THE PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION LAUNCHES AN EVALUATION OF DEPARTMENTS AGAINST THE BATHO PELE POLICY

Issued by the Public Service Commission

28 OCTOBER 1999

The Public Service Commission (PSC) believes that sufficient time has been given to departments to adhere to the requirements of Batho Pele, and will now embark on a project to evaluate how well departments have fared in improving their services to people. This PSC project is in line with government's commitment to building a public service that is capable of effectively and efficiently delivering services to the citizens of South Africa. Batho Pele, or "people first", is government's policy on transforming public service delivery and places emphasis on the public as customers. This government policy stipulates certain principles which departments are required to observe, among them, that:

• All citizens should have equal access to services to which they are entitled;
  
• Citizens should be treated with courtesy and consideration; and
  
• Citizens should be given full, accurate information about the public services they are entitled to receive.

The aims of the project are to:

• evaluate the extent to which all departments have implemented the requirements of the Batho Pele policy;
  
• benchmark departments against key requirements of the Batho Pele White Paper; evaluate service delivery at grass roots level, that is, at the service delivery point;
  
• solicit views on constraints/problems experienced by departments in implementing the White Paper;
  
• obtain baseline information on service delivery issues; and make recommendations on service delivery improvement.

The project, which is scheduled to be completed by the end of March 2000, will culminate into a report to be tabled in Parliament and provincial legislatures, stating the extent to which departments at national and provincial levels have succeeded in imple menting the requirements of the Batho Pele policy. It will also inform government of successes and constraints that departments experience in the implementation of the Batho Pele White Paper. The information generated by this project would be used by heads of department for follow up purposes where necessary, as well as to inform Cabinet as well as Parliament and provincial legislatures on the current status of compliance with the Batho Pele policy within public administration.

At the outset the project will be launched in the following departments:

• All education departments
  
• All health departments
  
• Department of Justice
  
• South African Police Service
  
• Department of Correctional Services
  
• Department of Home Affairs
  
• All departments identified as pilot departments in the White Paper.

One of the motivating reasons behind the selection of the departments is that the majority of them represent some of the most prominent services delivered by government to the public. All other national and provincial departments will be assessed in the ne xt phase of the project.

Contact Person: JERRY VILAKAZI: (012) 352 1042 or 082 490 5041