AFRICAN COUNTRIES ADOPT A PUBLIC SERVICE CHARTER AT A MEETING IN MORROCCO

Issued by GCIS

20 January 2000

The Minister for Public Service and Administation, Ms Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi will represent South Africa at the Pan Africa Conference Working Group meeting to finalise and adopt the African Public Service Charter that will be held in Tangiers (Kingdom of Morocco on 21 January 2000. This meeting will be followed by a Pan African Public Minister's Conference, which will take place in the last quarter of this year.

Minister Fraser-Moleketi will brief the meeting on progress regarding the implementation of the 1998 Rabat Declaration focussing on the critical role of good governance, transparency and the struggle against poverty in South Africa. Her brief will also focus on the empowerment of women, management development and promotion of ethics in government.

Her input on the Charter will include focus on:

• Rules governing the relations between the public service and the users
• Relations between the Public Service and Public employees
• Fundamental principles of the Public Service and
• Code of Conduct of Public Service employees.

The Minister will support the adoption of the Charter and assist in the development of mechanisms to evaluate its success. Minister Fraser-Moleketi is also expected to declare South Africa's willingness in sharing its experiences in policy development and the implementation with other Member States on partnership basis. Other countries represented at the meeting are Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon Ethiopia, Gabon, Morocco, Namibia, Tunisia and Uganda.

Contact: Tembela KuIu, Media Liaison Officer at 082 497 3220