According to Bekker (1995: 41), in the 1990s the pursuit of transformation seems to have been driven by a so-called paradigmatic shift from public administration to public management.
Those who exposed this shift were convinced that the public sector would be radically transformed by it. As a result, public services have begun to emphasize public management as a panacea for addressing all of their delivery, efficiency, effectiveness and accountability problems. The post-apartheid era revealed that public administration was tarnished by its association with the apartheid state. The critical debate for advancing a shift was weather to move from the traditional generic administrative process approach to an open system, development oriented approach which could among other substantial benefits also facilitate citizen participation. The problem was not how to improve the efficiencies of the government and the public sector, but how to ‘smash’ it Lenin-like or, at least transform it according to the ANCs Strategy and Tactics. This is eluded by the fact that when the international winds of change in the field of public administration reached South Africa, they propelled unexpected debates.
From the 1970s, the South African government had pursued a policy of ethnic balkanization, breaking the territory into numerous tribal homelands or Bantustans. By the end of the apartheid period, the territory of South Africa had been fragmented into a jigsaw of so-called
‘independent’ states and self-governing territories. Over and above the “consociational”
arrangements of the Tri-Cameral Parliament – three houses of parliament (one for whites, another for colored’s and a yet another for Indians), a President’s Council and myriad white and black municipalities – the homelands (Lebowa, QwaQwa, Bophuthatswana, KwaZulu, KaNgwane, Transkei and Ciskei, Gazankulu, Venda and KwaNdebele), collectively consisted of 14 legislatures and 151 departments. By the 1980s, however, the chronic corruption of homeland administrations and their massive wastefulness were evident even to those for whom the bantustan policy
166
© 2014, South African Association of Public Administration and Management, P.O. Box 14257, Hatfield, Pretoria, 0028, South Africa
represented a “sincere” attempt to give expression to the “national feelings” of South Africa’s diverse groups. Apartheid-era scholars tended to analyze this situation as failures arising from the public administrationmodel – rather than as the result of apartheid per se. Some wondered, for example, if the “bureaucratic insensitivenessand apathetic attitudetowards the community of some public institutions did not contribute to a large extent to the unrest and political turmoil in South Africa” (Chipkin & Lipietz, 2011:8).
What was being suggested, in effect, was that the Bantustan policy was failing because public administration in homelands (and other organizations that dealt with black people) did not adequately take into account the (tribal, cultural) norms and values of black people. A public service structured as a bureaucracy grafted a foreign (Western) growth onto ethnic or tribal (African) communities and ignored the values and norms that gave meaning and legitimacy to rules, processes and organizations in African societies. Due to this, the South African Interim Constitution of 1996 sought to redress this fragmented and dysfunctional system of administration to one which constitutes a balanced, integrated unity in which every component is essential for the effective functioning of the whole. The transformation of the South African public service to serve a democratic South Africa was mandated by the interim constitution and the essence of the transformation process required that a single public service be established in place of the plurality of services which existed in the former dispensation (www.hst.org.za.publications accessed 01 September 2013).
According to Wessels (2008: 23), the need to transform the South African public service was identified before it became the official policy of the Republic of South African government in 1995. This term “transformation” has been defined as a “dynamic, focused and relatively short- term process, designed to fundamentally reshape the public service for its appointed role in the new dispensation in South Africa” (The 1995 White Paper on the Transformation of the Public Service). It thus seems that the definition consists of two dimensions, namely the action (fundamental reshape), and the purpose (to fulfill its appointed role). The action dimension of transformation is explicated in a report by the Public Service Commission (The State of the Public Service Report 2006), in order to “(a) create a genuinely representative public service which reflects the major characteristics of South African demography, without eroding efficiency and competence”; and “(b) facilitate the transformation of the attitudes and behavior of public servants towards a democratic ethos underlined by the overriding importance of human rights
…” The reshaping of the public service accordingly seems to comprise two elements, namely the reshaping of the characteristic of the public service in terms of its representativeness, and the reshaping of its orientations or attitudes in terms of its democratic ethos.
The second dimension, which is the purpose of the aforementioned definition of transformation, must meet a specific criterion, namely that transformation has to lead the public service to fulfill its “appointed role in the new dispensation in South Africa” (The 1995 White Paper
167
© 2014, South African Association of Public Administration and Management, P.O. Box 14257, Hatfield, Pretoria, 0028, South Africa
on the Transformation of the Public Service). Within the South African context, this “appointed role” is best formulated in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 section 197(1) which refers namely to “loyally execute the lawful policies of the government of the day”.
Amendments were made to chapter 9 of the constitution which provided for the establishment of state institutions supporting constitutional democracy within the framework of public administration, while chapter 10 provided the basic values and principles governing public administration. This means that the adoption of the 1996 Constitution marked the genesis of a new phase in the South African public administration.
According to Waldt & Helmbold (1996: 45), chapter 10 section 195 (1) of the constitution sets out the democratic values and principles which are to be enforced in order to maintain effective and efficient service delivery within the South African public service. It is evident that emphasis’ is made on the pillars of democracy which are accountability and transparency. It can also be noted that chapter 10 of the South African Constitution (1996) also emphasizes on the promotion of a high standard of professional ethics within the public service. “Ethics are as important for the public servant as blood for the body” (Waldt & Helmbold, 1996: 170). However, government and society cannot promote and enforce ethical behavior solely through the utilization of ethical codes of conduct or through the promulgation of a plethora of legislation.
South Africa needs an organization culture that not only supports ethical behavior, but sees that it also defines and underpins right and wrong conduct at an individual and institutional sphere within the public service.
Chapter 10 of the South African Constitution (1996) can be regarded as the base for new administrative theories because in line with these constitutional principles, the white paper on the transformation of the public service (Batho Pele) was published in order to create a frame work for the delivery of services which frees up the energy and commitment of public servants to introduce more customer focused ways of working. The approach was encapsulated in the initiative – Batho Pele (a Sesotho adage meaning People First). The Public service commission was also established by the constitution in order to enhance excellence in government and within the public service by promoting a professional and ethical environment and adding value to a public administration that is accountable, equitable, efficient, effective and corrupt free. This bears testimony to the fact that the PSC can be regarded as an agent of revisiting transformation and good governance in the public service.
The thrust of the Batho Pele policy framework is the improvement of service delivery in the public service and it consist of eight service delivery principles which are concomitant to the chapter 10 which provides for nine constitutional principles. These principles are expressed in broad terms in order to enable national and provincial departments to apply them in accordance with their own needs and circumstances and these include consultation, service standards, access, courtesy, information, openness and transparency, redress and value for money. The
168
© 2014, South African Association of Public Administration and Management, P.O. Box 14257, Hatfield, Pretoria, 0028, South Africa
success of the White Paper on the Transformation of the Public Service is determined by the progress made in the efforts to transform the public service as well as the transformation occurring in society in general although it is sad to note that of late, the service delivery incapability’s within the South African public service has left many speculating about the effectiveness of the Public s Service Commission, whilst others ascribe to the notion that there is need for institutional surgery that will result in the permanent removal of the PSC (Christiansen, 2002: 42).
This reveals that although the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 sets the pace for the role of the PSC as an agent of transformation and good governance in the public service, the PSC has a fundamental role to play in public administration and it is crucial that its activities have to be fine-tuned so that the Commission is in a position to ensure that the Departments abide with its recommendations as well as constitutional mandates which are provided for in the Constitution (Act No. 108 of 1996). The main challenge facing the PSC is that most of the Departments ignores its recommendations and continue to do wrong things.