Good morning everyone; welcome and thank you for accepting our invitation.

The passing of the Public Administration Management Bill, popularly known as the PAM BILL, is a major step forward in the building of an effective, efficient and ethical Public Service. Our country and its citizens deserve nothing less.

In order for this to happen, the Public Service must become:

1. Professional
2. Performance-driven
3. Corruption free

I want to emphasise that the building of an effective, efficient and ethical Public Administration is not simply a matter of policy or strategic choice: the Constitution of South Africa instructs us all to do so.

Chapter 10 (Section 195) of the South African Constitution implores that:

Public Administration must be governed by the democratic values and principles enshrined in the Constitution, including the following principles:

• A high standard of professional ethics must be promoted and maintained
• Efficient, economic and effective use of resources must be promoted
• Public Administration must be development-oriented

The Constitution also instructs that the above principles must apply to Public Administration in every sphere of Government, all the organs of State, and I want to emphasise, in all Public Enterprises as well.

Furthermore, an effective, efficient and ethical Public Service is a central element in the building of a democratic developmental state as mandated by the National Development Plan (NDP). The NDP reflects the large consensus in our country towards achieving our national priority of fast, sustained and inclusive growth. And the very purpose of the democratic developmental state is to build the competitiveness of the national economy in order to ensure that we achieve such fast, sustained and inclusive growth.

The rationale for passing the PAM Bill is therefore, clearly compelling and authoritative; and worthy of the wide support and legitimacy that this Bill has enjoyed in the National Assembly, National Council of Provinces and society at large.

I would like to thank the citizens of South Africa for their support, encouragement and participation in the consultations and preparations in the run-up to the passing of this Bill.

Together we will build a clean, professional and effective Public Service and State.

It is for all the above reasons that we know that the society is fully behind us as we pursue this important mission.

On 13 June 2012 when we arrived at the DPSA, we set ourselves as an immediate goal: the task of addressing systemic challenges facing the Public Service and Administration of the State. On arrival we were faced with a possible national strike by public sector Unions. Actually they had declared a dispute the day before.  After many meetings we all came to an agreement that the State cannot just continue to give without receiving. At the end we agreed that the people of South Africa expect more from public servants.

Our interaction and combined sacrifices produced a ground breaking three year agreement.  As part of the agreement we set out to develop a Public Service Charter with the view to measure our service to the public. The agreement brought business certainty and stability. Many business analysts commended the agreement for stabilizing the economy and providing a foundation for economic growth.

Arising from the agreement we set out to address the condition of service of public servants. The President has appointed a Remuneration Review Commission which has started to engage stakeholders on how best we can reward hard working public servants. Also from the agreement we embarked on a path to develop the model for the Government Employee Housing Scheme to assist public servants to own their own properties. Coming from Human Settlements myself, I can tell you that a house not only provides shelter and comfort but is also a stepping-stone from poverty for the owner and the family.

With the passing of the PAM Bill and other reforms we completed during the past 18 months, today we are able to say that ours is very clearly a significant and decisive contribution to building an effective, efficient and ethical Public Service and State.

The PAM Bill changes the face of our State at National, Provincial and Local levels. It does so through the following five key policy measures to address five key systemic challenges facing the Public Service; 1) capability and skills shortages; 2) the use of information technology to improve service delivery; 3) ethical behavior and conduct of Public Servants; 4) corruption; and 5) professional standards and compliance.

These policy measures are the following:

1. The secondment of employees in Public Administration across all three spheres of government: It is common cause that our municipalities are struggling with capacity. Some of this capacity is located in other spheres of government. We seek to follow the injunction of the Constitution, which exhorts us that all should have equal access to equal services. It is common cause too, that services are skewed towards metropolitan areas, which are more privileged and where more skills reside. For us to right the wrongs of the past, we need to empower those areas closest to our people, so that the services provided in Bashe are no different to the services rendered to someone in Constantia or Sandton. We have consulted extensively with labour to ensure that the rights, privileges and benefits of the transferred employees are not compromised. The employee will be consulted and would have to consent to the transfer. In this way, skills shortages will be addressed and service delivery improved.

2. The regulation of use of information and communication technologies in Public Administration to enhance service delivery: We are regulating the use of information technology in the Public Service so that we can take government to the 21st century and deliver services to the most remote areas with the same efficiency as you would find in Constantia or Sandton. In this way we are availing the support and services of SITA to all three spheres of government.

3. The establishment of the Ethics, Integrity and Discipline Technical Assistance Unit to strengthen a culture of discipline, integrity and ethical conduct in Public Administration by all officials: We are establishing an Ethics, Integrity and Discipline Technical Assistance Unit to deal with a whole variety of disciplinary and ethical conduct cases, because we have found that departments and spheres of government do not have the expertise to deal with most of these cases and we are unable to apply corrective measures immediately while officials are on paid suspensions for years at taxpayers expense.

4. The prohibition of employees from conducting business with the state in order to prevent and eliminate corruption: The Public Administration Management Bill (PAM Bill) therefore comes at the time when government takes further its interventions in order to enhance governance. In this regard, there are specific policy changes that are being given effect to. Firstly, officials involved in public administration are going to be prohibited from conducting business with the State.  Secondly, officials in public administration are going to be required to declare the financial and business interests of their immediate family members.

Furthermore: It is common cause and it has come as a serious concern, both from the public and Members of Parliament that we need to do something about the permissive environment that allows corruption in government.  Over the years the Auditor General, the Public Service Commission and the Public Protector have reported on their respective investigations in which allegations have been made regarding corruption and unethical conduct, amongst others. Corruption, unethical conduct and lack of integrity produce outcomes that not only harm human society but undermine the very same progressive realisation of rights we seek to achieve.

As a consequence of this permissive environment, many officials in government have conspired with each other and/or with some in the private sector to secure business with government through corruption, fraud and misuse of legitimate government processes. Such activities are nothing less than a coordinated and systematic criminal attack on the processes and systems of delivery of government. This can be seen clearly in how supply chain management processes are designed and executed with an illegitimate outcome already determined for personal gain. At the second level, there are officials who legitimately participate in procurement processes for their own private ventures. It is the proximity to those processes and the intimate knowledge of the systems applicable that tilts the scales in their favour. This is corrupt practice and the public confidence and trust in government has eventually and steadily been eroded. 

In the case where we require the declaration of business activities of the immediate family of officials, this is done to enable government to assess potential conflict of interest, thus allowing appropriate interventions to be implemented to eliminate. In the 'clean up', government is starting with itself and its own processes. By prohibiting officials from conducting business with the State, government is eliminating incentives and opportunities for corruption and unethical conduct.

5. Measures to inculcate a culture of compliance with the regulations by institutions within the public administration by providing for the establishment of the Office of Standards and Compliance: By establishing an Office of Standards and Compliance we want to ensure that all the laws and regulations passed by this House and the National Assembly are complied with fully. Laws and Regulations are passed for a particular purpose and our responsibility within the administration is to ensure that they are complied with. In most cases, departments are so engrossed in their daily work, that we only discover when the Auditor-General reports on this huge problem of non-compliance with regulations, that perhaps we need to create an overall compliance unit to monitor that which regulations and laws are passed for, are adhered to.

The professionalization and capacitating of Public Servants is already taking place through the National School of Government that we have established and its modules and curricula are now compulsory for all public servants.

We are confident that these significant achievements over the past 18 months and measures contained in the PAM Bill are and will make a substantive contribution towards the building of an effective, efficient and ethical Public Administration and Service for all our citizens; an Administration that is professional, performance driven and corruption-free.

Thank you.