Transcript Towards seamless public service delivery

Towards seamless public
service delivery – Building a
Single System of Public
Administration & Management
A Presentation to the Local Government Capacity Building Summer
School 2005 Programme
11 October 2005
Sandton
Context: developmental state

RSA as developmental state characterised
by the following:
 People-centred
state machinery
 Intervening in the economy to promote growth
 Promoting sustainable development-bridging the
gap between 1st & 2nd economy
 Co-operative
participation
governance & popular
Principles: Seamless Public
Service Delivery

Chapter 3, RSA Constitution, 1996
 National,
provincial and local spheres are distinctive,
interdependent and interrelated
 Spheres of government must cooperate with one another to
provide coherent government

Chapter 10, RSA Constitution, 1996 – basic values
and principles governing public administration
 Efficient,
economic and effective use of resources (service
delivery improvement)
 Development orientation
 Responsiveness, accountability, fairness and transparency
 Good human resource management (utilisation of capacity)
Service delivery challenges

Apartheid inheritance
service delivery backlogs, esp. 2nd economy
 Community dissatisfaction due poor service delivery,
e.g. recent protests in the Free State
 Lack of institutional capacity,especially at service
delivery institutions and local government
 Historical

Corporate governance
 Public
entities not aligned to government objectives
 Accountability needs to be strengthened
Service delivery challenges

Fragmentation of service delivery
 Lack
of integration and poor coordination between
departments and between spheres
 Inconvenience for citizens having to travel far and to
many service delivery points

Mobility of staff
 Difficult
to move functions and staff to the appropriate
levels
 Difficult to move skilled managers to where they are
needed
Goal of seamless public service



Efficient, effective, responsive, representative,
accountable and accessible institutions
Improved coordination between spheres of
government and public entities
Improved service delivery through integration
 To
provide service users with a single window for their
service needs
 To locate the service delivery site close to the people
where they live
 Special emphasis on poor urban and rural
communities (formerly marginalised)
Current initiatives –
Integrated service delivery

Multi-Purpose Community Centres
 Provide
a range of services from a single point
 Services from national, provincial and local government
 Located close to the people

Batho Pele Gateway portal
 Information
on government services online
 Made available at “General Services Counters” at
MPCCs
 Also available at Post Office

Community development workers
 Facilitating
access to government services, benefits and
economic opportunities
Current initiatives –
Conditions of service

Comparative study of conditions of service
in local government and public service
 Many
disparities between public service and
local government, and within local government

Rationalisation of conditions of service by
local government
 Job
evaluation, 10 pay scales, working towards
single pension fund and medical aid scheme
Current initiatives –
Intergovernmental relations


Harmonisation of planning of the three spheres
Intergovernmental Relations Framework Bill
 Formalises
intergovernmental structures eg PCC,
Minmecs
 Provides procedures for settling of disputes

Assignment Framework
 Procedures
for the assignment of powers and functions to
local government

Transfer framework
 Procedures
spheres
to facilitate the transfer of personnel between
Current initiatives –
Public entities

Review of public entities
 Coherent
policy framework governing public
entities
Classification framework (corporate forms)
 Corporate governance (procurement procedures,
human resource practices, financial management
etc)

 Proposals
to facilitate mobility between public
entities and spheres of government
Current initiatives –
Batho Pele and popular participation

Batho Pele
 Front-office
improvements: signage, nametags
 Extending office hours
 Unannounced visits
 Project Khaedu – exposing SMS to coalface

Participation
 Izimbizo:
national, provincial and local
 DPLG developed model for community participation
 Ward committees
 Preparation of IDPs
Implementation proposals
Develop overarching legislation
 Scope




of Coverage:-
three spheres of Government
public entities – national, provincial and local
Administrative support to Constitutional institutions
Identified State owned Enterprises
 Location

of the responsibility for public administration
HR matters located in a single central department
 Enforcement


authority
Identify authority within government
Define sanctions for non-compliance
Implementation proposals

Develop overarching legislation
 Setting
norms and minimum standards
 Providing for sector differentiation
 Transfer of functions and staff addressed
 Delegation of responsibility and devolution of
authority to appropriate levels
 Specific chapter for senior management
Implementation proposals

Human resource management
 Common
HR systems
 Recruitment and selection procedures
 Human resource strategies
 Skills database

Remuneration and conditions of service
 Apply
principles of job evaluation
 Common remuneration principles in a wage policy
 Common set of conditions of service
 Mandatory pension and medical aid arrangement
Implementation proposals

Collective bargaining and labour relations
framework – transversal and sectorspecific issues
 National

Ethics
 Code

of Conduct extended to all employees
Funding arrangements
 Investigation
into support for struggling
municipalities
CHALLENGE FOR HRD

Alignment of HRD strategies
-
Provincial Growth and Dev Plans
 - Integrated Developmental Plans
 - National Skills Development Strategy

- Education and Training across the Spheres

scarce and critical skills, redeployment
 - Induction and orientation programmes
 - Working in cross cutting projects
 - Community inter-action
- End -