Report of the
Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration on its meeting with
the Select Committee on Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, and
the nine provincial legislatures, 25 August 2010, as adopted on the 13 April
2011
1.
Introduction
The mandate of
Parliament is achieved through passing legislation, overseeing government
action, and facilitating public and international participation. Parliament
also upholds South African citizens’ political rights and the basic values and
principles governing public administration, and oversees the implementation of
constitutional imperatives.
The Portfolio
Committee jointly hosted a meeting with the Select Committee on Co-operative
Governance and Traditional Affairs and the nine provincial legislatures of
·
promote the Public Service Commission to
the Select Committee on Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs and the
provincial legislatures, as a tool for provincial and national oversight of the
implementation of Section 195(1) of the Constitution (No.108 of 1996);
·
start a discussion with the Provincial
Legislatures on collaboration amongst the legislatures on research for
oversight; and
·
promote
dialogue amongst the legislatures of
The meeting was attended
by Speakers of the provincial legislatures, relevant provincial and national
parliamentary committee chairpersons, members of the Portfolio Committee on
Public Service and Administration, the Select Committee on Co-operative
Governance and Traditional Affairs, secretaries of the provincial legislatures,
the Public Service Commission (PSC), and the South African Local Government Association
(SALGA). The House Chairperson for Committees, Legislation and Oversight and
ICT for the National Assembly and the Deputy Chairperson of the National
Council of Provinces made submissions to the meeting.
This report is
divided into three sections. The first section provides a brief overview of the
inputs of the House Chairperson and the Deputy Chairperson of the National
Assembly and the National Council of Provinces, respectively. The second
section gives an overview of the constitutional responsibility of the Public
Service Commission, its reports and investigations that support and complement
Parliamentary oversight; the research capacity of the legislatures and possible
areas of collaboration for improved oversight. The third section lists the
findings made, the conclusion and recommendations.
Section 1
2.
Overview of the Oversight and
Accountability Model by the House Chairperson of Committees, Legislation and
Oversight and ICT.
In the South African
context, oversight is a constitutionally mandated function of legislative organs
of state to scrutinise and oversee executive action and any organ of state.
The Parliamentary
Oversight and Accountability Model aims to assert Parliament’s oversight role
to enhance democracy. Provisions in the Constitution, 1996 mandate the National
Assembly to provide mechanisms to ensure that all executive organs of state in
the national sphere of government are accountable to it; and to maintain
oversight of the exercise of national executive authority and any organ of
state. The National Council of Provinces’ role is to exercise oversight over
the national aspects of provincial and local government. Section
114(2) of the Constitution states that a provincial legislature must provide
for mechanisms-
(a)
to ensure that all provincial executive
organs of state in the province are accountable to it; and
(b)
To maintain oversight of-
i.
the exercise of provincial executive authority in the
province, including the implementation of legislation; and
ii. any provincial organ
of state.
The functions of oversight are:
·
to detect
and prevent abuse, arbitrary behaviour or illegal and unconstitutional conduct
on the part of the government and public agencies. At the core of this function
is the protection of the rights and liberties of citizens.
·
to hold
the government to account in respect of how taxpayers’ money is used. It
detects waste within the machinery of government and public agencies. Thus it
can improve efficiency, economy and effectiveness of government operations.
·
to ensure
that policies announced by government and authorised by Parliament are actually
delivered. This function includes monitoring the achievement of goals set by
legislation and government’s own programmes.
·
to improve
transparency of government operations and enhance public trust in the government,
which is itself a condition of effective policy delivery.
Committees of
Parliament were seen to be hamstrung in terms of capacity to hold government
accountable.
One of the
mechanisms Parliament had put in place was the establishment of an office in
the Office of the Deputy Speaker that is concerned with institutions
established in terms of Chapter nine and ten of the Constitution, 1996. The
unit established would focus on improving the efficiency and effectiveness of
Parliament in executing its responsibilities towards the Chapter nine and ten
institutions.
3 Presentation on collaboration of
institutions of governance for oversight by the Deputy Chairperson of the
National Council of Provinces
Two programmes of
the National Council of Provinces were highlighted, namely ‘Taking Parliament
to the People’ and ‘Provincial week’, as both required co-ordinated approaches
to oversight. Both programmes were successful due to the collaborative approach
amongst the National and the Provincial Legislatures, and the inclusion of the
South African Local Government Association (SALGA).
The Deputy Chairperson
of the National Council of Provinces (NCOP) highlighted that collaboration of
institutions was derived from the Chapter three of the Constitution, 1996. Section
195 of the Constitution, 1996, states that the basic values and principles that
must govern public administration are applicable to all spheres of government, organs
of state and state enterprises.
The lack of co-ordination
among institutions led to a duplication of oversight work, in some instances.
She said that any oversight planning across the national and provincial
legislatures for oversight of governance would be difficult to achieve if the
two Houses of national Parliament and the provincial legislatures struggled to
co-ordinate their programmes of oversight.
Mutual respect for
the independence of all legislatures was stressed for any undertaking of
collaboration amongst the legislatures.
Section 2
4.
Supporting legislative oversight by the Public Service Commission
The Public Service Commission (PSC) derives its
mandate from Sections 195 and 196 of the Constitution. Section 195 sets out the
basic values and principles governing public administration, which must be
promoted throughout the Public Service by the PSC. These principles and values
are:
·
A high standard of professional
ethics
·
Efficient, economic and effective
use of resources
·
A development-orientated public
administration
·
Provision of services in an
impartial, fair and equitable way, without bias
·
Responding to people’s needs and
encouraging the public to participate in policy-making
·
Accountable public administration
·
Fostering transparency
·
Cultivating good human resource
management and career-development practices
·
Representative public administration.
In terms of section
196(4) of the Constitution, the powers and functions of the PSC are to-
·
promote the Constitutional Values
and Principles in the Public Service (Section 195);
·
investigate, monitor and evaluate
the organisation and administration, and the
personnel practices of the Public Service;
·
propose measures to ensure effective
and efficient performance within the
Public Service;
·
give directives aimed at ensuring
that personnel procedures (recruitment, transfer, promotions and dismissals)
comply with the basic values and
principles set out in section 195;
·
report on activities to the National
Assembly and to Provincial Legislatures
in respect of activities in Provinces;
·
either of own accord or on receipt
of a complaint:
o
investigate the application of
personnel and public administration practices and report to the relevant EA
& Legislature;
o
investigate grievances of employees
in the Public Service and recommend remedies;
o
monitor and investigate adherence to
applicable procedures in the Public Service;
o
advise National and Provincial Organs of State regarding personnel practices
in the Public Service.
The PSC
is accountable to the National Assembly, and must report on its activities at
least once a year. The PSC interacts mostly with the Portfolio Committee on
Public Service and Administration. The
PSC must report to the provincial legislatures in respect of its activities in
provinces. This function is performed by providing Parliament and the provincial
legislatures with reports on the monitoring and evaluation of, and
investigations made on, public administration practices. The information in the
reports could be used by Parliament and the legislatures to call Executive Authorities
(EAs) and Heads of Departments (HoDs)
to account. The PSC reports provide valuable information
that could assist Parliament and the legislatures in the execution of their
oversight function. The PSC’s reports are also given
to the Executive to act on recommendations made in the reports.
The PSC’s recommendations in these reports cannot be enforced
by the PSC as it does not have the mandate to do so. The role of Parliament and
the legislatures is therefore of paramount importance in ensuring that the
Executive and departments are held accountable and that the PSC’s
recommendations are followed through. Parliamentary Committees can identify
priority areas which the PSC could investigate, monitor or evaluate to
strengthen their oversight role. Considerations in this regard would include:-
q
The request should preferably be channelled
through the chairperson of the committee
q
The
availability of resources within the PSC
The PSC generates
evidence to enable Parliament and the legislatures to exercise their oversight
roles, and to advise the Executive on good administrative practice.
5.
Tightening and capacitating the
Legislatures Research Units to meet the expectation of the institutions that
complement Parliament’s oversight function
The mandate of the Research Unit in National Parliament is to provide
research support to Members of Parliament, Committee’s and Senior Management in
a professional and objective manner. Some of the Parliamentary clients of the
research unit, besides Committees, include:
•
The
Presiding Officers
•
Ad Hoc Committees
•
Task Teams
•
Delegations to multilateral bodies (PAP,
SADC-PF, CPA)
The services the research unit
provides are:
•
Research background papers
•
Analytical papers
•
Comparative studies
•
Budget Analysis
•
Analysis of Annual Reports
•
Analysis of the State of the Nation
Address and implications for sectors
•
Analysis of legislation
•
Factsheets
•
Presentations
•
Developing Terms of Reference for
Commissioned research
•
Individual Consultations
Reference was made to the Public Service Commission’s reports. It was highlighted
that Parliament’s research unit could use the PSC’s
reports to identify areas for oversight and proactive research on the public
administration.
Section 3
6. Findings
Some of the matters that were highlighted from the members of the
national and provincial legislatures included:
·
Internal challenges of Parliament, such as reports
not being timeously distributed to Members of Parliament.
·
Tracking and monitoring the implementation
of Parliamentary resolutions by the Executive remained a challenge.
·
Parliament did not process the reports that
are received from Chapter nine and ten institutions efficiently and
effectively.
·
Oversight in provinces is done on an ad hoc
basis.
·
Municipalities are the closest level of
government to the people, but are not included in discussions about oversight
by the National and Provincial legislatures.
·
It was unclear what the impact of
Parliamentary oversight was on executive action.
·
Resources allocated to committees for
oversight should be reviewed. It would not serve Parliament’s purpose of strengthening
oversight, if resource allocation does not match the aims of Parliament.
·
Members of Parliament should interrogate
the reports submitted to Parliament by the Executive. It was not expected that
the Executive would report their shortcomings openly and freely.
·
Duplication of Oversight was an important
matter to consider, in light of the separation of powers amongst the spheres of
government. The concern strengthened the need for collaboration across the
three spheres of government, on common areas of interest, such as public
administration.
·
Recommendations made by the PSC are based
on legal obligations that the executive have under current legislation.
·
The PSC reports
to national and provincial legislatures, yet section 195 is applicable to all
three spheres of government. The PSC reporting should also begin to focus on
the implementation of Section 195 of the Constitution by the local sphere of
government. A mechanism that the PSC is to report to for local government
sphere should be considered.
·
Provincial Public Service Commissioners
could be called by the Provincial Legislatures.
·
The skills shortage challenge in
·
It was
highlighted that Parliament should also seek to establish its own monitoring
and evaluation capacity.
7. Conclusion
It was the first time that a meeting of this nature was called by the
Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration. All legislatures in
8. Recommendations
·
The Speakers’ Forum and the Secretaries Forum
should look at how some of the challenges facing all legislatures can be
addressed. Specific focus should be given to strengthening collaboration and
information-sharing for oversight of the Executive, on public administration
practices.
·
Committees in the national and provincial
legislatures need not wait for the finalisation of the Oversight and Accountability
model to undertake collaboration for oversight visits.
·
More needs to be done amongst the research
units of the national and provincial legislatures, in order to share available
research.
·
Oversight at local government level is not
what it should be. Local Government should be included in undertaking a
collaborative approach to oversight. The oversight model presented should be
reviewed to see how provinces can be incorporated.
Report for consideration