that the public sector discharges its responsibilities as a critical player in the growth, reconstruction and development of our country
* since inception GEMS has already contributed to growing the medical scheme beneficiary base and it is anticipated that in the long term it will grow this base by up to 14% - a critical tool as our medical scheme industry has not succeeded in growing over the last few years
* in addition, GEMS has shown the private healthcare sector a feasible solution to growing the medical scheme beneficiary base whilst offering affordable benefits with reduced administrative expenditure.

In conclusion

Archyriades et al implore for a reinvention of our public administration discipline if we are to achieve the core objectives of promoting social justice and enhancing quality of life. If we are to fulfil the civilising mission of public administration the discipline must put itself on a new path and in the words of the authors 'rescue the public sector.' It must restore to the institutions of government and governance the capacity to plan, to think, to weave the future and to lead responsibly. The question is whether we as the public administration community in South Africa, represented by this SAAPAM conference and the delegates present assume this responsibility and are capable of discharging it honourable? We owe one another an answer and time will be our witness.

Thorough and ongoing engagement and exchange between academia and practitioners is fundamental if we are to rise to the challenge. Intellectual cross-pollination and knowledge sharing is critical in our quest to take the public administration discourse to a higher level. It is through sustained partnerships with the public administration and management institutions that we can gain latitude and progressively improve governance in our institutions. This is where I want to refer again to the kind of discussions we are having at IBSA, where we are saying that as developing nations we must ensure that we are at the centre of the debate. We will continue to work with the SAAPAM constituency to share knowledge and to set the tone for a progressive public administration agenda. I wish you a productive conference.

Issued by: Department of Public Service and Administration
1 November 2007