Zuma wants an efficient public service

Image: GCIS

In a message to public servants issued by the Presidency Zuma said: "In today's global and competitive world‚ a country's success is determined by many things. Key among these is a patriotic‚ effective and efficient cadre of public servants that translates government policies and programmes into tangible benefits."

Zuma noted that South Africa has the resources to improve its services.

The state of the public service has been in the spotlight recently following comments made by Minister in the Presidency Trevor Manuel and Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe at the government's annual Government Leadership Summit held in Pretoria last week.

Addressing the summit Manuel had said the government was "running out of excuses" for poor service delivery adding "We cannot plead ignorance or inexperience. For almost two decades‚ the public has been patient in the face of mediocre services. The time for ruthless focus on implementation has come."

Opening the summit Motlanthe appealed for more clearly defined responsibilities between ministers and their senior officials‚ saying such uncertainty over roles led to "strained relations" in the public service as well as unacceptably high levels of turnover of senior staff. Such loss of "institutional memory" often undermined the functioning of the government due to the "paralysis" caused during periods of management transition.

Zuma‚ who was initially scheduled to address the summit last week‚ was attending an emergency meeting in Chad on the situation in the Central African Republic‚ after 13 South African National Defence Force soldiers were killed last month.

Zuma claims "firm foundation"

The statement from the Presidency noted that "over the past three years‚ we have succeeded in laying a firm foundation for a more performance-oriented government‚" saying that while SA had not yet built an effective developmental state "there is evidence that the changes are bearing fruit".

The statement pointed to‚ among other things‚ a decrease in violent crime‚ an increase in the number of children attending early childhood development centres as well as increased life expectancy.

The statement noted that the average time taken to fill a vacancy in national and provincial departments had improved from nine months in 2010 to four months in 2012.

The average time taken to issue an identity book had dropped to 30 days from 150 days‚ while the average time to process an application for social grant decreased from 30 days in 2010 to 21 days in 2012‚ read the statement.

However the statement acknowledged that the payment of suppliers‚ meant to be made within 30 days‚ was inadequate and the Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation would be addressing this issue.

The statement added that the department had put in place a national evaluation system and produced an annual set of development indicators to provide an indication of the state of development of SA.