Minister of Public Service and Administration (incl NSG, PSC & CPSI) Budget Speech, responses by FF+ & IFP

Minister Noxolo Kiviet: Public Service and Administration, School of Government and Public Service Commission Dept Budget Vote 2023/24

Speech delivered by the Honourable Minister for the Public Service and Administration, Ms Noxolo Kiviet MP, on the occasion of the 2023/24 Budget Vote For Vote 7: National School of Government, Vote 11: Department of Public Service And Administration, Vote 12: Public Service Commission at the National Assembly, Parliament of the Republic of South Africa, Good Hope Chamber, Cape Town. Theme: “Taking care of Public servants to care for South Africans”

Salutations

• Honourable House Chairperson;
• Deputy Minister for the Public Service and Administration, Hon. Dr Chana Pilane-Majake;
• Ministers and Deputy Ministers;
• Honourable Members of Parliament, in particular the Chairperson and Members of the Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration;
• Chairpersons of the Public Service Commission and GEMS; Public Sector Education & Training Authority (PSETA) and the APRM National Governing Council;
• Directors-General and all Executives of the MPSA extended portfolio;
• Our Esteemed guests;
• Ladies and Gentlemen;
• Fellow South Africans;

Dumelang!
Molweni!

Constitutional duty to serve

Honourable House Chairperson, the Preamble of the Constitution of the Republic states that: “We the People of South Africa… adopts this Constitution as the supreme law of the Republic so as to… improve the quality of life of all citizens and free the potential of each person.” end quote

Honourable Chair, it is our collective and individual duty as public servants and representatives to do all in our power to free the potential of each person and improve the quality of life of South Africans in line with the Batho Pele Principles… Abantu Kuqala! As we pursue this noble duty, we feel honoured to deliver the 2023/24 budgets for the following Votes: 

1. Vote 11 for the Department of Public Service and Administration which is led administratively by the Director-General, Ms Yoliswa Makhasi.
2. Vote 07 for the National School of Government which is led by the Principal, Professor Busani Ngcaweni.
3. Vote 12 for the Public Service Commission which is led by Professor Somadoda Fikeni as Chairperson and Advocate Dinky Dube as the Director General.
    

It is important to highlight that the Public Service Commission is an independent institution, established in terms of chapter 10 of the Constitution.

It should also be noted that the budget for the Centre for Public Service Innovation, led by the Acting Executive Director, Ms Lydia Sebokedi falls within the Vote of the DPSA and will be tabled by the Deputy Minister, Honourable Dr Pilane-Majake.

Approach to the implementation of the professionalisation framework

Honourable House Chairperson, the approval of the Professionalisation Framework for the Public Sector has been a game changer for government’s pursuit of priority 1 of the 6th Administration, namely the Building of a Capable, Ethical and Developmental State. The collaborative manner ably led by the NSG delivered a ground-breaking framework that requires full implementation by all sectors including the 10 Legislatures, local governments, national and provincial departments and all government owned entities.

We are well on course for full implementation of the framework, and this will include   the issuing of a Directive  that will cover, among others, the followng: 

• • The tenure of Heads of Department;
  • The abolishment of experience requirements for entry levels posts in level 1 to 5 as per the Honourable President’s pronouncements in this year’s SONA;
  • Extension of pre-entry tests including competency assessments to the whole of the Public Service; and
  • Revised PMDS for Heads of Departments.
     

Honourable Members, the Department is leading National and Provincial Departments to appoint Professionalisation Champions as we integrate deliverables in the Performance Agreements; Annual Performance Plans and Annual Operational Plans to ensure that there is ownership and accountability which is accompanied by the appropriate allocation of resources for the full implementation of the Framework.

The Budgets

Honourable House Chairperson:

The DPSA budget allocation for the 2023/24 financial year is five hundred and fifty-three million, four hundred and sixty thousand rands (R553,460 m) which is an increase of 1% from the final allocation for the 2022/23 financial year. 

• Compensation of Employees constitutes three hundred million rands (R300 m) or 54% of the total budget allocation. 
• Goods and Services is one hundred and nighty four million rands, (R194 m) and Capital budget is six million rands (R6 m).
• Transfer payments is fifty two million rands (R52 m) of which forty five million, and eight hundred thousand rands (R45.8m) will be transferred to the Centre for Public Service Innovation as budget allocation for their activities for the 2023/24 financial year.
   

The DPSA consists of five (5) programmes which collectively are expected to lead the Public Service through norms and standards on: 

• Human Resource Planning and Development;
• Performance Management and Development;
• Employee Health and Wellness;
• Transformation;
• Wage Bill Management;
• Negotiations and Labour Relations Management;
• Discipline, integrity and ethics management;
• Rolling out eGovernment, eServices and cyber security;
• Service Access, revitalising the infusion of the Batho Pele Principles in the public service, improving the functionality of government and accessibility; and
• Innovation, public participation and knowledge management.

We are committed to lead the integration of government plans, and functionality in the  delivery of public goods and services as we pursue the Constitutional Mandate of improving the quality of life of all citizens and freeing the potential of each person!

In the State of the Nation Address, the Honourable President highlighted that: “A professional public service, staffed by skilled, committed and ethical people, is critical to an effective state and ending corruption, patronage and wastage”.

One of the fundamental objectives of the Professionalisation Framework is to ensure that only qualified and competent individuals are appointed into positions of authority. In pursuit of a transformed, professional, ethical, capable, and developmental public administration, the Department of Public Service and Administration is championing the effective implementation of the Professionalisation Framework.

Office of the Public Service Commission (OPSC)

Honourable House Chairperson, the Public Service Commission’s role is to promote good governance through investigations and research and reports directly to Parliament. The PSC is a critical partner in the implementation of the Professionalisation Framework as it plays an oversight and guiding role in ensuring that the public service is ethical in recruitment, employment and governance management, amongst others.

The Public Service Commission Amendment bill was presented today to a Cabinet Committee for publication and public comments. We aim to secure the enactment of the Bill into law within the current financial year. This will reposition the PSC as a bulwark of good governance in our country.

Honourable House Chair, once enacted into law, the PSC Bill will enable the conversion of the Office of the Public Service Commission (OPSC) from a government department in terms of the Public Service Act of 1994, into an independent PSC Secretariat that is established in terms of the Public Service Commission Act. This is to ensure that the PSC executes its mandate fully as an independent and impartial Constitutional oversight entity. The mandate of the PSC will be reinforced and extended to local government and public entities in line with section 196(2) of the Constitution.

Honourable members, the PSC budget allocation for the 2023/24 financial year is two hundred and ninety-two million (R292.1 million), which equates to 1,2 per cent reduction when compared to the adjusted appropriation allocated during 2022/23 financial year.   

Through its four programmes the PSC will prioritise the following:

• Leading the restructuring process and the management of the Amendment Bill;
• Reviewing the employment management practices found in the public service to promote accountability and efficient leadership management practices in line with the President’s response plan to the recommendations of the Zondo Commission;
• Improving the Monitoring and Evaluation of practices across the Public Service through research and assessments of the public service adherance to the norms and standards set by the DPSA;
• Elevate the fight against corruption by improving whistle blower protection, discipline management and entrenching integrity and ethical conduct; and
• Embarking on a National Advocacy campaign on the Constitutional Values and Principles (CVPs) in collaboration with key civil society and faith-based organisations such as the Moral Regeneration Movement and the Ethics Institute.
   

The PSC will also assess various human resource management practices that are central to the professionalisation of the Public Service. It will strengthen its engagements with Executive Authorities, Legislatures, Senior Management, Human Resources, and Labour Relations Practitioners to improve state capacity capabilities.

The critical deliverable for the PSC is to ensure that the public service lives up to the Constitutional Mandate of IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF LIFE OF ALL CITIZENS AND FREEING THE POTENTIAL OF EACH PERSON!

The National School Of Government (NSG)

Honourable House Chairperson, during this 10-year period of existence, the NSG has been on a growth path towards making public sector education, training and development (ETD) more accessible and relevant to the challenges of service delivery. The ETD interventions have focused across the public sector spectrum – from training unemployed youth graduates, public service interns, to serving public servants, and senior managers.

The training programmes provided by the NSG, now target members of boards of state-owned entities, public representatives, members of the executive and traditional leaders to undertake the much-required capacity building.

The reach of the School has also grown throughout the African continent, and beyond, with many management development institutes (MDIs) benefiting from bilateral agreements with the School. The NSG has solidified its footprint with partnerships that include the World Economic Forum, European Union, the Civil Service College in Singapore, China Africa Institute, and National School of Public Administration in Brazil.

Since the launch of the Economic Governance School for Members of the Executive as approved by Cabinet in 2020, the National School of Government (NSG) has successfully facilitated three iterations of this annual programme, in collaboration with the Wits School of Governance (WSG). Each annual programme is aimed at broadening the perspectives of elected and appointed public leaders, through analysis and critical reflection on the nature of challenges confronting society today. In particular, the programme serves as a learning engagement platform through which senior officials collaboratively reconsider policy imperatives in a turbulent global economy. The 2022 cohort comprised local participants together with counterparts from eight African states.

This year, the NSG is collaborating with the Kenya School of Government (KSG) to bring together participants from these two countries. The first leg of the 2023 Programme took place on 16-21 April 2023 in South Africa and the second leg will take place on 21-27 May 2023 in Kenya. This collaboration marks the initial implementation of the Cooperation between the NSG and the KSG, in the context of building stronger Kenya – South Africa bilateral relations based on common values and development pursuits.

For the 2023/24 financial year, the NSG has been allocated a budget of two hundred and twenty-nine million (R229, 018 million) of which R115 million is transferred to the Training Trading Account.

Honourable Members, the NSG raises almost half of its operating costs, and is targeting to raise revenue to the amount of R101,3 million from course fees.

Honourable members, this means the NSG has over the past 10 years of its establishment, and development raised over a billion Rands to fund training and development. Whilst this must be commended, there is  a need to reflect on the funding model in the context of its mandate, and the  critical role it plays in the professionalisation of the public service.

The NSG will be implementing the following key priorities in this financial year:

• targeted education, training and development of 46 480 learners;
• rollout of compulsory programmes; and
• focus on niche programme offerings (Economic Governance School, Executive Education, SOE Board Induction, Traditional Leaders).
   

The School has made some notable achievements since its establishment  in 2013, and these include the following:

1. Training more than 526 000 learners through all forms of training interventions and delivery modes (such as eLearning).
2. Receiving unqualified and clean audit outcomes on both the Vote and the Training Trading Account – which points to efficient corporate governance and compliance.
3. Designing and delivering courses such as Nyukela, Compulsory Induction Programme, Project Khaedu, Ethics in the Public Service, Economic Governance School and other executive education courses. 
4. Over the last three years alone, there has been eLearning enrolments of more than 194 000 learners.
    

To sustain this performance, in the coming months we will table a position paper to Cabinet which will consider the following:

• Teaching and learning philosophy underpinning the courses, programmes and qualifications of the National School of Government.
• Positioning the National School of Government for strategic international partnerships and collaboration.
• Leading in the professionalisation of the public sector.
• Digital learning opportunities for public servants.
• Reviewing the funding model for the National School of Government.
   

Presidential-Minister Priorities  

Honourable House Chairperson, 2024 marks 30 years of democracy. In this regard, we are reflecting on the transformation role and agenda of the public service since 1994. Through this work we will ascertain the current transformational capacity of public administration, areas for intervention and determine the most appropriate. South Africa is not the same when compared to 1994.

Today the Director Generals in the Presidency, DPSA, PSC and the Acting Executive Director of the CPSI are capable women that are leading the core of government. The apartheid public administration machinery has been dismantled! Malibongwe!

Given that we are reaching the end of implementing the current Medium-Term Strategic Framework (2019-2024), in this current year:

1. 1. We are conducting of a full skills audit throughout the public service, which will include qualifications, skills, competencies and the correct location of these.
   2. Establishment of a single register for disciplinary cases and processes across all spheres of government as part of entrenching accountability and streamlining discipline as per the Honourable President’s response to the Zondo Commission reports; and
   3. Completing lifestyle audits for members of the Senior Management Service across the Public Service.

These three areas are critical to Priority 1 and the Professionalisation of the Public Sector.

Addressing challenges facing the public service

Honourable House Chairperson, in the NDP Diagnostic Report; the report of the Zondo Commission; the reports of the Auditor General; the Public Service Commission reports, Portfolio and Select Committees reports; and our own DPSA and PSETA reports, such as lack of integration, governance and performance weaknesses.

We are therefore working with the Presidency, the Ministers of Communications and Digital Technologies and Finance to fasttrack digitization, the rolling out of the future of work project, eGovernment and eServices to address some of these weaknesses. Additionally, we are putting measures to address the aging Public Service by increasing youth representation through strengthening the graduate recruitment programme and enabling specialist skills recruitment.

We have resolved on an integrated and partnership approach to collectively address these challenges that are largely due to a major trust deficit with the public due to ethical lapses, alleged maladministration and strained relations with organised labour.

Promoting labour peace

Honourable Members, egameni likaRhulumente mandithathe elithuba ndixolise kubemi beli for the inconvenience and pain inflicted during the public sector wage related strike action. Government working with organised labour, remains committed to collective bargaining to manage labour relations in the public service. We are currently working together on the Minimum Service Level Agreements for essential services to ensure that South Africans are able to access critical services at all times.

Key deliverables for the 2023/2024 financial year

Honourable House Chairperson, the budgets we are tabling today are intended to ensure that we deliver on our mandates. As President Mandela said in the Long Walk to Freedom, “After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb!” These hills or milestones will include the following in the 2023/24 financial year:  

• Introducing of the Public Service Commission Amendment Bill, which seeks to empower the Commission to deliver on its mandate as intended by the drafters of the Constitution;
• Releasing an Integrated Public Service Handbook, to promote professionalisation standards, common interpretations and understanding as contemplated in Section 42 of the Public Service Act. This includes a Review of the SMS Handbook;
• Reviewing the Public Service Regulations (PSR) of 2016 and all associated Directives and Circulars to reduce red tape and compliance overkill currently being experienced by Departments;
• Promoting efficiency by improving the politico-admin dichotomy;
• Development of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) across government to institutionalise government processes for sustainability of interventions. In this regard, departments are required to ensure that all identified Professionalisation interventions are institutionalised through SOPs;
• Introducing Competency Assessments and Psychometric integrity testing as part of pre-entry requirements into the Public Service to promote meritocratic appointments and promotions; 
• Ensuring that the SONA priority for the Measures to protect Whistle Blowers are fully implemented; and
• Working with Parliament we will ensure that that the Public Service Amendment and the Public Administration Management Amendment Bills which following extensive consultations with the public, NEDLAC and organised labour are processed accordingly. 
   

The Department continues to play a critical role in co-ordinating anti-corruption work within the public service. These include development of a central register on disciplinary matters, working with departments to roll out lifestyle audits in national and provincial departments, support law enforcement agencies in dealing with public servants charged with corruption.

Honourable House Chair, the department through working with the DPME, National Treasury, the Presidency and Cooperative Governance Departments has identified over 256 reporting requirements that departments have to comply with. Some of the reviews mentioned above, will result in the consolidation and reduction of these reporting requirements so as to eliminate red tape and free the public service from a high reporting burden.

African Peer Review Mechanism and BRICS Summit

Later this month, the Department will be hosting the launch of the 2nd Generation Report of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) as part of the Africa Month celebrations. This ties well with the BRICS Summit where the NSG will be hosting the Public Service Reform Seminar.

Honourable Chairperson, the National School of Government will be hosting the Seminar with partner management development institutes, scheduled for 17-19 July 2023 in Gauteng as well as through virtual connection from all BRICS and other countries especially those on the African Continent.

The seminar will provide a platform for the member countries to share experiences, lessons, and proposals on public sector reforms, with a focus on professionalising the public sector. In December last year, the Department hosted the African Association for Public Administration and Management (AAPAM) conference at the University of Western Cape. This is an international professional organization that promotes best practice and excellence in public administration and management in Africa through research, publications, training, seminars, consultancy, conferences and awards. Honourable members, my department continues to participate and provide leadership in the work of AAPAM through the active involvement of the DPSA Director General who was elected as Vice President – Southern Africa and a member of the Executive Committee.

Utilisation of training budgets by departments

Honourable Members, we urge all departments to fully utilise their budget 1% of wage bill allocation for training and development for maximising service delivery. In the 2023/24 Financial Year, we will issue new policy directives aimed at strengthening utilisation of the training budget in support of ongoing efforts to build state capacity focusing on training, leadership development, coaching and mentoring for public servants. Our focus should be on developing and strengthening leadership skills, improving strategy execution capacity of public servants, project management capabilities and building digital skills amongst others to enable transition towards digitally enabled public services.

CONCLUSION

Honourable House Chairperson, in conclusion, we would like to register our commitment and determination to ensuring that the public service improves and becomes innovative, productive and competitive – in all respects. The Extended MPSA portfolio which includes the DPSA, NSG, PSC, CPSI, PSETA, and GEMS has a critical role to play in building state capacity, government performance, ethics and integrity which all contribute to the professionalisation agenda.

During the last weekend, we visited police stations; Thuthuzela Care Centres; hospitals; and Home Affairs Offices where we met dedicated public servants that continue to make us proud. As part of our transversal function of ensuring the delivery of quality services, we found colleagues that were under-staffed, despite the unfounded grandstanding that we have a bloated public service. We have consistently asked where this information is collected from, as the facts do not support it!

To honour these heroic public servants, the Department of Public Service and Administration will work with GEMS and the department of Health to ensure that adequate psychosocial support services are always available. The building of a capable and developmental state requires public servants such as nurses and teachers that are healthy, fully equipped and supported. We continue to honour their selfless service.

We are committed to ensuring that we are not pushed around by the fears in our minds, but are led by the desire to deliver on the dreams of South Africans by improving the quality of their lives and freeing their potential!

Kea leboga!

Inkomu!

Ndiyabulela!