Public Service and Administration Deputy Minister, Dr Chana Pilane-Majake will this morning, Friday, host an Integrated Public Service Month Indaba aimed unveiling the revised Batho Pele Revitalisation Strategy that seek to reignite the culture of servitude within the public service space.
The Indaba which also seeks to inspire public servants to uphold the principles of Batho Pele will be held at Menlyn, east of Pretoria with the theme “Batho Pele Revitalisation – Walking The Talk”
This year’s IPSM focuses on bringing the strategy to life, to reignite and re-enforce the Batho Pele principles and the Public Service Charter to public servants to be service-oriented, strive for excellence in service delivery, and commit to continuous service delivery improvement.
The revised framework is adopted in an endeavor to bring a re-engineered Batho Pele Programme back to the public domain to secure maximum benefits for the citizens in line with its original goal.
Commonly known as the Batho Pele policy, the White Paper on Transforming Public Service Delivery (WPTPSD) of 1997, requires public institutions to ensure that citizens’ needs become the main focus of public service delivery and that all citizens have equal access to public services of the same high quality.
The revised strategy is centred on developing, implementing and reporting on the Batho Pele standards in the public service; build social compact with society in order to rebuild public trust; enhance the Batho Pele learning and institutional development; and improve redress to citizens.
These include self-introspection, open and transparent response to critical issues like professionalism, ethical conduct, commitment and patriotism and corporate ethos and values of Batho Pele by Putting People First.
The Deputy Minister further said the theme resonates with the pronouncement made by President Cyril Ramaphosa during his State of Nation Address about putting in place a comprehensive social compact desired towards joint effort with all South Africans in building the country.
“IPSM was born out of Public Service Week initiated in 2005 as one of the programmes of the Batho Pele Revitalisation Strategy to promote a culture of continued and incremental improvement in all areas of public service delivery.
“Public Service Month is commemorated annually to remind the public about the important role of public servants in order to mobilise political will and resources to address national, provincial and local government challenges.
“The IPSM is a country programme meant to promote good governance with the continental programme being the AU’s Africa Public Service Day (APSD),” she said.
IPSM focuses on the public service machinery, how it discharges its constitutional responsibility to deliver services to the citizenry, as well as give recognition to diligent public servants upholding the values and principles of public service and administration.
