Distinguished guests, members of the press, ladies and gentlemen.

I will use my brief opening remarks to highlight a few of the accomplishments and challenges of the past year. Our priority in the past year has been the special challenges faced by provincial administrations. The focus has been on building capacity and improving performance. In my opening remarks I will briefly mention six challenges and accomplishments in the area of public management:

• The signing of performance agreements with managers,
• The targeted downsizing of government by focusing on service delivery,
• The simplified and speedy new procedures for dealing with misconduct,
• The establishment of the State Information Technology Agency (SITA),
• The revitalization of government’s public service training institute, and
• The establishment of the new Public Service Commission

These accomplishments have to be seen in the context of the larger scheme of things. The old civil service was in its time an incubator and instrument of apartheid. Our transformation programme over the past four-and-a-half years has in turn been has been enthusiastic, radical and frantic. And it has not been perfect in its execution. Over the past four-and-a-half years we have:

• Consolidated 15 different administrations, including the problematic Bantustan administrations, into a single national public service.
• Effected the global transfer of functions and organisational components between new national departments and the nine new provincial administrations.
• Introduced new enabling policy frameworks in the areas of affirmative action, training, and human resource management.
• Established a modern labour relations system based upon collective bargaining and a common commitment to transformation.
• Reduced the wage gap and removed all racial and gender discrimination in salaries and other benefits.
• Implemented a national service delivery improvement programme known as Batho Pele. And,
• Revamped the public service regulations and introduced a performance management system.

The topical focus of today’s briefing session are the six challenges I outlined earlier.

The new performance agreements in the public service introduce the notion of performance related-pay for senior managers. They de-link the salaries of senior managers from the collective bargaining process and require the alignment of individual work plans with departmental strategic objectives.

As part of last years salary improvement package, the government reached an agreement with the public-service unions about the need to gather accurate information about service objectives and the skills needed to meet these objectives. On this basis, we can establish a better match between staffing levels and new policies.

The process has already begun in the Northern Province and the Eastern Cape, and we expect an initial overview of the situation by the end of March this year.

Experience indicates that alternatives to retrenchment can be effective. The public service has shrunk by 10 per cent since 1994. This decline in size is primarily due to the restructuring of departments. As departments have restructured they have eliminated vacant positions and re-deployed redundant personnel.

Involuntary retrenchment is an expense option. The government cannot afford to pay out involuntary retrenchment packages in the public service that are equivalent to those in the private sector. The costs would run into billions of rands. Even in exclusively financial terms, a modest investment in exploring alternatives to involuntary retrenchment is worthwhile.

As mentioned by the President in his address last week, a majority of the unions in the bargaining council have agreed to support the implementation of new procedures for handling misconduct in the public service. These procedures are outlined in a new Disciplinary Code for the public service.

The old code was cumbersome, time consuming and resulted in cases that took years to finalize. It effectively discouraged managers from enforcing discipline. It demoralized public servants and undermined a public service ethos.

The new code has the additional advantage of distinguishing between misconduct and an incapacity to perform. In the new proposed Code on Incapacity it will be easier to deal with cases of poor performance. The options available will include involuntary transfer, demotion or dismissal.

On the 29^th of January this year the State Information Technology Agency (SITA) was incorporated as a private company with the state as sole shareholder. SITA has been formed to provide IT related services exclusively to the Public Service.

SITA will initially consist of the Central Computer Services; Infoplan which is the IT facility of the Department of Defence; and the IT facility of the South African Police. SITA will be expanded at a later stage to include the IT facilities of other State departments.

In April last year, the South African Management Development Institute (SAMDI) was integrated into the Department of Public Service and Administration. This was done to better align the training provided by SAMDI with the challenges of implementing the new public service regulations and other new public service policies. From March this year we will begin pilot testing the new training programmes that have been developed.

My final remarks will be about the establishment of the Public Service Commission.

The new Public Service Commission has been nominated by parliament and appointed by the President. The New Commission cannot, however, come into operation because of the constitutional challenge by the Western Cape to sections of the Public Service Laws Amendment Act of 1998. The new Commissioners have in the meantime began setting up the administrative infrastructure for the Commission. The new Commission will begin operating after the Constitutional Court has ruled on the matter.

To conclude, I would like to state that the government is on track to implement the programme outlined in the White Paper on the Transformation of the Public Service. It is taking longer than anticipated, but we are on track. In this regard, the recommendations of the Presidential Review Commission are essentially about ways of further improving the coordination and efficiency of government. They are consistent with the White Paper.

I thank you.