Voorsitter, Suid-Afrika verdien 'n staatsdiens wat alle Suid-Afrikaners oor die wye verskeidenheid van staatsdepartemente volgens die Batho Pele beginsels dien. Ons is egter nog baie ver van hierdie ideaal. Daar is verskeie ooreenkomste tussen die Departement vir die Staatsdiens en Administrasie en staatsdepartemente, want laasgenoemde is die gesig wat aantoon hoe gesond dienslewering in Suid-Afrika is. Indien dienslewering nie na wense is nie, word die gesig geskend. Dit is verblydend dat ons die afgelope tyd 'n groter erkenning by die regering bespeur dat ons met 'n erg verwronge gesig te make het, omdat dienslewering uiters onbevredigend is. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)
[Dr H C VAN SCHALKWYK: Chairperson, South Africa deserves a public service that serves all South Africans over the wide range of government departments in accordance with the Batho Pele principles. We are, however, still very far from this ideal. Various agreements exist between the Department of Public Service and Administration and government departments because last-mentioned is the face that is an indication of how sound service delivery is in South Africa.
If service delivery is unsatisfactory, the face will be distorted. It is heartening that we have recently observed greater acknowledgement from government that we are dealing with a seriously distorted face since service delivery is extremely unsatisfactory.]
Firstly, I want to reflect on the functions of the Public Administration Leadership and Management Academy, Palama, before I also address the challenges of the State Information Technology Agency, Sita. Palama's mandate is to ensure the necessary massification of high quality practical management for junior, middle and senior managers in all three spheres of government. It is common cause that in several areas of state delivery, there is a serious management problem rather than a shortage of money. The shortage of personnel with advanced management training is a major deficiency in the civil service, which detracts enormously from government's ability to deliver services and to get value for money. This has also led to the appointment of a large number of consultants at an enormous cost.
Leadership is crucial. It is clear that a public service can only be as good as those who lead it. We can have a major improvement in this regard if government can pay more attention to the principles of the DA's "open opportunity society for all", whereby senior managers will be appointed and promoted only on the basis of merit and their expertise to do the work of the department concerned.
Training of employees should be evident through improved service delivery, improved decision-making, as well as improvement in the channelling of public funds. The impact of Palama's work, however, has not yet been experienced at grass-roots level. One wonders why not. Should knowledge of and the implementation of the eight Batho Pele principles not perhaps be more prominent in the training processes? Principles like courtesy and service standards are only practiced by a very small percentage of Public Service workers. Everywhere, the public experiences the attitude of most public workers as utterly rude, deconstructive and anything but helpful. Surely that is not the way to put the people first, which is exactly what the Sotho word "Batho Pele" means. Social skills are as important as any other skill in the Public Service. Attitude training is crucial if you want to put the people first.
Daar l dus vir Palama, wat dit ten doel het om leierskap en bestuursvaardighede te bevorder, groot uitdagings en harde werk voor.
Op 'n positiewe noot, wil die DA vir Palama gelukwens met vyf agtereenvolgende jare se ongekwalifiseerde ouditverslae. Ons vertrou dat hierdie vlak van bekwaamheid na die staatsdiens sal deursyfer. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)
[Therefore, great challenges and hard work lie ahead for Palama who has, as its objective, to promote leadership and management skills.
On a positive note, the DA would like to congratulate Palama on receiving an unqualified report for five consecutive years. We trust that this level of competence will filter through to the Public Service.]
Sita is an information and communication technology, ICT, agency of government. The ideal should be that Sita would provide for the whole of the Public Service. We know, however, that where Sita is viewed as not being helpful or as unresponsive, the accounting officers of departments can go directly to the industry to procure products and services that Sita is unable to or incapable of offering at the required time, quality and price.
Sita, in recent times, has run a debtors book in excess of R1 billion, of which R342 million is 90 days and more overdue. The debtors' situation is untenable. It requires urgent attention and the use of creative ideas to minimize the exposure. The DA believes that red tape should be cut and that Sita needs to be released from the requirement for it to seek approval from relevant departments before it can apply for loans or embark on independent fundraising activities.
Dit is uiters onstellend dat daar staatsdepartemente is wat van Seta se dienste gebruik maak, maar dan in gebreuke bly om die rekening te vereffen. Is dit dalk weer 'n geval van departemente se begrotings wat vroeg in die boekjaar reeds uitgeput is vanwe onnodige, hemelho reis-, verblyf- en onthaalkoste? Die ironie is dat die regering van die publiek verwag om vir dienste te betaal, maar dit dan self nie doen nie. (Translation of Afrikaans paragraph follows.)
[It is extremely alarming that government departments are utilising Sita's services, and are then neglecting to settle their account. Is this perhaps once more a case of departments whose budgets have been depleted early in the financial year as a result of unnecessary, exorbitant travel, accommodation and entertainment costs? The irony is that government is expecting the public to pay for services but is neglecting themselves to pay.]
Sita must play a vital role in implementing an e-service where all government services can be accessed online by the public. Like one-stop shops, whereby clients can do all their government work or business under one roof, government online is a key way in which citizens would be allowed to access government departments from their computers, no matter how remote the area in which they reside. Coming from the Northern Cape, I know exactly what the advantages would entail for people in remote parts of the country. A properly functioning e-service would expand citizen's choices and opportunities to access basic services. In this way, they can better their lives.
Let me conclude. It is no use for the government to rely only on the ANC slogan of "working together we can do more". We must also work smarter. We must give content to working together. In the DA we want to work together in the interest of South Africa by building a Public Service that is efficient and put the people first. But the DA's vision of merit, choices and responsibility must then be adhered to.
Enkosi kakhulu. [Kwaqhwatywa.] [Thank you very much.] [Applause.]]