Chairperson, in the West Rand, in my constituency of Mogale City, gravel roads wind through several townships such as Ga-Mogale outside the village of Magaliesburg and Manziville next to Krugersdorp. At any time of the day in most of these townships, including the neighbouring Diepkloof, jobless residents with plastic bottles and buckets are forming long queues to get some water from those green plastic tanks. Everywhere the lack of service delivery is evident. This situation repeats itself hundreds of times in all constituencies. Despite admirable intentions, the Public Service in municipal, provincial and national spheres is often not fulfilling its basic duties to citizens. [Interjections.]
"Daar is 'n Afrikaanse uitdrukking wat s: Myle l tussen doen en s." [There is an Afrikaans expression which goes: Saying is one thing and doing is another.]
Let us therefore briefly test the goals of the Department of Public Service and Administration against the actual situation, firstly, in the field of human resource management, secondly, in honest government and, thirdly, in quality service delivery. The department has a mandate to establish norms and standards for human resource management, with key deliverables identified as developing the human resource capacity of the public sector. However, many heads of departments and senior managers simply do not sign and file their key performance agreements on time, or at all. This makes it impossible for the executive - the Minister there - to hold them to account.
In addition, high levels of vacancies across the Public Service already pose a problem, but the fact that the number of vacancies is in dispute exacerbates the problem. The reason for the dispute is that while departments report 30 000 vacancies, the Persal electronic personnel management system for the Public Service reflects 55 000 vacancies. This variance, due to poor record-keeping and outdated data on Persal, is part of the management problem.
Moreover, it takes about 15 months to fill these vacancies, and even longer at senior level; a process about which the Public Service Commission has expressed its concern.
"Inderdaad, myle l tussen doen en s." [Indeed, saying is one thing and doing is another.]
The department also has another mandate, namely for honest government. For example, programme 6, known as Governance, identifies, among others, the implementation of a conflict of interest framework and anticorruption training. The Minister has talked about this. The department has also developed minimum anticorruption guidelines and has incorporated these into Public Service regulations to enforce compliance.
While the DA welcomes the anticorruption regulations, measures and training, it is unclear why this programme, called Governance, receives only 12% of the department's budget, with a fraction of that for actually combating corruption. In contrast with the Department of Public Service and Administration itself, many other departments receive qualified audit reports year after year, indicating entrenched financial mismanagement. The fact that between 2006 and 2007 cases of corruption reported to the Public Service Commission's anticorruption hotline increased by 46% shows the extent of corruption in the Public Service.
Furthermore, senior management will often not return their declarations of personal interest. The implications of this problem became glaringly evident in the Auditor-General's report on corrupt tendering procedures, amounting to R610 million and involving over 2 000 civil servants.
"Weer eens; myle l tussen doen en s." [Once again; saying is one thing and doing is another.]
Thirdly, the department states that one of its aims is ensuring Public Service excellence. It further says that service delivery improvement remains central to the department's core business, with an emphasis on improving the quality of service delivery in rural, poor and marginalised communities and alleviating poverty in general. Programme 5 deals with service delivery improvement and lists as a medium-term priority the following: Assisting departments to develop service-delivery models using a service-delivery model toolkit. The question is, why does this crucial department receive only 9% of the departmental budget? Does this programme not deserve to have a higher priority?
Dit lyk asof die departement se ambisieuse ideale nie op voetsoolvlak geimplementeer word nie. Gewone inwoners van dorpe regoor die land ervaar dat dienslewering daagliks om hul heen in duie stort. Sannieshof is 'n goeie voorbeeld hiervan. Toe die septiese tenkstelsel onklaar raak, vloei onverwerkte riool soos riviere deur die strate. In die township Agisanang loop die kinders kaalvoet deur di riool. Die waarheid is dat die inwoners reeds sedert 2004 oor gebrekkige dienslewering kla. Hulle gaan sien die destydse premier van Noordwes, Edna Molewa en stuur briewe aan die destydse Minister van Provinsiale en Plaaslike Regering, mnr Sydney Mufamadi, asook aan die nuwe Minister, Sicelo Shiceka, maar niks gebeur nie. Moet inwoners regtig eers hof toe gaan om diens te kry? Weer eens; myle l tussen doen en s. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraph follows.)
[It seems as if the department's ambitious ideals are not being implemented at grass-roots level. Ordinary residents of villages across the country experience daily how service delivery is collapsing around them. Sannieshof is a good example of this. When the septic tank system broke down, raw sewage flowed like rivers through the streets. Children in the Agisanang township were treading barefoot through that sewage. In fact, the residents had been complaining about poor service delivery since 2004. They went to see the then premier of North West, Edna Molewa, and sent letters to the then Minister for Provincial Affairs and Local Government, Mr Sydney Mufamadi, as well as to the new Minister, Sicelo Shiceka, but nothing happened. Do residents really have to go to court in order to obtain service? Once again; saying is one thing and doing is another.]
I was happy to hear the Minister announce that he has reached an agreement regarding the implementation of the occupation-specific dispensation, or OSD. Over a long period the DA has emphasised the need for adequate remuneration for specialists. We will watch further developments on this front. My colleague Mike Waters will say more about it this afternoon.
Minister Richard Baloyi and Deputy Minister Roy Padayachie, who unfortunately are not here today, have impressed me by starting very professionally. Not once during my previous term, while serving in other portfolio committees, has an ANC Minister attended a portfolio committee meeting or a hearing of Scopa. In sharp contrast to this experience the Deputy Minister attended the first meeting of the portfolio committee. At its second meeting both the Minister and his deputy were part of the briefings.