The professionalisation of the civil service is a key area of concern for organised business in South Africa's effort to support improved service delivery and some steps have been taken by the government to improve performance, including the signing into law of the Public Service Commission (PSC) Act.

This Act will extend the function of the PSC to cover municipalities and public entities, as well as give it some teeth to enforce improved practices across government, says business organisation Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) CEO Busisiwe Mavuso.

She stresses that, as with any legislation, the laws mean nothing if they are not implemented or enforced. The PSC will need the capacity to be able to investigate and monitor performance. To this end, the new legislation creates a secretariat to support its operations, while the commissioners are to be appointed through a process that ensures the PSC’s Constitutional independence.

However, the PSC has seen resources diverted away from it in the past, forcing it to cut back staff even while its workload grew, she says.

It is already struggling to monitor national and provincial government; the addition of 257 municipalities and several other public bodies will stretch its resources even further.

The PSC cannot become effective without meaningful increases in its budget, Mavuso says.

The PSC Act enables the commission to direct executive authorities in public entities to report back on progress in implementing decisions. Previously, its decisions could be largely ignored with no consequences, she notes.

With the new legislation, obstruction of the PSC is a criminal offence carrying up to 12 months in prison or a fine of up to R50 000, or both. It will also have the power to robustly impose changes to improve service delivery and no longer write reports that gather dust, she says.

The PSC will also need the National Prosecuting Authority to act on cases of obstruction of the PSC, if it is to be effective.

Additionally, while the legal architecture is stronger, we still need to see whether it will be able to make a difference at the coalface of municipal service delivery.

The new Act follows several others, including last year’s Public Service Amendment (PSC) Act, which removed politicians’ power to appoint civil servants below the head of department level, moving the authority to directors-general (DGs) and heads of department (HODs).

The aim is to end political meddling in civil servant appointments below the most senior appointments and empowers the HODs to appoint and hold accountable their own teams, although DG appointments will remain political decisions.

Further, the Public Administration Management Amendment (PAMA) Act focuses on the ethical conduct of public office bearers and prohibits public servants from conducting business with the State or being directors of companies that do.

This Act introduces a 12-month cooling-off period preventing those involved in assessing tender bids from providing any services to an awarded provider, and formalises the National School of Government as a national department with a mandate to train civil servants.

These three pieces of legislation amount to a significant overhaul of the rules governing the civil service, Mavuso avers.

“The PSA removes patronage and the cadre deployment approach to civil service appointments, the PAMA Act closes out conflict of interest problems, such as civil servants conducting business with the State, and the PSC Act provides for oversight and consequences for those who do not act appropriately.”

However, the hard work lies ahead to turn these powers to effect. This requires all the State monitoring and oversight machinery, as well as the criminal justice system, to be effective.

“This is why we cannot succeed until we get all of government working effectively. Having these statutes on the books shows we have made significant progress,” says Mavuso.