Response by the Chairperson of the Public Service Commission on the role of Constitutional Institutions Supporting Democracy in facilitating effective and proactive oversight over the Executive

Honourable Speaker of the National Assembly
Honourable Chairperson of the NCOP
Honourable Speaker of the Parliament of Namibia
Honourable Deputy Speaker of the Parliament of Angola
Honourable Speakers of Provincial Legislatures
Chief Whips
Invited Guests
Delegates
Fellow panelists
Officials
 

1. Introduction – The Public Service Commission and Public Service Challenges
   
   The South African Constitution established a variety of institutions to strengthen the oversight role of Parliament over the Executive and Administrative branches of the state to facilitate transparent and effective policy formulation and implementation. The Public Service Commission (PSC) derives its mandate from sections 195 and 196 of the Constitution, which vest it with custodial oversight responsibilities for the performance of the Public Service. The PSC monitors, evaluates and investigates public administration practices and promotes the values and principles governing public administration contained in section 195 of the Constitution. It may also issue directives regarding compliance with personnel procedures relating to recruitment, transfers, promotions and dismissals.
   
   Oversight ensures that the Executive and Administrative apparatuses of the state are accountable to the Legislature and institutions supporting it through formal reporting on service delivery and the utilisation of state resources. Oversight also compels Accounting Officers to account for the budget allocated to their respective departments. Furthermore, Parliament and the institutions supporting democracy should facilitate active public participation in the development of policies and strategies designed to address the needs of the people. In this context oversight must be strengthened to deepen democracy and achieve the objectives of a developmental state. Government will be more successful in mobilizing citizens if it is able to account for its electoral commitments and is willing to interact with the citizenry and involve them in development in a participatory and transparent manner.
   
   Since 1994, the democratic government has made significant strides in improving the lives and living conditions of South Africa’s historically oppressed majority. Progress has been registered in the provision of housing, education, health-care, electricity, water, sanitation and social grants as a result of government’s interventions, but the key developmental challenges of poverty, social inequality and unemployment remain. Service delivery-related protests occur in many areas of the country for a variety of reasons including the absence of basic services as well as inadequate social service provision and community safety concerns. In many instances they expose poor governance and weak leadership across the different spheres of government, which need to be addressed. The protests also frequently point to the need for improvement in the manner in which government provides and renders its services.
   
   Moreover, allegations of corruption and poor service delivery in the Public Service abound and are reported to both the Public Service Commission and other institutions supporting democracy like the Public Protector. Negative patterns of abuse of state power to generate illegal and illegitimate forms of resource accumulation have become widespread in all spheres of government. Both members of the public and public servants who are aware of possible corrupt activities, are tentative about reporting such cases. It is imperative that these whistle-blowers see that the cases they have reported are being investigated and prosecuted by the relevant independent bodies and law enforcement agencies. Rigorous implementation of the Protected Disclosures Act (2000) will assist in giving whistle blowers the necessary confidence to continue to report more of such cases if they see that there are consequences for the actions of the corrupt.
    
2. The PSC and the Transformation of the Public Service
   
   Transforming the composition of the Public Service to ensure that it reflects a new service ethos and is representative of South Africa's demography is a key component of the democratic project. Since 1994, the Public Service has achieved greater racial representivity, but needs to do much more in terms of gender and disability representivity and equity. Transformation of the Public Service has also entailed moving from a rule-bound culture to one characterised by a people-centred ethos of service delivery. This requires public servants to appreciate the importance of rules and basic administration as key enablers for service delivery programmes that maximize government’s impact on redressing historical imbalances, combating poverty and overcoming social inequality. The Batho Pele (putting people first) service delivery principles were introduced in 1997 to contribute towards this transformation of the Public Service.
   
   The PSC conducts evidence-based research, monitoring and evaluation involving the gathering and collation of qualitative and quantitative data on public administration for the use by the Legislatures and the Executive. The Commission has produced a number of outputs, including:
    
   • An Annual State of the Public Service Report
   • Citizen-satisfaction surveys
   • Citizens’ Forums
   • Inspections
   • Evaluations of Heads of Department
   • Rules for the lodging of complaints relating to maladministration, corruption, service standards, dishonesty and impropriety
   • Grievance rules
   • Management of a National Anti-Corruption Hotline, and
   • Management of the financial disclosure framework for public service managers
     
     These outputs provide the basis for rigorous oversight over the Administrative branch of government by both Parliament and the Executive.
      
3. The PSC’s Relationship with the Legislatures
   
   The PSC interacts with Parliament largely through the Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration, the Select Committee on Local Government and Administration and the Standing Committee on Public Accounts. These interactions could be strengthened if Parliament were to use the information presented by the PSC more optimally. The recommendations of the PSC are non-binding but Parliament should assert its influence by calling departments to account for the implementation of PSC recommendations.
   
   The interaction between the PSC and Provincial Legislatures could also be strengthened. PSC reports are tabled with the Speakers of the legislatures but engagement around them is limited. This may be because the reports are not seen to be provincially specific. Frequent interaction between the Speakers of provincial legislatures and the Commissioners resident in the provinces may facilitate improved engagement with and reporting to the provincial legislatures.
    
4. The PSC’s Relationship with the Executive
   
   The PSC has developed a complex and unique relationship with the Executive compared with other Institutions Supporting Democracy. This is because the Commission has been requested on a number of occasions by the Executive to participate in interventions, launch investigations and provide advice on various aspects of public administration. The PSC’s Director-General participates in the Forum of Directors General of South Africa and the PSC provides inputs to the President’s State of the Nation Address. The Commission’s budget is appropriated via the Minister for the Public Service and Administration and the PSC provides inputs to the Minister’s Budget Vote speech. The Commission has also from time to time submitted Cabinet Memoranda via the Minister for the Public Service and Administration .
   
   These apparent anomalies are a result of the complex structure of the Executive branch of government and its own oversight role over the Administrative apparatuses of the state, which form part of the Executive and over which the PSC has an oversight mandate. Strictly speaking the PSC does not have an oversight mandate over the Executive, but rather over the Administrative apparatuses that report to it.
   
   In many democracies on the continent and across the globe, government departments are relatively autonomous from the Executive. While the Executive determines policy, strategy and outcomes, administrative heads enjoy original powers over all aspects of public administration. In South Africa, however, the imperative to transform the composition of the Public Service led to the Executive being granted original powers over Human Resource Management through the Public Service Act. This has eroded the relative autonomy of the administrative state apparatuses and led to instability due to the powers of appointment and recruitment wielded by the Executive. The consequence has been frequent changes in the top administrative management echelon coinciding with the electoral cycle. The National Development Plan proposes to address this and build a strong professional public service through the PSC setting norms and standards and participating actively in the recruitment of top public servants.
    
5. Conclusion and recommendations for strengthening the PSC
   
   The ad hoc Committee of the review of Chapter 9 and Associated Institutions led by the late Professor Kader Asmal commended the PSC for recognizing its transformational imperatives and the developmental context within which it operates. In this respect, the Commission has safeguarded its independence and prevented direct and indirect interference with its programmes and decisions. At the same time it has not detached itself from government work on public service and administration . This delicate balancing act would no doubt intensify should the recommendations contained in the National Development Plan be adopted and implemented.
   
   There are several ways in which the role of the PSC could be strengthened. In relation to Parliament:
    
   • Given the volume of the reports Members of Parliament receive, the Parliamentary Research Unit should work closely with the PSC to ensure that critical issues from PSC reports are identified for the attention of specific committees.
   • Portfolio Committees could also identify priority areas, which the PSC should investigate, monitor or evaluate to strengthen the Committees’ oversight role.
   • Portfolio Committees should play a role in ensuring that other organs of state protect the PSC’s independence, impartiality, dignity and effectiveness [Section 196 (3)].
   • Parliament should also consider taking resolutions on critical PSC recommendations to ensure that departments implement them.
   • The ad hoc committee under the guidance of Professor Kader Asmal proposed the establishment of a Unit on Constitutional Institutions and other statutory bodies in the Office of the Speaker of the National Assembly. Accordingly Parliament adopted a resolution to establish the Unit to inter alia coordinate all activities between these institutions and the National Assembly. This Unit will, for example, assist the PSC by facilitating the adoption of its recommendations as resolutions of Parliament by creating the necessary mechanisms, protocols of collaboration and coordination between Parliament and the Commission.
     
     In relation to other Institutions Supporting Democracy:
      
   • There is a need for more effective collaboration between oversight institutions to deepen democracy and consolidate good governance in the country. The leadership of these institutions has indeed recognized this and the establishment of a Forum for Institutions Supporting Democracy is currently under discussion. The creation of such a Forum will not only enhance collaboration but avoid duplication and ensure optimal coverage by these institutions through partnerships and joint work on pressing issues.
   • For example, due to the scarcity of resources and to avoid duplication, the PSC should work more collaboratively with the Auditor-General on the management of financial disclosures, in order to ensure maximum coverage on an annual basis of the veracity of senior managers’ disclosure forms.
   • The Auditor-General could also make better use of the information generated by the PSC to inform audit opinions of departments. This would also ensure that the recommendations of the PSC are taken more seriously and implemented by departments.
   • Although the PSC and the Public Protector have signed a Memorandum of Understanding, there is a need for the two institutions to share the outcomes of investigations that they may refer to one another in terms of this agreement.
   • More broadly, there is a need for a more active and effective collaboration between the institutions supporting democracy. There are areas where resources could be shared and investigations conducted jointly to maximise impact.
     
     In relation to the Executive:
      
   • The PSC has a mandate to ensure and enforce compliance as well as a developmental mandate. The Commission must ensure that the public service is transparent, corruption-free, efficient, effective and compliant with public service prescripts. But the PSC also needs to ensure that the developmental requirements of the Constitution are met through popular participation in a concerted drive to confront the historical legacies of poverty, social inequality and unemployment. This is best achieved through evaluating the capacity of the state to deliver on its commitments to create conditions for labour absorbing inclusive growth, even spatial development and greater distribution of economic opportunities for both rural and urban South Africans.
   • The achievement of government’s outcomes stemming from the electoral mandate could be further strengthened through empowerment evaluations that seek to utilize the findings of monitoring and evaluation for overall performance and service delivery improvement.
   • Currently there are three sources of pressure on the PSC to increase the scope of its mandate, which will require additional resources. Firstly, the Executive-driven Single Public Service project will increase the scope of the PSC’s work to local government. Secondly, Parliament has requested the PSC to consider including local government and public entities in its oversight work. Thirdly, as noted, the draft National Development Plan (NDP) proposes an expanded mandate for the PSC, which would include setting norms and standards for the recruitment and performance management of top managers in the public service.
   • If the draft NDP is adopted in its current form, the PSC would have to engage differently within the state, particularly with the Executive, to safeguard its independence when executing roles which dovetail closely with the work of the Executive.
     
     In relation to the PSC itself:
   • There is a need to profile the PSC more effectively and to raise public awareness around its work. To this end, the PSC will need to develop a strategic communication and engagement strategy, which ensures that the outcomes of its reports, evaluations and investigations are communicated more effectively.
     
     I thank you