Madam Deputy Speaker, the Public Administration Management Bill is of course undoubtedly a framework legislation intended to contribute to the constitutional injunction. It is a part of an array of efforts by the ANC-led government to ensure a progressive realisation of our people's rights and obligations entrusted to us by our supreme law the Constitution.
To this end, the Public Administration Bill is an outcome of our collective hindsight. A hindsight informed by our experience. It represents a deeper insight that comes from growing sophistication and better understanding and conceptualisation of the state as it were, and foresight informed by growing appreciation of emerging patterns of challenges. Put simply, the Bill is a corrective proactive regulatory instrument which serves as a response to many structural and human weaknesses that continue to hamper the Public Service sector. For instance, the Auditor-General consistently sites lack of capacity as the root cause of the poor audit outcomes. The lack of critical skills has resulted, in most instances, in government's outcome and functioning, and its gradual dependence on outside consultants to fill its statutory obligations. The situation indeed is critical in municipalities.
There is an observed regression in proper financial performances and reporting. There was indeed a mandate from section 195 of the Constitution which defines how the public administration must be managed. It provides for the transfer and secondment of employees in public administration to ensure equitable capacity distribution across all spheres of government; regulation of the use of information and communication technologies in the public administration to enhance service delivery; the prohibition of employees from conducting business with the state in order to prevent and eliminate corruption; the establishment of the Ethics, Integrity and Disciplinary Technical Assistance Unit to strengthen a culture of discipline, integrity and ethical conduct in public administration by all officials; measures to inculcate a culture of compliance with the status regulations and prescripts by institutions within the public administration by providing for the establishment of an office of standards and compliance; and education and training, continuously, for the professional development of the Public Service through the establishment of the national school of government. If indeed you are committed to delivering all our people from the shackles of poverty into the light of democracy and development, the noble thing to do would be to support this Bill. The MF supports this Bill.