The Department of Public Service and Administration strategic planning session is currently underway at Magaliesburg from 15-16 November 2022.<\/p>\n
The session was yesterday morning addressed by Acting Minister Thulas Nxesi and the Director General, Ms Yoliswa Makhasi, and was attended by the implementers of DPSA policies from the service delivery departments such as the Provinces, the Department of Home Affairs, and the Limpopo Department of Health.<\/p>\n
The Acting Minister for Public Service and Administration, Mr Thulas Nxezi, said the strategic planning session priorities should be on issues that help achieve the objective of building a capable and ethical developmental state, suitably staffed by a professionalized public service \u2013 with the systems and institutions in place to keep it that way.<\/p>\n
HE said with the long and difficult round of public service wage negotiations this year, the objective of a single wage-setting mechanism to apply across the public sector becomes a priority.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe benefits include eliminating the disparities that lead to a high salary bill through the integration of government\u2019s mandating structure, proper job evaluation and job grading and the potential multi-factor index to inform collective bargaining on the cost-of-living adjustments.<\/p>\n
On the overall planning of the Ministry for Public Service and Administration, the Minister said the Department is greatly assisted by the entities and partnerships entered with the entities.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am aware that the entities have their own planning processes \u2013 but they are clearly integral to achieving the vision and objectives of the Department.<\/p>\n
\u201cGiven that we are within a Fourth Industrial Revolution, it does seem to me that the work of the Centre for Public Service Innovation should be supported and strengthened.<\/p>\n
\u201cWorking with the National School of Government, the Department has made a powerful impact in Cabinet with its research and plans for the professionalization of the public sector.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou have set the bar high \u2013 and now you are expected to deliver against some tight timelines.<\/p>\n
\u201cLinked to professionalization is the implementation of the public service charter which seeks to address the key challenges of effective implementation of the Batho Pele principles and living constitutional values,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The Minister said DPSA should also finalise the Human Resource Development and Management Strategy for the public service as part of professionalization to address the capacity and capability challenges that are experienced in the sector.<\/p>\n
He said the professionalization agenda must be a firm priority for the Department and the NSG – both from a reputational point of view and to achieve the objectives set by the government \u2013 in terms of a capable and ethical state.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would be excellent if the professionalization agenda is bedded down before the next elections because politicians may come and go, so it is vital that we have in place a stable public service which is held to account and holds itself to account.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know that people do not always act in an ethical manner, and this is where the Public Service Commission comes in \u2013 both to encourage ethical behaviour and to put in place systems and to investigate when public servants act wrongly.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe PSC has made known that it feels hamstrung by the lack of a fully independent status and the fact that it is dependent on others. My priority for next year will be to do all I can to assist in obtaining the necessary legislative measures to correct the situation.<\/p>\n
The Minister condemned the leaking of information in the department and the spreading of false information as unethical conduct aimed at discrediting the good work of the department.<\/p>\n\r\n