September 2004

The purpose of this document is to establish a framework for implementation of the requirements of the Public Service Anti-corruption Strategy (PSACS) related to anti-corruption training in the Public Service.

In January 2002 Cabinet adopted the PSACS. The PSACS is founded on nine strategic considerations, each consideration with a range of implementation imperatives. Strategic Consideration 9 is focussed on awareness, training and education and specifically calls for raising the awareness and ongoing education of Public Service employees.

The PSACS is required to be fully implemented by March 2005. In his address on the occasion of the Budget Vote of the Presidency on 23 June 2004, the President indicated that the PSACS "... remains the blueprint for anti-corruption work in the public sector."

During 2002 and 2003 the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA), as Department responsible to lead anti-corruption work domestically as well as regionally and internationally, conducted an assessment of the efficacy of the national anti-corruption framework and found public mobilisation and training and awareness to be a weakness of the national anti-corruption framework.

Corruption is an emotive issue and has become the target of a myriad of international, regional and domestic initiatives. It is widely accepted that corruption impacts negatively on development, integrity of governance, service delivery and confidence in/perceptions of citizens and investors in a country’s ability to govern with integrity.

Fighting corruption, and its related disciplines such as ethics management, risk management and fraud prevention, is "big business". Seminars, conferences and workshops related to fighting corruption are offered by private and academic institutions and takes place nearly on a weekly basis. The rates for these training interventions are substantial, up to R9 200 for a 2 ½ day workshop. Over time a circuit of speakers have emerged that offer the same or similar material at these interventions. Whilst public officials attend these interventions, the interventions are not targeted at the need of the Public Service.

In addition to the interventions referred to above, various training initiatives are emerging in the Public Service. These initiatives include but not limited to; anti-corruption/ethics orientated programmes/modules being developed by the South African Development Institute (SAMDI), training on the Code of Conduct and partnership interventions (for example the Office of the Public Service Commission/University of Pretoria and the Special Investigating Unit/University of Fort Hare). But it is clear that a coherent training strategy on anti-corruption is absent and now urgently required. Coherence however assumes that the training needs are known and that various related policy requirements are catered for. In particular the training needs to promote the value-orientation as espoused by the Constitutional principles of public administration and the Batho Pele belief set.

In order to better establish coherence and policy synergy a clear sense of the nature of existing training interventions (including the emerging ones) is required. This would require a document study of all available anti-corruption and ethics management training in the public service.

Particular considerations would have to be paid to the methodologies applied, target groups and the impact of such training on the levels of corruption in the public service. This is an involving task - one that needs to be undertaken not only as a study but a means of informing the interventions that are required to give expression to the PSACS.

The following diagram represents a cycle that emerges from this premise:

The proposed training on Anti Corruption is organised jointly by DPSA and SAMDI and is meant to be an inter-departmental public service drive to enhance capacity building among public servants across all spheres of government.

Anti-Corruption implementation training will therefore be undertaken as a programme of capacity creation for designated officials in various departments. For this purpose a schedule for implementation will be developed for purposes of co-ordination.

For all employees in the public service, an induction programme will be unveiled to promote among others, understanding of the benefits of Anti-Corruption initiatives in the public service and the public service value system. This induction programme will have the benefit of on-line training that can be accessed at any time convenient to the public servant.

Linked to all these, will be specialised training offered to employees that deal with specialised areas such as investigators and prosecutors. It will be conducted by other training agencies. However for purposes of assessing impact in the whole of the public service, reports will have to be generated by these agencies for consideration by a triumvirate comprising DPSA and SAMDI.

The Anti-Corruption training should therefore be seen as a wholesome intervention intended for all who serve in the public service. This is represented clearly in the table to follow.

Another phase of the training programme will involve monitoring and evaluation of the programme in order to measure its effectiveness both in terms of programme activities and outcomes. To this end, a specific set of monitoring, output and impact indicators will be developed to continuously evaluate the programme.

Anti-corruption training will have to cater for differing needs. These range from hard skills for certain practitioners to orientation training for other categories of employees. The table below sets out the various categories of needs that must be addressed in the Public Service:

SAMDI will develop and implement coherent anti-corruption training in the Public Service. All programmes will comply with policy and legislative requirements on standards and accreditation. The DPSA and various departments/agencies will support SAMDI regarding the content of training programmes.

SAMDI, together with DPSA, will provide progress reports to and consult with the Anti-corruption Coordinating Committee (ACCC) regarding development and implementation. The ACCC will report to the Cabinet Committee: Governance and Administration on training as it reports on other implementation requirements of the PSACS. SAMDI will become a permanent member of ACCC.

Once developed training programmes will be offered regularly and according to need. However, for purposes of capacitating Category B officials and meeting the short-term implementation requirements, interventions to fast-track this capacity building should be undertaken in a targeted and intensive manner (implementation training). Subsequent to the implementation training the training programmes will become part of the menu of training events offered regularly and according to need.

SAMDI will attempt to mainly make use of expertise and skills that are available in the public sector. In its implementation of training and development programmes, SAMDI has invariably used this triangular modality:

In accordance with the above SAMDI training will be two fold for categories B, C, and D namely:

1. Implementation training in the form of a roll out programme targeting all government departments at both provincial and national levels. In this respect, training will be provided to those officials that shall have been selected by various departments at the said levels
2. Induction training, also focusing on the whole of the public service that is provincial and national. However in this regard, training will take the form of an induction programme for both new and existing public servants

The ultimate objective in both these training interventions will be to provide basic knowledge on anti- corruption and ethics management in departments, techniques to identify unethical conduct etc.

In developing content for these programmes, guidance will be drawn from the PSACS as adopted by Cabinet, existing training programmes on Ethics, literature from other bodies specialising in the discipline of Ethics Management. The idea is to develop a sufficiently coherent training programme on this subject to ensure that all critical areas are incorporated.

For implementation training in particular, participants would have to have some experience in Anti- Corruption issues as they apply in the public service. This is on the grounds that the participants shall have been drawn from workstreams dealing with this subject.

The induction programme will be offered through a combination of means namely, workplace based training, online training through CD Roms and presentations

The programmes will be provided in English to realise cost-effectiveness.

It is envisaged that a maximum of two implementation training sessions consisting of 20 participants per session, will be conducted in provinces across the country. This translates into 360 persons trained at provincial level. Nationally a maximum of four training sessions with the same number of participants per session will be offered, translating into 80 persons trained. In total 420 officials will be involved in implementation training with an understanding that these officials will be critical in building an Ethics climate in their respective departments. The following sketches the provisional programme implementation:

Implementation training will constitute phase one of the roll out and it will be complemented by induction training at regular slots. The process is therefore an iterative one.

Training sessions will be participatory and will seek to apply principles of Adult Learning

The implementation of the programmes will be supported by the following organisations and their contributions:

Implementation training (Phase 1) will commence in March 2005 and run until April 2005. The programme for Induction Training will be worked in Phase 1 as the latter unfolds

The following outcomes are expected at the end of Phase 1 (April 2005)

• functional anti-corruption capacity in departments
• arrangements for the establishment of an inter-departmental network forum on Anti-Corruption and Ethics management
• knowledge capacity among designated officials in provincial and national departments

The following are considered as being factors that will guarantee the success of the programme:

• the development of course material (Implementation Training)
• programme roll out strategy
• funding

In order to implement the requirements of the PSACS, a range of activities need to be undertaken. These activities are set out below:-

In order to implement the PSACS in full anti-corruption training programmes in the Public Service needs to be developed and implemented. This implementation process also provides a solid basis to improve the internal working and support relationships within the Ministry for the Public Service and Administration. Successful implementation will in addition provide a base from which to play a supportive role in the SADC region.

The contributions of the DPSA, SAMDI and OPSC in preparing the concept paper are acknowledged.

The concept paper was distributed for comment to members of the ACCC. A national consultative workshop on the concept paper was held on 3 September 2004. Comments and inputs were received from:

Special Investigating Unit

Department of Correctional Service

Gauteng Provincial Administration

Home Affairs

Western Cape Provincial Administration

Limpopo Provincial Administration

Provincial and Local Government

KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Administration

SA Police Service