Chairperson, hon Minister, Deputy Minister and hon members, the UDM supports Budget Vote No 12. We have noted the concerns of the public about the low levels of competence in our Public Service. I am encouraged by the Minister's attempts to address this problem and thus professionalise the Public Service.
For some time now, senior public servants have been appointed to positions without regard for their competence and suitability for the job. These people then often use government departments as employment agencies for their families and friends and even ethnic groups. For example, it is not uncommon to find that when Ministers are Xhosas, they turn their departments into Xhosaland, and when they are Indian Ministers, they turn their departments into an Indian Ocean and so on and so forth. [Laughter.]
It is also common in the current government to appoint people who have not made it onto the National Assembly list as advisers to state departments even though they might be clueless about their work. To address this problem, the Office of the President, together with the Public Service Commission, should ensure that Ministers do not have the final say on who will become their directors-general. This is important if we are to win the fight against nepotism and corruption.
In addition, the appointment of inappropriately qualified people discourages many who regard working in the Public Service as their career. I have come across many senior officials who lack the requisite knowledge, training and experience to run departments. Often these officials have not even undergone basic training in induction courses, supervision and management, accounting as well as human resource management.
To address this problem, the Minister has to, amongst other things, invest in the development of suitably qualified work-study officers for all departments. Such a step would boost employees' morale, as work-study officers would have pertinent insight into employee performance and departmental structure issues and would also play an important role during salary negotiations.
Finally, the Minister would have failed in her duties if she did not restore the powers of directors-general as accounting officers. We have seen how political directives create mayhem in the entire system in areas like the allocation of tenders, from councillors up to ministerial level. Thank you very much. [Applause.]