The Public Service Commission launches an Evaluation of
Departments against the Batho Pele Policy
28 October 1999
The Public Service Commission (PSC) believes that sufficient
time has been given to departments to adhere to the
requirements of Batho Pele, and will now embark on a project
to evaluate how well departments have fared in improving
their services to people. This PSC project is in line with
government's commitment to building a public service that is
capable of effectively and efficiently delivering services
to the citizens of South Africa. Batho Pele, or "people
first", is government's policy on transforming public
service delivery and places emphasis on the public as
customers. This government policy stipulates certain
principles which departments are required to observe, among
them, that:
- All citizens should have equal access to services to
which they are entitled;
- Citizens should be treated with courtesy and
consideration; and
- Citizens should be given full, accurate information
about the public services they are entitled to receive.
The aims of the project are to:
- evaluate the extent to which all departments have
implemented the requirements of the Batho Pele policy;
- benchmark departments against key requirements of
the Batho Pele White Paper; evaluate service delivery at
grass roots level, that is, at the service delivery
point;
- solicit views on constraints/problems experienced by
departments in implementing the White Paper;
- obtain baseline information on service delivery
issues; and make recommendations on service delivery
improvement.
The project, which is scheduled to be completed by the
end of March 2000, will culminate into a report to be tabled
in Parliament and provincial legislatures, stating the
extent to which departments at national and provincial
levels have succeeded in implementing the requirements of
the Batho Pele policy. It will also inform government of
successes and constraints that departments experience in the
implementation of the Batho Pele White Paper.
The information generated by this project would be used by
heads of department for follow up purposes where necessary,
as well as to inform Cabinet as well as Parliament and
provincial legislatures on the current status of compliance
with the Batho Pele policy within public administration.
At the outset the project will be launched in the following
departments:
- All education departments
- All health departments
- Department of Justice
- South African Police Service
- Department of Correctional Services
- Department of Home Affairs
- All departments identified as pilot departments in
the White Paper.
One of the motivating reasons behind the selection of the
departments is that the majority of them represent some of
the most prominent services delivered by government to the
public. All other national and provincial departments will
be assessed in the next phase of the project.
Contact Person: Jerry Vilakazi: (012) 352 1042 or 082 490
5041
Issued by the Public Service Commission
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