Government will officially unveil this year’s Africa Public Service Week on Monday, June 20 virtually as the precursor of the local events to be held countrywide by government departments.
South Africa will mark the annual programme through a week-long series of activities starting on Monday until Friday, 24 June 2022.
The country will then join the rest of the African continent to commemorate the annual Africa Public Service Day (APSD) to be held in Tzaneen, Limpopo on Thursday, June 23, 2022.
This year’s continental celebrations will be held under the theme: “Rebuilding the State and restoring trust and pride by tackling human capital development challenges for social and economic development”.
The theme is aimed at dedicating the year to strengthen the fight against malnutrition in all its forms, drawing on the potential of its populations while the local events will zoom into the other sub- themes in a South African context.
The sub- themes include:
- the fight against malnutrition- strengthening social protection/ food security systems, and creating healthy lifestyles;
- Building public value and trust for active citizenship and social partnering;
- Building resilience in the public service administration.
Malnutrition in Africa is considered high in comparison with the rest of the world, at the same time, overweight, obesity and non-communicable diseases related to the quality of diets are increasing rapidly, worsening morbidity and mortality rates.
Malnutrition through its negative effects on the development of human capital and its productivity, contributes to the delay in African countries’ economic and social development, with unacceptable human consequences on African individuals, communities and nations.
Human capital is key for development as it leads to improved lives for individuals, higher earnings and improved incomes for countries.
In addition to existing malnutrition challenges, the global health crisis of Covid-19 has greatly exposed the economic vulnerability of African countries.
APSD Background
APSD) is an entrenched strategic event on the African Union (AU) calendar, emanating from the declaration of the first Pan-African Conference of Ministers of Public/ Civil Service held in 1994, Tangier in Morocco.
Ministers agreed to set aside 23rd June of every year as APSD Day to, in the main, “recognize the value and virtue of service to the community”.
The Ministers’ declaration on the APSD was reaffirmed in the Stellenbosch Declaration adopted at the fourth Pan-African Ministers’ Conference held in Stellenbosch, South Africa (SA) in 2004.
The APSD, which is derived from the collaborative work of the Pan-African Ministers programme, is not only aimed at enhancing governance and public administration, but it is a platform for the public service space to display and reward initiatives and achievements.
The APSD is one of the strategic platforms that enable public servants in Africa to reflect on the function of the public service.
It also provides an invaluable opportunity for public servants to promote values such as professionalism, accountability, responsiveness, ethics and performance in the delivery of public service.
The APSD, is commemorated to reflect on the function of the public service; its mission and objectives, programmes and projects, successes and challenges.
