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 LETTER FROM BATHO PELE HOUSE
Revisiting the Batho Pele Ethos in the Public Service
  In July this year, I delivered my maid- en Budget Vote Speech in my capacity as newly-appointed Minister of Public Service and Administration (MPSA). Part of my induction included holding consultations with a range of stake- holders in the portfolio. This exercise, along with the processes leading up to the Budget Vote, had been a source of valuable insights into the workings of the Public Service.
The net result has been greater appre- ciation of the achievements of the Pub- lic Service over the past 25 years of our freedom. In this learning process, one develops a deeper sense of the value that millions of South Africans continue to attach to the work of government. Of utmost importance, however, is how this exercise helps us in sharpening our vision for the Public Service in the short, medium to long-term as per the National Development Plan (NDP).
Whatever the course of action, we also need to take the state of the economy and its impact on the Public Service into account. In the long run, diminish- ing revenue deflates the value of the “social wage”. In his 2019 State of the Nation Address (SoNA), Presiden Cyril Ramaphosa charted the course for the Sixth Administration by listing seven priorities. The priority of “consolidating the social wage through reliable and quality basic services” indirectly falls under the ambit of the MPSA portfolio and has been appropriately flagged in the departmental Budget Vote Speech, along with three others from the Pres- ident’s list.
Back to Batho Pele
These priorities link up to the MPSA’s five key priorities over the next five years. A core priority among these is the need to re-infuse the Batho Pele ethos back into the Public Service.
Already raised as a serious concern by President Ramaphosa who eschewed instances in which some of the organs of the State have descended into the worst forms of existence, the MPSA is committing itself to a dramatic reversal of blatant disregard of the Batho Pele principle in certain quarters of the Pub- lic Service. In the end, the intention is to ensure that public servants are not only aware of the eight principles, but they live these through practice.
PAMA implemented
Delivering the SoNA Address, Presi- dent Cyril Ramaphosa stipulated clear- ly what the Sixth Administration sets out to achieve in terms of the Public Service, when he stated:
“We want a corps of skilled and pro- fessional public servants of the highest moral standards – and dedicated to the public good.”
What the President describes forms our vision for the Public Service that we are to turning into reality individually and collectively as public servants.
The second priority is to fully implement the Public Administration Management Act (PAMA), as our intention is to apply all basic principles and values govern- ing the Public Service across all three spheres of government and in state- owned enterprises.
Stabilising the Public Service
We also intend stabilising the Public Service. We will develop a remunera- tion policy that will include the shape of the general Public Service. One of
the possibilities for the cost of the Pub- lic Service being so high could be that we have more senior people than we require. Those are some of the issues that will require attention as we embark on the journey to rejuvinate our Public Service to ensure it responds to the expectations of the public from whom we derive our mandate. This we will do working with our very important part- ners, among whom are the Public Ser- vice Commission (PSC), public sector unions and the public.
Fighting corruption
The fourth priority is fighting corruption, which has become a serious cancer in our administration. Corruption stands in the way of service delivery, depriving the public their basic rights. In some instances, corruption results in loss of lives, as services end up not reaching their intended recipients. This is one of the immediate tasks that we have to execute with diligence as the public, on a daily basis, remind us of this big monster that needs to be tackled as a matter of urgency.
Policy implementation
The fifth and the last priority is imple- mentation of policy. It has been said on many occasions that government poli- cies are good, but we fall short on en- suring that they are fully implemented.
It is therefore important that we all walk this journey together to ensure that we become a Public Service that shares a common vision and to make being a public servant a calling and govern- ment an employer of choice, by attract- ing skills even from the private sector.
Senzo Mchunu
MP Minister for Public Service and Administration
 Volume 12 No.3 of 2019 | SERVICE DELIVERY REVIEW 3











































































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