PART 1: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 THE PUBLIC SERVICE AND DELIVERY IN SOUTH AFRICA- AN OVERVIEW INTRODUCTION
2.1.2 The Public Service Commission (PSC)’s role was defined by Section 196 of the 1996 Constitution as follows
To encourage ethics and values (set out in the Constitution and section 195) right through the public service and administration;
To examine, monitor and assess the administration and personnel practices of the public service; and
To advise on measures of effective and efficient public service performance.
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The PSC‟s role was to strengthen the review process and to stamp its authority on issues such as the promotion of equal employment opportunities, ethical behaviour and management approaches. Key departments were created to enforce and influence the evolution of the public service, such as the Department of Treasury to deal with the financial controls, and a Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, which plays an important role through its influence on provincial and local government, given that South Africa has a unitary foundation and hence both the national and provincial public service form part of a single public service some 980 000 strong. Transformation initiatives in South Africa‟s public service are normally directed at departments and provinces.
New public service legislation and policies were enacted.There were also central agency reforms, with legislation passed in 1996, and regulations adopted in 1999 providing for thedevolution of most personnel powers to the Minister.
At that time, English was adopted as the national language of administration. The long- established South African public service had used Afrikaans as the main language, which represented a difficulty for communities that spoke other languages. The capacity of the public service reforms was further extended by the broad adoption of English and the related need to convert all of the administrative documents into English and to createnewPublic Service Regulations in English.
These changes undertaken by the new dispensation were critically significant, basic and comprehensive; however, most importantly, the new administration had to deal with internal matters and problems in order to swiftly and efficiently effect changes to the public service structure, procedures and policies in order to serve previously disadvantaged communities, for example, rural people who lacked basic public services such as clean water, healthcare, housing or roads.
Some of the new departments proved capable of speeding up the direction and pace of their service delivery activities, while others experienced extreme strain. It became clear that service delivery needed to be a vital focal point of government. Later, better service delivery became the key goal, and service delivery outcomes became the yardstick by which the public service was judged, especially in a country where service delivery benefits had long been unfairly distributed.
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The following service delivery enhancement initiatives were adopted:
Batho Pele;
Public/private partnerships; and
Alternative service delivery.
2.1.3 The White Paper on Transforming Public Service Delivery- Batho Pele (1997)
The White Paper on Transforming Public Service delivery, the so-called „Batho Pele‟ White Paper‟, was published in 1997. It mandated departments to advance their service delivery in terms of eight service delivery standards:
1) To consult with customers on a regular basis. The general public should be consulted about the level and value of the public service they receive and wherever possible be given a choice about the kind of service they would like to be offered to them.
2) To set service standards. The public should be informed what level of quality of service rendered by the public service they will receive so that they are aware of what to expect.
3) To boost access to service. All citizens should have equal access to the services to which they are entitled.
4) To ensure higher levels of courtesy. Citizens should be treated with courtesy and consideration.
5) To offer added and improved information about services. Citizensshould be given full, correct information about the public service they receive.
6) To increase honesty and transparency about services. People must be informed how national and provincial departments are run, how much they cost and who is in charge.
7) To remedy failure and inaccuracy. If the promised standard of service is not delivered, citizens should be offered an apology, a full explanation and a speedy,
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effective remedy; when complaints are made, citizens should receive a sympathetic, positive response.
8) To give the best possible value for money. Public services should be provided economically and efficiently in order to give citizens the best possible value for money. (The White Paper on Transforming Public Service Delivery - Batho Pele, 1997).
2.1.4 Assessing progress
The Batho Pele mission was a rational and well-marketed effort to encourage service quality consciousness across operating units. Seminars were held and posters were distributed, and a range of pioneering measures were implemented to broaden acceptance. For example, in KZN, the PriceWatershouseCoopers Premier‟s Good Governance Award was introduced (PriceWaterhouseCoopers, 2000). Contestants were required to self-assess the service delivery performance of their components against the eight Batho Pele principles. The award proved to be an effective tool, but also provided a picture of Batho Pele as an attractive framework that captured the imagination of many public servants.
In June 2000, an initial broad survey of the Batho Pele plan was undertaken for the PSC. The survey was only conducted in six national departments and five provincial departments.
Although a range of functions was covered, the 11 departments surveyed form a small fraction of the total (130). The investigation method utilised a questionnaire, random visits to service points and two customer surveys. It revealed somewhat uneven compliance with BPPs, with greater compliance in the national departments than in the provincial department, where compliance was very limited. The conclusions of the survey were as follows (Public Service Commission, 2000):
Little was being done to inform members of the public about their rights and to ascertain their needs. School governing bodies, particularly in the rural areas, and community policing forums are complex structures that were weak and in need of support.
All departments should institute and use appropriate, prescribed consultative bodies;
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Service standards were often not appropriately displayed and users of services were not alerted to what service standards they should be demanding;
Essential service standards should be displayed in all public areas of public service buildings;
There is a broad range of local and regional variations in terms of quality and exposure.
All departments ought to demonstrate a commitment to improving access to services, particularly those which are seen as human constitutional rights, complete with progress targets and resources where required.
Consideration for consumers is a crucial and attainable principle, and is central to the public service. Departments should initiate customer fulfilment surveys as part of an integrated monitoring and evaluation strategy. Such surveys should place strong emphasis on courtesy.
There should be a comprehensible connection between dialogue and information.
While ways of ensuring that information was provided were improved, more needed to be done in order to move away from simply using contact lists.
Annual Reports produced by departments should follow an approved system with a simple aim: to offer reliable, similar data. This system was approved by the PSC in its more recent report on Government Annual Reports.
Inadequate efforts had been made to provide complaint management services.
A small number of departments had embarked on an analysis of their performance.
There is an obvious need to carry out an assessment of possible ways to enhance services in innovative ways (differentiated service delivery options).
The authors of the survey, while supporting of the intentions of Batho Pele, felt “that service delivery improvement activities were too often viewed as separate from the mainstream activities of departments, and that assistance should be provided to departments to enable better application of Batho Peleprinciples” (Public Service Commission, 2000:40).
24 PART 2
2.2 SERVICE DELIVERY IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR IN SOUTH AFRICA