Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
A l e a r n i n g j o u r n a l f o r P u b l i c S e r v i c e M a n a g e r s
S e r v i c e
Volume 1 No. 3
9 771681 782004
I S S N 1 6 8 1 - 7 8 2 6
Thirsty forDelivery
D e l i v e r y
a tale of two townships
A look atConversations
The Buck Stops Here:Tackling Corruption
Each of us is a knowledge workerand a learning champion in this
knowledge economy. We all have arole to play in turning the PublicService into a “Learning Public
Service for Quality Service Delivery”.Let us persue this ideal by using theService Delivery Review as a facilityfor sharing our experiences, successes,mistakes and methodologies and forgrowing our own intellectual capital
Muthanyi Robinson RamaiteDirector-General:DPSA
This editiob ofService Delivery Review
A Learnig Journal for Public Service Managershas been sponsored by
Public Administration Survey on Corruption 6Transforming Health Delivery 9A Holistic Approach To Organisational Management 16Delivering Justice: A Broad Look at the State Justice System 19Integrating Human Resources in the Public Service 22Performance Management as a Strategic Tool 26Leveraging Technology to Support Service Delivery 31Case Studies and their Value in the Public Service 34How the National Statistics System Impacts on Service Delivery 46Court Managers and Challenges Facing our Courts 50Code of Conduct for Public Functionaries 54First South African Public Management Conversation 71How Capacity and Leadership Can Enhance Delivery 72Responses to Robinson Ramaite’s Paper 76First Public Management Conversation: Anti-corruption and Ethics 78Responses to Richard Levin’s Paper 83Service Delivery: Innovation and e-government 85Responses to Article on Innovation and e-government 89Conversations: An Overview 92
Editor Fred Khumalo Managing Editor Thuli Radebe Editorial team Khaya Ngema: Executive Manager, Service Delivery ImprovementMashwahle Diphofa: Senior Manager, Service Delivery ImprovementTembela Kulu: Manager, Communications
Publisher STE Publishers on behalf of the Department of Public Service and AdministrationDesign Mad Cow Studio
Issues
RegularsFrom the Editor’s Desk 2Letter from Tshwane 4News in Brief 5Profile: Listen Up — The Boss has Spoken 14Case Study: A Tale of Two Townships 36Case Study: Folateng: A Place of Healing 43Case Study: Community Water Supply and Sanitation Programme 58Case Study: Restructuring the Agricultural Sector in Limpopo 63Case Study: Repositioning Pay Points in KZN 66Profile: Astonishing the Gods 69Book Reviews 94The Funny Side 96
S e r v i c e D e l i v e r y
Volume 1 No. 3
Opinions expressed in this journal are notthose of government but reflect the views
of individual writers
ISSN 1681-7826
Send all your comments
and editorial
correspondence to:
Page 36
Page 14
Page 48
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:34 AM Page 1
2
The recent strike by state welfare workers which threat-ened to impact negatively on the payments to those whodeserve this service highlighted one major thing: a need toradically transform the manner in which government is
effecting these payments.Allow me to draw from Dianne Dunkerley, chief director
responsible for social security in the KwaZulu-NatalProvincial Department of Social Welfare and PopulationDevelopment. In her case study, which is published elsewherein this edition of SDR, she notes that only a minority — 8% ofa population of 1.2 million recipients ofgrants — collect their money throughdirect transfers into their bank accounts.
The rest of them have to endure stand-ing in long queues in order to be paid.
She further points out that at this stage,60% of the pay points used do not meetthe standard as set in the nationallyapproved norms and standards. The lawstipulates that pay points should provideat least the following basic services: accessto water, toilets, shelter, seating, securityand first aid.
To turn the situation around, she sug-gests the development of infrastructurefor those pay points which serve a signifi-cant number of customers, where pay-ments take place over more than one dayeach month, and where there is no othersuitable facility in that community.
By this she means that if in a communi-ty there is a hall that can be used or is being used as a pay point,the basic requirements as stipulated above should be suppliedwith immediate effect.
I would venture to say that this should be looked at only asan interim measure. The ultimate aim should be to supply con-venient, safe and timeous service for the recipients who most-ly happen to be women of advanced age who need to be treat-ed with extra care.
This convenient, safe and timeous service can only beachieved through advanced technology as spelt out in an arti-cle written by Alvin Rapea and published elsewhere in thisjournal on e-government and how it can help enhance servicedelivery.
The focus on e-government cannot be over-emphasised. Notonly are these electronic transmissions safe, but they also elim-inate the possibility of payments being delayed as a result ofstrikes by public service employees. In terms of our constitu-tion, it is within the rights of individual employees to go onstrike — as long as it is legal — if they feel aggrieved; but theseactions shouldn’t impact negatively on the delivery of servicesto the deserving citizens.
It is therefore incumbent upon the public service sector touse the efficiency of modern technology, to bring about a safe,
convenient and reliable method of servicedelivery.
While leveraging on technology toenhance delivery is important, of equalsignificance is the need for integratedplanning. The Alex and Katorus casestudy published elsewhere in SDR is anexample of integrated planning andimplementation taking place. These twourban renewal projects have been charac-terised by a multi-level and multi-sectoralapproach to local development and serv-ice delivery. They were also high-priorityprojects characterised by a commitmentfrom national government, the Gautengprovincial government, the respectivelocal governments and community-basedorganisations. In addition, local commu-nities were highly involved in planningand delivery of services.
From policy formulation, budgetingand planning, staffing and identification of project teams, thisinvolved a multi-sectoral and multi-level approach. Eachsphere of government committed itself to setting aside variousresources such as money and facilities to make the projectwork.
These two projects are also an example of an integrateddevelopment and service delivery framework that is borne outof a finely tuned political, community and technical/projectmanagement balance that cuts across all sectors at communitylevel, be it safety and security, housing, physical infrastructure,economic development, social services, education etc.
Fred Khumalo
F r o m t h e E d i t o r ’ s D e s k S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
Technology Can EnhanceService Delivery
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:34 AM Page 2
The 2nd Service Delivery Learning Academy
The Service Delivery Learning Academy was launched by the Minister for Public Service and Administrationin Mpumalanga, in July 2002. This is an annual three-day event that brings together senior managers,operational managers and public servants at the coalface of service delivery, to showcase and share
experiences and lessons on innovative service delivery projects.
Preparations for the 2nd Service Delivery Learning Academy, scheduled to take place in July 2003, areunderway. The Learning and Knowledge Management Unit in the Department of Public Service and
Administration is currently coordinating presentations for the Academy.
Public servants across the country who have practical case studies are invited to contact us to explorepossibilities of presenting their cases at the Academy.
Specific dates and venue will be communicated in due course.
For more information please contact Bongani Matomela at [email protected]
ThemeThe SMS Unit within the Department of Public Serviceand Administration will be hosting the Second SMSConference in April. The theme for this year's confer-ence is “TOWARDS AN INTEGRATED PUBLIC SERVICE”(AReality or A Myth). The conference will provide seniormanagers of all levels with an opportunity to focus onthe need to create conditions for effective leadership,capacitating managers to deliver better service to cus-tomers, and agree on a set of interventions for themedium term with a clear vision of where we want totake the public service.
Objectives• To assess current level and trends of service deliveryin order to identify potential areas of improvement. • To examine issues of leadership and managementroles and their implications with the aim of fostering aculture of continuous improvement in managementstyles. • To acknowledge excellent performance by individualleaders and organisations and exchange success sto-ries in the form of case studies.
The 2nd Senior Management Service (SMS)Conference
“TOWARDS AN INTEGRATED PUBLIC SERVICE”
Date: 14 –16 April 2003,Venue: Feather Market Centre, Port Elizabeth
For more information contact:Dipsy Mereeotlhe • Tel No: (012) 314-7351
E-mail: [email protected]
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:34 AM Page 3
At the beginning of last year the President set a tone bymaking a passionate plea for people to give their timeselflessly to support government in its effort to bringdignity to the lives of many people living in dire cir-cumstances.
In keeping with the president’s call that 2002 be the year ofvolunteerism, we all witnessed how our imbizos and matsemadrew huge crowds of people from all walks of life to speakabout their needs and concerns, and we all listened. In a truespirit of camaraderie we all rolled up our sleeves and stoodshoulder to shoulder, painting schools, old-age homes, helpingwith the facilitation of social grants and birth registrations.Yes, government was indeed living up to its commitment, ofserving and being with the people.
Now, as we enter the new year, 2003, our reality is such thatwe have to continue walking the extra mile, with numerouschallenges to overcome.
As it emerged from some of our visits to service deliverypoints last year, we still face a major challenge. There are pub-lic officials who fraudulently draw salaries on a monthly basisfrom government without showing any commitment to theirwork, officials who spend more time going about their ownbusiness during working hours while ordinary citizens standin meandering queues waiting to be served. Such habits, aswell as the ever-recurring problem of corruption, are some ofthe factors that are blocking our efforts to improve servicedelivery.
As a result of these activities government loses countlessvaluable resources that are supposed to be used for servicedelivery. Though in a minority, these are the people who con-tinue to tarnish the image of the public service and drive a wedge between us and citizens on whose mandate our performance is based and whom we are truly dedicated toserve.
It is only the quality of our efforts in looking after the citi-zens of our country that will earn us as government the respectof other countries within the continent and the world at large,and most importantly the citizens themselves. You, the publicservant, in whatever you do, are the face and the vanguard ofthat government.
This year, therefore, the commitment to service will be seenin a visible anti-corruption campaign, a revitalisation of BathoPele through a public and internal awareness-raising commu-nication campaign, as well as other initiatives such as the focuson blockages to service delivery and other implementationprogrammes driven by government.
This should be a year where creativity is applied in the pub-lic service, not only to innovate, but to link the eradication ofpoverty to everything we do, no matter how indirect to thisnational thrust it may at first seem.
Finally, let us continue to learn from each other, use forumslike this publication and other platforms like conversationsand conferences to share experiences and lessons, and let usdeterminedly push back the frontiers of poverty.
L e t t e r f r o m T s h w a n e S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi
RevitalisingBatho Bele
4
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:34 AM Page 4
S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
5
N e w s i n b r i e f
Public Service WeekSome Hiccups, Some Successes
Public Service Week (7-11 October) was last year marked bya moderately successful nation-wide child grant registration
campaign. The DPSA’s team of eight (Masilo Rantsatsi, LeahKekana, Esther Nkosi, Lebo Matshasa, Christine Maledu,Nelly Maselesele, Tumi Mdwaba, Maria Malatsi) wasdeployed to a registration site in Namahadi, a settlement inthe Free State.
After a night in what they report to have been a filthy, flea-and cockroach-infested hotel in this cold Free State hamlet(they were later moved to slightly better lodgings), the teamsoon settled in to assist the tiny regional offices of Home Affairsand Social Development set up and run as an impromptu socialservices office, where not only child grants were processed, butalso such essential life documents as IDs and birth certificates.By the end of the week, over 500 grants had been registered,along with about 150 birth certificates and an unspecifiednumber of ID applications and other grant types.
The team not only focused on the defined tasks, but soongot involved in service delivery standards “consulting”; callinga “hot” meeting with the regional director to discuss theappalling standards of service delivery they had witnessed(latecoming, drunkenness on duty, mistreatment of citizensand plain lack of delivery), and making quite a fewrecommendations about what ought to change immediately.One of the recommendations included regular follow-upvisits by the DPSA.
The DPSA was not alone in the initiative. Over 200 publicservants from provincial and national departments were alsodeployed to about 20 other sites around the country, with thesingle objective to have as many qualifying children registeredon the country’s social security system. KwaZulu-Natal andthe Eastern Cape reported an average registration rate of 300children per day, per site.
With the looming target of three million children registeredfor support grants by the end of 2003, the DPSA is proud toreflect that it aided the effort to meet this critical deliverytarget as it has to do with the survival of the young andvulnerable in our society.
It is evident that service delivery projects that are integratedand cross-departmental in nature greatly enhance servicedelivery. The reaction of public servants to this work methodhas also been positive, giving them an opportunity to serve innew areas, network, acquire new skills and experiencedelivery challenges at the edge.
SA in Trade Talks with Bahrain
Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Aziz Pahad discussed theopening of a South African Mission in the independent
state of Bahrain and explored the possibility of private sectortrade with the Arab sheikdom when he met with Bahrain’sdeputy prime minister Sheik Abdullah Bin-Khalid Al-Khalifa in Manama, the capital of Bahrain recently.
Pahad also delivered a message from President ThaboMbeki to King Hamad bin Issa al-Khalifa.
The two parties discussed the possibility of expandingpolitical and economic relations.
Pahad mentioned South African negotiations with the GulfCo-operation Council on behalf of the Southern AfricanDevelopment Community.
He also briefed Mahmood on the position of both the Non-Aligned Movement and the African Union on the situation inthe Middle East and Iraq.
Announcing the EditorialBoard of the Service Delivery Review
The Service Delivery Review was launched by the Minister forPublic Service and Administration on December 4 2001.
The first three editions of the publication were driven by theDPSA with the support of an internal Editorial Team. Afterthree editions, the publication has been received positivelywithin both public and private sectors and there is a greatdemand for it to be sustained and further developed.
The members listed below were nominated by the Ministerto serve on the Editorial Board of the publication.Chair of the Editorial Board:1. Mr Khetsi Lehoko (Deputy Director-General: FurtherEducation and Training)Members:2. Dr Richard Levine (Deputy Director-General, Office of thePublic Service Commission: Good governance and servicedelivery).3. Ms Seadimo Chaba (Deputy Director-General, GautengProvince, Public Works and Transport)4. Ms Ilva Mackay (Deputy Chief Executive Officer,Government Communication and Information System)5. Prof Job Mokgoro (former Director-General, SouthAfrican Management Development Institute)6. Ms MB Monama (Director-General: Limpopo)7. Dr Sibongile Muthwa (Director: University of Fort Hare,Institute of Government)8. Mr James Maseko, CPSI Board Member9. Mr Khaya Ngema (Deputy Director-General, ServiceDelivery Improvement, DPSA & National Co-ordinator ofIPSP)International member10. Dr Des Gasper (Dean of Studies: Public Policy andManagement, Institute of Social Studies, The Hague,Netherlands)Ex-officio membersThuli Radebe, Managing EditorFred Khumalo, Editor
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:34 AM Page 5
I s s u e s S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
6
Public AdministrationSurvey on Corruption
Ishara Bodasing, a
senior anti-corruption
specialist within the
DPSA, commends
government for
marching like a Colossus
on the warpath against
corruption. If the South
African institutional
framework to prevent
and combat corruption
were to be disseminated
as a good practice
manual, it would be a
best-seller. However,
even best-sellers have a
sell-by date. It therefore
becomes imperative that
constant and consistent
review of the status quo
be undertaken.
It is commonly acknowledged thatcorruption is the subversion of thepublic interest and the common goodby private interests. Corruptionshould be distinguished from malad-
ministration, but is closely related to it,since in the absence of properly func-tioning systems and controls, corruptionthrives. In the wake of the apartheidadministration, it was necessary torestore a genuine public service ethos,work ethic and the maintenance of gooddiscipline amongst the ranks of publicsector employees. The public sectoranti-corruption initiative is central tothe broader process of moral regenera-tion.
In his speech to the Public SectorAnti-Corruption Conference, whichwas held in parliament, Cape Town inNovember 1998, the then-DeputyPresident Thabo Mbeki noted that“zero tolerance will be offered to theparasites of our land who have scornedthe public interest and sought their ownself-enrichment at state expense” andthat “it is incumbent on governmentunequivocally to affirm its seriousnessand desire to stamp out corruptionwherever it occurs”.
Since then, government has marchedlike a Colossus on the warpath againstcorruption. If the South African institu-tional framework to prevent and com-bat corruption were to be disseminatedas a good practice manual, it would be abest-seller. However, even best-sellershave a sell-by date. It therefore becomesimperative that constant and consistentreview of the status quo be undertaken.
Information on corruption in SouthAfrica has not previously been systemat-ically collated and analysed. The com-mon understanding of corruption isbased primarily on various opinion sur-veys; in other words it is perception-based. Although perceptions are impor-tant, they are a problematic basis onwhich to analyse corruption becausethey are merely a reflection of attitudesand levels of confidence in “the system”.They would thus be of little empiricalvalue. The media has also been influen-tial in emphasising the occurrence ofcorruption, with less focus on the posi-tive steps that have been taken to pre-vent and combat corruption. In thisway, our perceptions have become thefoundation of our understanding of cor-ruption.
Background
It was in May 2002 that the Departmentof Public Service and Administration,together with the United Nations Officefor Drugs and Crime, initiated a surveyinto the levels of service delivery andcorruption within the public service. Asample of service delivery sites of theDepartments of Home Affairs, Healthand the South African Police Serviceswere visited in KwaZulu-Natal andGauteng. Customers (service users) andpublic officials (service providers) par-ticipated in interviews. The detailedresults of this study have been publishedin a Country Corruption Assessmentearlier this year. This article seeks tojuxtapose the experiences and percep-
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:34 AM Page 6
7
I s s u e sS D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
tions of the clients against those of thepublic officials. In doing so, it becomesclear that there are chasms in certainareas that should be bridged. Some sug-gestions are made in this regard.
Scope of the Survey
Quantitative data was collected usingtwo separate questionnaires for publicofficials who interact with the publicand service users respectively. Self-administered questionnaires were usedfor the 600 service providers in the threedepartments using a combination ofstratified random sampling and quotasampling. These were geographically aswell as vertically spread toensure a broad consultativeprocess. In terms of the users’survey, face-to-face interviewswere conducted with 960clients. Qualitative informa-tion was obtained from inter-views with 24 senior officials(at management level) in thethree departments using a dis-cussion guide. One mustrecognise that there is a cleardistinction between the per-ceptions held by the respon-dents and factual reporting.Since this relates to self-reporting of acts and activitiesthat are commonly under-stood as unethical, if not crim-inal, they are, not surprisingly,lower than actual levels as wellas perceived levels.
Survey questions consideredthe following issues: organisa-tional climate, causes andnature of corruption in thepublic service, prevalence andexperience of corrupt practices, efficacyof departmental efforts in combatingcorruption including loopholes, theimpact of corruption on service deliveryand recording of best practices to fightcorruption.
What did the clients say?
In general, clients responded positivelywhen it came to the service they hadreceived. Most indicated that they cameto the site for a simple matter, whichthey felt was handled fairly and trans-
parently. As regards the quality of serv-ice and treatment received, the SAPSsites received good ratings. Almost all ofthe respondents at the KwaZulu-Natalsites felt that their cases were handledsensitively.
However, there was also the feelingthat the service was slow and that siteswere disorganised, especially at theHome Affairs sites, and more especiallyat the Gauteng sites as opposed to theKwaZulu-Natal sites.
Perhaps due to the size and nature ofthe services offered at the SAPS andHealth sites, most of the intervieweesknew someone at those sites. They alsoindicated that they preferred to
approach the person they knew for anyextra assistance. 11.9% of those inter-viewed in Gauteng believed that offi-cials at those particular sites always dofavours for friends and relatives, even ifthis leads to a breach of the rules. Themajority of the respondents consideredsuch acts to be unethical and corrupt.Relatively more people at the Gautengsites than at the KwaZulu-Natal siteswere of the opinion that corruption hasa negative impact on service delivery atthe institution where they were inter-viewed.
It was not unexpected that mostclients interviewed denied involvementof themselves or a family member inwhat could be regarded as unethical orcorrupt behaviour. In general, peopleclaimed that they did not usually payofficials for good service. The overallfeeling was that this would be an act ofcorruption, even though almost 20% ofthose interviewed in Gauteng felt other-wise. As regards those who admitted topaying a bribe, the amounts rangedfrom R20–R200 in KwaZulu-Natal andR10–R500 in Gauteng. There was also a general estimation that between 15–29 % of public officials are corrupt.Over a tenth of the customers inter-
viewed believed that publicofficials expected payment ofsome sort, over and aboveofficial payment, for servicesrendered.
Clients seemed ignorant ofwhat systems were in place toreport corruption. Most indi-cated that they would taketheir complaints to the SouthAfrican Police Services, evenif the complaint concerned aSAPS member. This is in spiteof the fact that the majority ofthe respondents felt thatpolice officers were the mostlikely of all the officials to beoffered a bribe, especially inorder to not arrest someone.
What did the serviceproviders say?
Most of the officials felt thatthey were doing very well,under the circumstances.These circumstances relate to
the lack of resources and equipment tocarry out their functions more efficient-ly.
Two-thirds of the public officials sur-veyed indicated that workplace rulesand regulations were written, welldefined, consistently enforced and suit-able to the nature of their work.However, especially in Gauteng, it wasperceived that personnel are employedand promoted based on familial, politi-cal and cultural lines. This was regard-ed as double standards, and broughtinto question the applicability of the
SAPS sites receivedgood ratings
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:34 AM Page 7
I s s u e s S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
8
existing framework. Almost 25% of theofficials interviewed believed that viola-tions of the rules could be concealed.
All the same, it was acknowledgedthat work in the private sector is hard tocome by, and that public service offersgreater security of tenure. There werestrong negative sentiments about salarypackages, and a third of the officialsinterviewed admitted that they weremotivated to remain because of possibleaccess to unofficial funds. Some alsoindicated that their employmeent in thepublic service granted them the oppor-tunity to glean information, networkand gain experiences that would makethem more attractive for employment inthe private sector.
In the Department of Home Affairssites, the majority of intervieweesopined that clients often offered gifts inreturn for more speedy service delivery.Over a third indicated having experi-enced this. Most of these were also of theview that their co-workers acceptedsuch gifts. A tenth admitted to such.Clearly, there is the perception and, to alesser degree, the experience that clientscan successfully seek underhand meansof addressing their needs more efficient-ly.
The survey clearly reveals that publicofficials are willing to report their col-leagues or superiors suspected ofinvolvement in corruption. However,they were dissuaded to do so because ofthe perception that whistleblowers arenot adequately protected. It was also feltthat the respective Departments did nothave an effective mechanism in place tofacilitate internal reports of corruption.
What does this tell us?
As far as the issue of service delivery isconcerned, the version of the clients andthat of the service provider seem liketwo sides of the same coin. There seemsto be general consensus that theDepartment of Health and the SouthAfrican Police Services are deliveringbetter service than the Department ofHome Affairs.
However, even though there was theoverall feeling from the clients that theyhad been treated fairly, almost half ofthe officials interviewed stated thatclients do not get equal treatment. Some
felt that those clients who offered bribeswere more likely to get better treatmentthan even acquaintances.
The survey also revealed that man-agers are aware of the need for user-friendly, current and well-circulatedrules and regulations to govern theworkplace. Furthermore, they identi-fied the need to facilitate feedback fromcustomers. A suggested remedy wasmore training of staff in customer care.Another suggestion was that facilitiesfor customers be improved, possibly bysimplifying and removing superfluitiesin the current systems of service deliv-ery.
The perception that there is wide-spread corruption amongst public ser-vants does not correspond with the levelof admission to committing such acts.Although this is not surprising, it doescall for some further enquiry and reflec-tion to determine the true state ofthings. Many of those interviewed at theSAPS and Health sites indicated thatthey prefer approaching someone theyknew for extra help. In spite of this,most also indicated that if an official didthem a favour, especially if it involved abreach of the rules, then this would becorruption. It would appear that the factthat an act is known to be disallowed isnot a bar, or even a deterrent, to engag-ing in such an act should it be deemednecessary.
The shortcomings and pitfalls of serv-ice delivery in all three Departments arehighlighted in the survey. However, itwas acknowledged that much could bedone to increase job satisfaction, boostmorale and improve facilities andresources.
From the side of the clients, anincrease in the salaries of public servantswas not a popular solution. It alsoemerged from the survey that there aretried and tested systems and best prac-tices to improve levels of service andcurb corruption. Improved controlmechanisms and tighter security werecited as possible solutions. It was identi-fied by the managers interviewed thatthese systems ought to be extended to asmany sites as possible.
Other possible improvements cited bythe interviewees include:• A system to track daily operational
spending.
• Improved procurement and stockcontrol systems.
• Spot checks by managers on clientsand service providers.
• Real time mechanisms for feedback.• Toll-free hotline.In respect of the latter, it appears thatfrom the side of the service providersand the clients the issue of clear report-ing lines on matters of corruption needsto be addressed.
Conclusion
What emerges from the survey is thatwe need to promote guidelines on pro-fessional ethics and train public servantson practical application of professionalethics. We also need to raise awarenessof the current legislative framework asit relates to corruption, with practicalguidelines on the rights of employeeswho blow the whistle on corruption, thenature of the witness protection systemand the roles and responsibilities ofexisting anti-corruption institutions.This in turn can lead to the encourage-ment of employees to blow the whistleon corruption within their work envi-ronments.
Public servants should understandand accept their responsibility to evalu-ate and report risks to internal auditfunctionaries in departments. The inte-gration of anti-corruption issues into thewider campaign to promote the BathoPele principles, with particular links tothe “I am proud to be a Public Servant”element of that campaign, would also bea useful tool.
We also need to educate the publicabout their rights and obligations. Thiswould include discouraging them fromattempting to offer gifts or other bribesin order to get preferred service.
As far as perceptions are concerned,effective management of media expo-sure is vital. Not only would this reducepossibilities of misconceptions, it wouldgo a long way towards increasing publicconfidence in the civil service.
The sentiments and the findings ofthis survey must not fall like silent rain-drops.
As civil servants, we need to heed theconcerns and praises of our customersand our colleagues in order to marry thetwo into harmony.
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:34 AM Page 8
9
S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2 I s s u e s
Quality improvement inhealth care world-widehas become an impera-tive. As part of the globalarena, South Africa also
had to do something in order to be com-petitive.
After 1994, with the demise of theapartheid regime, the governmentembarked on a number of legislativeand policy reforms, most of which putmore emphasis on the need for qualityservice delivery in all areas of gover-nance, particularly in health care.
The National Department of Health,for instance, recently adopted and pub-lished a national policy for quality inhealth care that serves as a nationalframework to guide provincial depart-ments in developing and ultimatelyimplementing their own initiatives aspart of a provincial quality improve-ment programme.
The Concept of QualityImprovement and Accreditationin Health Care
The quality of care must be defined inthe light of the provider’s technical stan-
dards and patient’s expectations.
1. The client perspectiveFor the clients and communities whodepend on health care facilities, qualitycare should meet their perceived needsand be delivered courteously and ontime. The client perspective on qualityis thus important because satisfiedclients are more likely to comply withtreatment and continue to use the healthcare facility.
2. The health service provider perspectiveFor the provider, quality care impliesthat he/she has the skills, resources andconditions necessary to improve thehealth status of the patient and the com-munity according to current technicalstandards and available resources. Theprovider’s commitment and motivationdepend on the ability to carry outhis/her duties in an optimal/ideal way.
A Model for Quality Improvement in Health Care
Generally, quality improvement pro-grammes are to a large extent based on
Transforming HealthService Delivery Through Quality
Improvement andAccreditation
Dr GD Nzanira, the
Medical Superintendent,
Grey's Hospital,
KwaZulu-Natal Province,
gives us a detailed
account of how to
improve quality and
manage change at a
health institution
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:34 AM Page 9
10
I s s u e s S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
a set of 10 steps that could be sum-marised in what I call a “Model forQuality Improvement in Health Care”.
Followed properly, this model couldyield the following results:• shared leadership and governance;• total quality management principles
applied throughout the organisation;• empowered staff and organisations;• better patients (clients) outcomes;• staff morale improved;• customer satisfied;• quality improvement
institutionalised; and• accredited facilities with the sub-
sequent benefits as seen earlier.The achievement of such results is areflection of transformation and change.No improvement can take place with-out change, and change cannot be disso-ciated with transformation.
A quality improvement programmemay be implemented gradually througha carefully planned, phased process, or itmay be implemented in one step, as partof a fundamental organisational change.
Principles of QualityManagement in Health Care
Recent experiences in applying qualitymanagement principles to health caresystems suggest that four principles (atleast) should be adhered to in an idealquality improvement programme:• Quality improvement is oriented
towards meeting the needs and expec-tations of the patients and the commu-nities.
• Quality improvement focuses on sys-tems and processes.
• Quality improvement uses data toanalyse service delivery processes.
• Quality improvement encourages a
multi-disciplinary team approach toproblem solving and quality improve-ment.
Dimensions of Quality in Health Care
Quality is a multifaceted and multi-dimensional concept. Apart from beingbased on the model indicated above andunderpinned by the principles listedabove, a quality improvement pro-gramme should be centred on thedimensions of quality in health care thatinclude technical competence, access toservice, effectiveness, interpersonal rela-tionships, efficiency, continuity, safetyand amenities
Approach to Developing a Quality ImprovementProgramme in Health Care
When implementing a quality improve-ment programme, an approach to befollowed must be agreed upon from theonset. Below is a discussion of the twoapproaches:
1. Comprehensive ApproachIn this approach, quality improvementpolicies, procedures and processes areimplemented simultaneously, starting atthe top and moving down the organisa-tion.
It begins typically with a thoroughreview of standards and specifications,and an assessment of health care andsupport services through either an exist-ing management information system ora monitoring system specificallydesigned to measure service quality.This will allow identification of priorityareas for quality improvement.
This approach works best when thereis a commitment throughout the systemto addressing quality of care and theavailability of necessary resources toimplement a quality improvement pro-gramme on a large scale in the organisa-tion.
2. The Problem-oriented ApproachThis approach puts emphasis on practi-cal, small-scale quality related activitiesthat produce incremental quality im-provements. It is based on the assump-tion that a monitoring system and amore systematic approach can be devel-oped over time, once problem solvinghas become part of the organisationalculture.
This allows an organisation to modifyand adopt the a problem-solving strate-gy before wider implementation.
In addition, a combination of the twoapproaches can be explored.
Identify Critical Success Factors
Once an approach has been agreedupon, the organisation needs to identifycritical success factors to ensure a suc-cessful implementation of the pro-gramme.
These key activities in developing aquality improvement programme takeplace concurrently and many of themmust continually be renegotiated as theprogramme expands and conditionschange. These key success factors aresummarised below:• Develop a purpose (mission) and vision
for the quality improvement effort.• Develop a written quality improve-
ment plan.• Foster commitment to quality.• Conduct a preliminary review of
quality improvement related activi-ties.
• Determine level and scope of initialquality improvement activities.
• Assign responsibility for qualityimprovement.
• Allocate resources for quality im-provement.
• Strengthen quality improvementskills and critical management sys-tems.
• Disseminate quality improvementactivities.
• Manage change.
PROBLEM SOLVING5. Identify the problem6. Define the problem7. Identify a team8. Analyse the problem9. Choose a solution10. Implement the solution
DESIGN PHASE1. Plan2. Set standards3. Communicate standards
4. EVALUATE
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:34 AM Page 10
11
S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2 I s s u e s
The Concept of Accreditation in Health Care
Accreditation may be defined as “arecognition by external experts indicat-ing that a health service facility substan-tially guarantees a quality service bycomplying with nationally and /or inter-nationally agreed standards for qualityhealth services”.
The main aim behind the principle ofaccreditation is to create an environ-ment of “continuous quality improve-ment” throughout the health care facili-ty.
In 1995 the Council for HealthServices Accreditation of South Africa(COHSASA) was registered underSection 21. It then embarked on a pro-gramme to develop standards for hospi-tals with the help of professional bodies
and societies both nationally and inter-nationally.
The types of standards developed arekey determinants for evaluating levelsof performance for hospitals. They areof two types:• Normative — standards that establish
what experts believe should happen; or• Empirical — standards that reflect
what is achievable in practice.The scope of these standards covers a
full range of management and clinicalactivities associated with the care ofpatients in hospitals.
These organisational standards coverall services provided by facilities andinclude management, clinical, infectioncontrol and occupational health andsafety, investigative, professional alliedmedicine, and other support services
With each of these service areas, sys-
tems are described by the professionalstandards.
The Accreditation Process
COHSASA found that hospitals enter-ing the programme were encounteringdifficulties in meeting the standards. Asa result, the quality improvement andaccreditation programmes, based on thelatest scientific methods of improvingperformance in an organisation wasdeveloped to empower staff to meetquality standards.
These methods are based on theprocess of continuous quality improve-ment and they bring about organisa-tional re-engineering and work towardsenabling all staff at all levels to under-stand the problems and processesunderlying their work; collect andanalyse data on these processes; generateand test hypotheses about the causes andflows in the work process; and designand test remedies to solve problems.
What does COHSASA do?
COHSASA works with facilities for aperiod of 18 to 24 months or longer andhelp them understand and measurethemselves against the standards.
They further facilitate the develop-ment of professional organisationalstandards on patient care, efficient usageof resources and continuous evaluationof service. They also help to empowerorganisations to develop and implementaction plans to meet the standards, andevaluate the degree to which these pro-fessional standards are met and thencertify (accredit) organisations that sub-stantially comply with them.
Benefits of Accreditation
Generally, health care facilities that havebeen accredited have many benefits.These include upholding of professionalstandards pertaining to quality serviceto patients, staff management andfinancial management, which encour-ages controlling bodies to provideresources and also to upgrade facilities.
Accreditation has been proved world-wide to be a powerful tool for re-engi-neering health care organisations and togearing them for a culture of continuous
Standards that focus on the care of patients. Standards that address the management of the organisation
Patient rights Leadership of the organisationContinuum of care Roles and responsibilities of staffPatient assessment Management of informationAccess to care Creation and maintenance of a safe
environment for patients, staff & visitorsCare planning and delivery Infection prevention and control Education of patients and his or her family Quality management when appropriate Human resources management &
development
1. Baseline surveyDegree of complianceis assessed and areasof non-conformance
are identified
4. External surveyIndependen surveyors
assess compliance
2. Implementation phaseHospital addresses areas of non-conformance through the
process of continous quality improvement
3. Internal surveyHospital conducts self
5. Technical committeeAssessment of accreditation
reports and recommendationsfor accreditation made
6. COHSASA Board of DirectorsAccreditation decision made
(Hospital awarded accreditationstatus 1, 2 or 3 years valid)
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:34 AM Page 11
I s s u e s S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
improvement.
An Integrated QualityImprovement and Accreditation ProgrammeImplementation Strategy
Before a comprehensive strategic plan isfinalised, organisations may consider thefollowing suggested systematic and step-wise strategy. With proper implementa-tion, this strategy will result in an organ-isation-wide performance improvement:
1. Consider generic elements of thestandard assessment manuals (SAM)provided by COHSASA.
2. Set criteria for selection of a multi-disciplinary team to steer the process,which integrates the above generic ele-ments.
These criteria include readiness tovolunteer expertise/experience, enthusi-asm and commitment.
Quite significantly, the committeesshould include resource holders who arein a position to provide resources to sup-port the programme and make manage-ment representative.
3. Select teams (a steering committee)at all levels of management with clearroles and responsibilities. These teamswould, among other things:• facilitate all Cohsasa visits to the facil-
ity• monitor, support and provide techni-
cal assistance to all quality improve-ment teams in their various activities
• assist staff to develop indicators andstandards and facilitate communica-tion about quality improvement issuesbetween top-level management andstaff.
Once a multidisciplinary team has beenselected, people can now be appointedor elected into a whole range of posi-tions e.g. chairperson, facilitator, secre-tary and their deputies.
4. Clarify roles and responsibilities ofeach of the above-mentioned teammembers
NB: The team established is a coreteam, whose members are full time onthe committee. The rest of the manage-ment team remain part-time membersand can be co-opted whenever requiredand necessary.
5. Assign responsibilities within theteam, according to generic elements of
the standards assessment manual(SAM).
6. Provide training in appropriateareas of Quality in Health Care for theQuality Team (Steering Committee) ini-tially then the Quality Forum members.
7. Establish same as at the organisa-tional level at Service Elements (depart-mental) level
8. Establish Professional Technicaland Management Advisory Committees(Teams) for the following:• Policy & Procedure Committee• Human Resources Development
Committee• SHE Committee (Health & Safety• Infection Control Committee• Resuscitation Control Committee• HTAC (Health Advisory Committee)• Utilisation Committees• Ethics Committee• Peer Review• Credentialing / Clinical Privileging• Clinical Audit• Pharmacy & Therapeutics
Committee• Patients ’Rights Committee• Theatre Users• Any other as may be required.Note: Avoid too many committees
9. Provide training in appropriateareas of Quality in Health Care to tech-nical and advisory committee members(training specific to their expected func-tions)
Once all the above has taken place,and all the role players have beenempowered through training etc. andCommitment has been built, the strate-gic plan can now be finalised as indicat-ed below.
Developing a Strategic Plan for Organisation-Wide Quality Improvement
Strategic ObjectivesStrategic objectives should be formulat-ed in relation to the generic and sub-generic standards in the managementstandards assessment manual. Actionplans should then be developed in rela-tion to the criteria of each sub-genericstandard.
In this way, all standards will be metin a systematic and integrated waythroughout the organisation.
Functional ObjectivesFunctional objectives are based on thedivisional standards assessment manualand are formulated in the same way asstrategic objectives.
Functional objectives are concernedwith services such as medical services,Nursing service, Administrative sup-port services, Maintenance service, etc
Rational ObjectivesThese are also based on lower level serv-ice elements and are formulated like thestrategic level objectives. They relate toservices such as medical in-patients, etc
ImplementationThe plan should be implementedaccordingly, applying basic project man-agement principles and techniques.
10. Design/review emerging servicesand committees
As the programme was implemented,these services have emerged and are ofcritical importance in the functioning ofa modern hospital.• Occupational Health & Safety Service
(Safety Health & EnvironmentCommittee)
• Infection Control Service (ICC)• Resuscitation Service (Resuscitation
Committee)• Health Technology Management
(Health Technology AdvisoryCommittee)11. Establish a Communication
NetworkIt is important to have a communica-
tion network between all stakeholdersin the organisation to ensure adequatemanagement co-ordination, avoidduplication and also ensure appropriatevalidation processes at the same timeallowing innovation and creativity inthe programme.
12
Services ElementsQuality Improvement
Teams (QIT)
Technical andManagement Advisory
Committees
HospitalManagement
QualityImprovement
Team
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:34 AM Page 12
13
I s s u e sS D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
12. Establish aQuality Forum
This forum is gen-erally to disseminatequality improve-ment activities with-in the organisationand to share experi-ences and lessonslearnt during theimplementation ofdifferent qualityimprovement proj-ects
13. Develop andimplement spe-cialised programmessuch as the ethicsmanagement pro-gramme, peerreview programme,credentialing andclinical privilegingprogramme (clinicalrisk management), clinical audit (clini-cal review) programme, and utilisationmanagement (utilisation review) pro-gramme.
External Evaluation
As at this point, the programme wouldhave been successfully implemented, anexternal evaluation can be introduced toguarantee or certify that quality is beingprovided.
Lessons Learnt
At Grey’s hospital, this programme wasimplemented in 1998 and Grey’s hasbeen accredited for a period of twoyears. In the process of implementationof this programme, significant lessonshave been learnt, some of which, with-out being exhaustive, are listed below.
Training is vital if such a programmeis to be a success.
However, participating in trainingactivities that do not yield immediateand concrete results can provoke resist-ance
The cost of meeting the standardsdepends largely on the size of the hospi-tal and varies from hospital to hospital.
Some hospitals find that the changesare substantially organisational andreport minimal costs.
Some hospitals (minority) requiresubstantial investments in equipment,such as defibrillators, etc. in order tomeet the standards
Many hospitals report overall cost sav-ings in spite of the initial cost of accred-itation and this is achieved as a result ofgreater efficiency and better resourcesutilisation.
Small-scale quality related activitiesrequiring immediate actions for imme-diate results produce incremental quali-ty improvements.
Leadership’s commitment through-out the organisation to addressing qual-ity of care is essential.
Learning to work effectively as a teamis challenging and is a continuousprocess. Building a high-performanceteam takes time and requires patienceand persistence.
External technical assistance is essen-tial. External financial assistance may berequired
The success of any quality improve-ment programme depends on the com-mitment of staff and managers and col-laboration amongst them and the out-side advisors.
While many principles set here canguide a quality improvement pro-gramme, each programme is unique anddepends on the insight and creativity ofits managers, health care pro-viders and
patients and communitiesserved.
There is no recipe fordeveloping a qualityimprovement programme. Itis rather a creative processthat requires flexibility inorder to adapt to a givenhealth programme's uniquefeatures.
A gradual, phasedapproach is frequentlyappropriate for organisa-tions with rudimentarymanagement systems.
Resistance to change isalmost inevitable when try-ing to implement a qualityimprovement programmebecause even healthy changesinvolve discomfort, uncer-tainty and conflicts, etc.
To minimise resistance tochange a careful, phased
approach to change is required, and anopen and trusting environment must becultivated. Staff involvement in plan-ning at all levels is essential.
Outside facilitators or experts canhelp organisations manage difficultchanges.
Top-level managers must make a spe-cial effort to communicate with staffduring the time of change.
Managers should be available toexplain changes, listen to staff concerns,and reassure the team that the changeswill eventually lead to improvement.
Conclusion
“Transformation begins with the indi-vidual.” — W Edwards Deming Ph.D.
If individuals are not transformed,they will not be able to transform others.Subsequently, they will not be able totransform their organisations.
Nicolo Machiavelli said: “There isnothing more difficult to take in hand,more perilous to conduct or moreuncertain in its success than to take thelead in the introduction of a new orderof things.
“We must all know that the first orderof things to be changed is I, the leader.After I consider how hard it is to changemyself, then I will understand the chal-lenge of trying to change others.”
Service ElementsQuality Improvement
Teams (QIT)
Technical andManagement Advisory
Committees
Hospital Management QualityImprovement Team
Hospital
QUALITY
FORUM
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:34 AM Page 13
14F
or Seadimo Chaba, service deliv-ery starts with “getting up in themorning everyday with a song inmy heart” as she heads straightfor her Johannesburg office at the
corner of Simmonds and Pritchardstreets in Johannesburg.
The dedicated lady, voted Boss of theYear 2002, believes that adding value inyour job should start with an individualbecause “if one clearly undestands one’spurpose of holding a public office, theywill be self driven to achieve” — amantra she is guided by in her ownwork.
After winning the Boss of the Yeartitle last October, the Deputy DirectorGeneral for Public Works andManagement Services in Gauteng is oneof the most popular public servants,epitomising the vision of Batho Pele inher approach to service delivery.
She conquered uncharted terrainwhen she was the first woman in thehistory of the competition, since itsinception 13 years ago, to receive thecoveted accolade. The national compe-tition was entered by 304 contestantswho were chosen by their colleagues.Her personal assistant, Beulah Killian,nominated her.
In the end Chaba pipped six othercontestants on the short list to receivethe title organised by TransnetFoundation.
P r o f i l e S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
Listen UpThe Boss has Spoken
Ms Seadimo Chaba, who was recently voted Boss of the Year, tells us about what makes her tick,
and how she manages to cope with a high pressure job and still succeed as a mother of two
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:34 AM Page 14
Noted leaders of black businessindustry, including Bheki Sibiya anddeputy CEO of Fabvest Investments,Dawn Marole, were among the panel ofjudges who voted for Chaba.
Chaba described the competition as:“A rigorous interrogation of your skills.Throughout the competition interviewsand presentations, I felt like I was look-ing for a high performance job as thepanel grilled us on issues of perform-ance and management skills. They thor-oughly looked at all the competenciesrequired for one to be a leader.”
Chaba potrays an unassuming moth-erly figure, but her success in severalprojects with her team indicates a firmand results-oriented leader.
Last year, her department promptedChaba’s winning streak by notching sev-eral accolades for their efficiency. At theinaugural Premier’s Service ExcellenceAwards last June, they came first andsecond by winning the gold and silverawards. Established by PremierMbhazima Shilowa as an incentivemeasure to civil servants in the region,the awards are meant to encourage gov-ernment workers to be dilligent in pro-viding efficient service to the public.
The chief function of the departmentis to provide public institutions with-good infrastructure and service themwell so as to enable other governmentdepartments to have the capacity andresources to deliver quality service topeople.
The public works department in thisregard becomes a unique departmentthat has service level agreements withother departments such as health, wel-fare, education, etc. It acts as an agentthat equips other departments withlogistical infrastructure and service, andalso maintain their workspaces.
The effectiveness of other govermentdepartments — such as how the educa-tional services resolves the issue of ade-quate school buildings — therefore relyon the efficient delivery of the publicworks department.
Chaba has cited drawing up detaileddata on health institutions — thedepartment of health is their majorclient — as one notable success. “Withthe data, officials can now pull outstrategic information on the status ofhealth institutions from their infrastruc-
tural, expansion and maintenanceneeds. The public works departmentalso provides office space for otherdepartments.
In her current portfolio, which shehas held since 2000, Chaba recalls howthey had to speedily start addressing theproblem of under-resourced hospitalswhich affected the morale of healthworkers.
“Four years ago, there were backlogs(of infrastructural development) in hos-pitals. Health buildings were not serv-iced properly and this affected delivery.In (Chris Hani) Baragwanath, forexample, we had to assess their mainte-nance systems and draw up new main-tenance plans.
“In other instances, it would takemore time to get a new hospital to bebuilt as there was more delay in thedecision-making processes than there istoday.”
Chaba cites the rewriting of the pub-lic works business model as a blue-printthat turned things around in theirdepartment and laid the foundation forground structures to be implemented.The structures monitor progress andalso have accountability measures tostem corruption.
“The new business model is the onethat proposed the scrapping of regionaltender boards to develop the new pro-curement board to tightly monitor theprocess of all government tenders.”
Chaba’s experience spans more than20 years in the fields of human resourceand change management, in both theprivate and public sectors, and includesstints in both the retail and chemicalindustries.
In provincial government, she alsoheld a position as chief director ofhuman resources for the Gautengprovince. She joined government in1996 and says being able to connect withpeople, and being able to achieve goalsas a team, has always been a priority inall the positions she has held.
“My vision is to see a governmentdepartment that is perceived to be deliv-ering and making people’s lives better.”
In its delivery process, the departmentalso strives to empower small and medi-um sized businesses through a projectcalled Kubakhi to share in their R600-million annual tender budget.
Chaba explains that Kubakhi was ini-tiated to develop skills in previously dis-advantaged communities, especially inconstruction and the maintenance ofbuildings. Up to R20 million of theirannual budget had to be given to devel-oping businesess to develop entrepre-uners.
Small contracts between R100 000and R500 000 would be reserved for themore than 50 contractors on their data-base under the Kubakhi project to con-test amongst themselves.
“Kubakhi made sure that small busi-ness learned through the help of con-sultants, had a growth plan and weretaught various skills such as projectmanagement, drawing up sound busi-ness proposals, to acquiring skills forconducting their businesses. Thedepartment has various support mecha-nisms in place to support such business-es,” said Chaba.
In the last five years since the incep-tion of the project, only 16 businesseshave managed to graduate from theprogramme to sustain themselves. Thisnumber is not enough to facilitate adynamic cycle of new entreprenuers andChaba’s concern is that some businesseshad adopted dependency to Kubakhiand aree not progressing out of the pro-gramme.
“These businesses which survivedfrom winning one or two tenders fromthe project every year, were not exactlythriving. We have now redesigned ourmodel to encourage more entrepreneursto get out of the system. Once a businesshas graduated from the system, it can beable to handle bigger projects.”
Another method of empowerment isthe strict stipulation of awarding bigtenders to companies that display gen-uine empowerment by teaming up withsmall or medium sized businesses.
“In such deals, we also try to monitorthe skills transfer that actually takesplace.”
Since winning the title, Chaba hasnow been exposed to the circuit of pub-lic speaking as her services are indemand in both government and corpo-rate circles.
“I have been so busy, I have to makean effort not to neglect my other life,that of being a mother to my two daugh-ters.”
P r o f i l e
15
S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:34 AM Page 15
16
I s s u e s S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
The Role of Projects in Systemic Change and
Partnerships in Education
Reflections on Experiences in
KwaZulu-NatalDR SZ Mbokazi — DDG, KZNDEC Education Management
and Professional Development Support Services — reflects
on developments in the education sector in KZN
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:34 AM Page 16
17
S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2 I s s u e s
The branch of EducationManagement and ProfessionalDevelopment Support Services isresponsible for managing and co-ordinating many directorates,
one of which is Teacher Developmentand Support. All of these directoratesultimately support and help improve thequality of learning and teaching in theKwaZulu-Natal Province.These Directorates are:• Curriculum Programmes• Extra-curricula Support Programmes
Guidance and Special needsProgrammes.
• Examinations and ContinuousAssessment and Testing Programmes
• Physical planning• Library Resources and teacher devel-
opment and support• Quality assurance• School management• School governanceThe vision of the branch as stated in itsstrategic management plan is to providequality education, which will fullydevelop the potential of each learner in ademocratic environment. In addition,the branch’s primary goal is to providequality education that will equip learn-ers with knowledge, skills attitudes andvalues to meet the challenges of thefuture. Every project that the branch accepts orundertakes has to contribute significant-ly to either one or both of these funda-mental principles.
Some of these projects are:Science/Maths Projects, DistrictDevelopment Support, Quality Learn-ing, Health and Sanitation Education,Resource and Information Network,Read, Coca Cola Science Project,UNICEF and Zikhulise, Effective SchoolManagement, Financial Management bySGBs, Umsinga Project Multi-PurposeBuilding, District Offices Improvement,Learner Representative Council Training,National Teaching Awards (NTA) andDevelopmental Appraisal System.
The role of the department is to mon-itor, supervise and support all projects.It is on the basis of the experiences gath-ered from these activities that thedepartment is then be able to reflect onthe projects and formulate an informedopinion about their efficiency and effec-tiveness.
Projects have provided the depart-ment with valuable opportunities,which include the following:• The educators, subject advisors and
superintendents of education man-agement have been able to worktogether.
• Educators have been able to developtheir expertise tremendously by par-ticipating in materials development.
• Educators have had a chance to betrained as trainers of the trainers(TOTs).
• Educators have been able to step asideand re-look at their own classroompractice and the use of materials.
• Office-based officials have been ableto engage the classroom situation in ameaningful way — at least to revivetheir skills in materials developmentor to try their hand at that.
There is no doubt that these opportuni-ties have been useful in professionaldevelopment and life-long learning.Their added advantage is that each par-ticipant is becoming an extended profes-sional who is not restricted to minimumchores that are usually done by profes-sional educators.
Educators have become mediators oflearning and curriculum developers.Projects are the best strategy for realstaff development in the department
The spread of projects in KZN is asfollows:South Durban – 89North Durban – 82Ulundi – 64
Pietermaritzburg – 69Ladysmith – 60Port Shepstone – 58Vryheid – 47The total number is 202. The valueequals R209 777 811
Projects are jointly supervised, moni-tored and supported by both the fundersand the department.
This gives the department an inde-pendent opinion about whether eachproject supports the mission andwhether it would reflect the needs of thebeneficiaries.
Other types of projects are: IDD,EMD, Teacher Development, SGBdevelopment and training, Infrastruc-ture development, Resource Provision,Resource Centres, WSD LearnerSupport and Development, EMIS,Research and Development.
The other question that must beasked if a project is introduced iswhether it will have sustainable devel-opment and whether it will visiblytransfer skills to the target groups. Thiswould ultimately result in a high per-formance organisation that focuses onresults and the quality of its servicedelivery.
Seconded district or regional staff andhead office personnel have been inte-grated into the permanent office-basedstaff by the process of absorption. Theskills they have are a permanent featureof the department.
It pleases us to know that if they getpromoted elsewhere or retire they willleave vacant posts that have to be adver-tised and filled.
If regions do not replace them afterthey are promoted to other positions,then those regions will be permanentlyimpoverished and deprived of theknowledge and skills from projects.
KZN PEDU: Annual Analysis Report(PEDU/DB/002) P23
ReferencesEducation Development Projects in KZN:Annual Analysis Report (PEDU/DB/002); Reporton all development projects in KZN, 2002 inPietermaritzburg.Provincial Education Department Unit:Capacity Building of the KwaZulu-NatalDepartment of Education and Culture to imple-ment district school Development Projects. (IDFGrant No. TF 27 27 6) November, 2001
Office-based officials have been
able to engage the classroom situation in a
meaningful way — at least to
revive their skills in materials
development or to try their hand
at that
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:34 AM Page 17
18
I s s u e s S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
One of the defining attributesof a democratic polity is therule of law and respectthereof. This explains whydemocratic governments
throughout the world focus on thisaspect of social ordering. It equallyexplains why the post-colonial Africahad to grapple with this aspect.
Worldwide experiences show thattransition in governance always impactson the legal system. The closest exam-ples to us are Mozambique andZimbabwe in terms of the efforts theyboth put into the transformation of theirlegal systems so as to create a home forboth Western and African legal systems.Back home, we are now in the ninthyear of our non-racial democratic gov-ernment. It is perhaps time to pause andconsider the nature of developments inour legal system.
This article is aimed at evaluating thedelivery of the state justice system in thepost-1994 South Africa. It would havebeen easier just to say, as a friendadvised me, “justice system”, as accord-ing to him everyone reading wouldknow what I am talking about. Myfriend thinks that by saying state justiceI am unnecessarily complicating an oth-erwise simple matter.
Because he is not alone in thinkingthat way, I find it apposite to clarify thisconcept. I use “state justice” in order to
differentiate this form of justice fromthe many other forms of justice thatexist out there. There are many struc-tures and forums that busy themselveswith the meting out of justice. Amongthe very many that exist are the clan, thetribal court, the church, the street com-mittees, NGOs, groups often called“vigilantes”, etc. The focus here is onlyon the state justice.
The article is divided into two phases,namely mid-80s to mid-90s and mid-90sto 2002. The first phase seeks to shortlygive a descriptive overview of the stateof justice in that period so as to shedlight on the legal developments as theyinformed the course followed by thenon-racial democratic government.The second phase will depict the legalreforms that took place after 1994 aswell as the broader ideological under-pinnings thereof.
I do not intend delving into the nitty-gritties of these phases. That has beendone elsewhere (See Jonathan Burchell2002; Wilfried Schärf & Daniel Nina2001; Mark Shaw 2002; Van der Spuy2001; Lazarus Kgalema & Paul Gready2001, Louise Stack & Paula Soggot 2001,among many others).
Equally worth stating is the fact thatwhere specific institutions and eventsare mentioned this is in a way of anexample as opposed to providing anexhaustive list.
Boyane Tshehla, of the
Institute of Criminology
at the University of
Cape Town, argues that
while South Africa has
made impressive strides
in transforming the state
justice system, many
citizens — especially
blacks — still lack access
to justice. He makes
some recommendatioins
as to how we could
start the process of
redressing the
imbalances
Delivering JusticeA Broad Look at the State Justice System
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:34 AM Page 18
19
I s s u e sS D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
Mid-80s to mid-90s
Before the 80s there was a relativelyclear differentiation (based on race) inthe South African courts. The countryhad what some people called a “duallegal system” in that within the statelegal system there was a body of law(s)applicable to black South Africans andanother applicable to other racialgroups. The former is convenientlyreferred to as the African customary lawand the latter as the Western law.
From the 80s onwards we started see-ing the opening up of the Western law toaccommodate black South Africans aswell. In 1983 the Hoexter Commissioncondemned the existence of courts forblacks in the urban areas. As a result theCommissioner’s courts and their appel-late wing were abolished in 1987 (SpecialCourts for Blacks Abolition Act 34 of1986).
There are many other changes thattook place during this period to bear tes-timony to the bridging of the gapbetween African customary law and
Western law. Among the many othermeasures that took place during thisperiod are the establishment of theBlack Divorce Court, the Small ClaimsCourt, etc. When changes took placewith negotiations commencing in theearly 1990, the legal field was way aheadas far as ridding itself of racial discrimi-nation in the administration of justice.
Having said that, however, it is worthnoting at this stage that the systemremained the domain of white maleSouth Africans as far as staffing wasconcerned. This tended to underminethe legitimacy of the system. There was,therefore, a need to increase the legiti-macy of the judiciary in the eyes of thepublic, and black South Africans in par-ticular. This was the time for imagebuilding and reconciliation.
This is reflected in the policyapproach that emerged during this peri-od as epitomised by the National CrimePrevention Strategy (NCPS) producedin 1996. The spirit of the NCPS was thatof benevolence and reconciliation. Forinstance, crime was seen more as the
result of social problems than as arationally undertaken activity. It wasalso during this period that the maininstitutions that ensure adherence to therule of law in a democratic polity wereintroduced. The Constitutional Courtserves as an outstanding example in thisregard. After its introduction this courtproved the sharpness of its teeth by out-lawing corporal punishment and thedeath penalty. Equally important wasthe general condemnation of the brutal-ity and confession-based crime investi-gation of the police by both the newpolitical and police leadership.
Mid-90s to 2002
Immediately after the first democraticelections of 1994 one started hearingconcerns about the rise of crime in thecountry. This concern preoccupiedmany South Africans ranging fromordinary citizens to political leaders.More often than not the blame was laidat the doors of the new democracy, theConstitution (and the Bill of Rights) in
Mr Lesiba Kgwele, a member of parliament, in apensive mood before the Rustenburg Magistrate’s
Court where he recently appeared as a plaintiff
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:34 AM Page 19
I s s u e s S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
20
particular. The charge was to the effectthat criminals have more rights thanlaw-abiding citizens. This debate — themerits of which will not be discussedhere — is relevant as far as it influ-ences/d the type of legal reforms thatstarted emerging during this period.There was a notable move from thebenevolent spirit of the NCPS towardsmore punitive forms of law enforce-ment and punishment in the sphere ofcriminal justice. Examples of such puni-tive measures are:• Amendment of bail laws to make it
difficult for suspects to get bail inrespect of serious cases.
• Mandatory minimum sentences req-uiring presiding officers to imposespecific sentences in respect of seriousoffences
• Bill aimed at giving the state morepowers in dealing with suspects of ter-ror-related crimes (e.g. to keep themlonger for interrogation).
• The Domestic Violence Act whichamong other things imposed positiveduties on police officers to effect arrestunder particular circumstances.
Other less punitive measures that areequally worth noting are the introduc-tion of Family Courts, Justice Centres,the Child Justice Bill as well as theSimplification of Criminal ProceedingsBill. These indicate that though wenotice a move to punitiveness in thecriminal justice system, other sections ofthe justice system remained loyal to the
spirit of the NCPS. It is my submissionthat such commitment is evident inthose fields less connected to crime andcrime control.
Reflection of the reform process
There is no doubt that an effective jus-tice system is indispensable in a demo-cratic society. The foregoing show thecommitment of the South African gov-ernment towards that goal as evident inthe existence of watchdogs such as theConstitutional Court as well as the judi-cial independence enjoyed in the coun-try. It is therefore appropriate to look atthe impact of the above-mentionedreforms.
Moving from the premise that at theheart of legal reform lies the quest toimprove the accessibility of the justicesystem, the most pertinent question herebecomes: have these reforms improvedaccess? This is a difficult questionbecause access is tied to the socio-eco-nomic status of individuals and commu-nities.
Many studies show that the majorityof South Africans still lack confidence inthe justice system (Shaw 2002) and thatthe conviction rate of reported cases (inrespect of criminal cases, which fare bet-ter than civil ones in terms of the acces-sibility of courts) is very low. Many casesthat are reported do not reach prosecu-tion stage. Even more cases do not getreported at all.
It has therefore been a rough transi-tion from the apartheid form of justiceto a more inclusive and human rightsinformed form of justice. In general theprogress made by the post-1994 govern-ment in terms of justice delivery is laud-able given the constraints of resources.
The worrying factor remains theinaccessibility of the justice system. It isinaccessible for geographical reasons(people stay far away from courts), eco-nomic reasons (poor people cannotafford costs necessary for litigation) andpsychological reasons (the incongruencybetween the Western law and theAfrican traditional practices as well per-ceptions about the ineffectiveness of thelaw). These barriers cannot be eradicat-ed overnight but there has to be concert-ed effort directed at working on them.
Measures taken by the government
thus far focused on improving the statejustice but in many ways left the major-ity of citizens outside the fold of the sys-tem. The state lost an opportunity to tapinto the resources that communities,especially black communities, use forsocial control. The South African LawCommission acknowledges the roleplayed by these structures but has todate not come up with a clear plan ofaction regarding the interactionbetween these state and non-sate formsof justice.
In the meantime communities getfrustrated by the inaccessibility of justiceand occasionally take the law into theirown hands or resort to organised groupsof crime control, generally referred to asvigilante groups.
Let me state that the Minister ofSafety and Security is of the opinion thatvigilante action is “not a response to theactual needs of the people” (Briefing byMinister on 12 June 2002 available onhttp://www.pmg.org.za). I think this is amatter that calls for a revisit on the partof the Honourable Mr Minister and hisdepartment. A host of studies show thatvigilante action cannot be divorced fromthe ineffectiveness or perceived ineffec-tiveness of the state justice system, atleast in South Africa.
Immediately one thinks about struc-tures such as “Sungusungu” ofTanzania, Judeceiros of Brazil, the 1989
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:34 AM Page 20
uprisings in Argentina, etc. Even here athome these examples abound from ourpast experiences. We may even forgetabout the past and concentrate on thepresent: any member of the so-called“vigilante groups” will tell you that theyare involved in their actions because ofthe inefficiency of the state justice sys-tem.
Whether that is real or a mere percep-tion is beside the point. Review of theliterature on this subject, both national-ly and internationally, in fact makes acompelling case that the link cannot bedenied.
Recommendation 1
While acknowledging the progressmade in improving the accessibility ofthe justice system as well as its effective-ness, there is a lot that remains to bedone. It appears that the main problemsare the lack of communication betweenthe community(ies) and the justice sys-tem and its functionaries as well as theunfamiliarity of many citizens with theprocedural basics of the courts.
This feeds the many perceptions thatresult in the lack of confidence in thesystem. This can be remedied by:
a. improving communication betweenthe justice system personnel and thecommunities; and
b. embarking on education about theworkings of the justice system. Themain focus could be in schools andsupplemented by the use of the mediaadvising people about the basics ofcourt procedures as well as timeframes.
Recommendation 2
The tried and tested Small ClaimsCourt model may have to be expanded.We only have about 139 of these courtsas on 03 June 2002 and they do not sit inall magistrates’ courts. As these courtsare cheap and informal in procedure —they are inquisitorial — and they sitafter working hours, they could go along way to improving the accessibilityof justice.
Conclusion
Indeed there are many changes thatneed to take place but the above twowould be a major step in addressing theimmediate and urgent needs of themajority of South Africans presently sit-
ting at the periphery of the justice sys-tem.
In the final analysis even the worst ofsceptics will concede that South Africahas made impressive strides in trans-forming the state justice system. Myconcerns, which have been raised here,do not question the process. There havebeen many positive and indeed fruitfuldevelopments, such as the introductionof the Scorpions, the Asset ForfeitureUnit, etc.
These achievements should make usall proud. In the same breath, we wouldbe deluding ourselves if we do not gobeyond improving the state justice byopening it up and making it more acces-sible in the ways suggested above orsimilar ways. Most importantly wemust admit that the majority of SouthAfricans — especially blacks —remainoutside the state justice system.
We should not take lightly the damn-ing diagnosis of the criminal justice sys-tem that Dr Paseka Ncholo pronouncedthus: “The criminal justice system inSouth Africa does not take into accountthe organic expressions of the black com-munities and has no respect for the lawsand customs that govern the majority ofthe people.” (Ncholo 1994:5).
21
I s s u e sS D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
When members of the Landless People’sMovement demonstrated in front of the
Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court recently,they were speaking on behalf of a
growing number of South Africans whobelieve that the state justice system is not
moving fast enough to transform itself.
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:34 AM Page 21
I s s u e s S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
22T
he Department of Public Serviceand Administration has, since1994, engaged in a number ofinitiatives with a view to facili-tating and driving the transfor-
mation of the Public Service as stipulat-ed in its mandate.
These interventions range from theintroduction of a new managementframework that propagates a distinctionbetween managerial prerogatives andmatters of mutual interests, the decen-tralisation of the responsibility for themanagement of resources to depart-mental level, the concept of perform-ance management in the Public Service,and many other aspects.
Although the responsibility for theimplementation of these initiatives rest-ed wholly with the respective authori-ties in departments, the Department ofPublic Service and Administration hadto facilitate advocacy training, and mon-itor and assess the impact of the initia-tives through regular progress reports.
To further assess the progress of theseinitiatives, the Department over the pastthree years used other methods such asworkshops, questionnaires, interviews,focus group meetings and site visits tonational and provincial departments.
The Problem
Subsequent reports indicated that there
were a number of bottlenecks in theprocess that generally impeded the suc-cessful implementation of transformationinitiatives, hence the 2001 workshops.
The 2001 workshops were arrangedmainly to investigate these bottlenecks.
Among many things, there were alle-gations about the tendency among HRpractitioners to reject change and holdon to old human resource administra-tion systems irrespective of their rele-vance to the current situation
The Context
Survival in the global market poses simi-lar challenges to both profit and non-profit making organisations. To survivethey both have to follow a four-path strat-egy that relates to the need to attract andretain talented people, foster a collabora-tive culture, develop leaders, and driveknowledge management strategies.
Vision of an Integrated HR
If the HR function in the public servicewants to be a true partner in theimprovement of service delivery, HRpeople should shed the image of beingpaper pushers and move away fromworking in silos.
The HR function in the public servicemust be repositioned to fulfill the fourroles defined by the Dave Ulrich model,
Integrating HumanResources in the
Public Service
Alvin Rapea reviews a
number of weaknesses
identified at a number
of workshops held
in 2001 on the effectivity
of the HR corps within
the public service sector.
He recommends some
turnaround strategies to
overcome these
challenges
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:34 AM Page 22
I s s u e sS D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
which are: Strategic Partner, Adminis-trative Expert, Employee Championand Change Agent.
The model simply means that HRshould be informed by the strategy ofthe public service in fulfilling their role,hence the vision of establishing an inte-grated HR in the public service.
HR should be structured in such away that it becomes part of line bydeveloping performance consultantswho will help line managers to addresstheir performance problems.
It is thus imperative that the HRManagement System is rejuvenated sothat line managers can be empowered tomake decisions that impact on the peo-ple with confidence and are in a positionto manage performance.
Employees in the public serviceshould be developed to meet their per-formance demands and fulfill theircareer aspiration, and their physiologi-cal and psychological needs addressed.HR should be a catalyst for change.
As catalysts for change, HR should beinstrumental in:• building and maintaining enabling
systems;• creating a shared need for change;• shaping a vision; and• mobilising commitment at all levels.The model simply means that HRshould be informed by the strategy ofthe public service in fulfilling their roles.In this regard, HR’s scope has broad-ened beyond administering prescripts toactually driving the organisational per-formance programme.
All corners and sides of the trianglehave to make an equal contribution toensure that the triangle does not collapseand break down the ability for the innercore to build and retain competencies forimproved service delivery. All the circlesare inter-dependent on one another.
This is how HR in the public serviceshould be by 2004.
Until such time that HR people in thepublic service define themselves asbeing responsible for building andretaining competence across ranks, thetransformation of the public service willbe undermined.
IHR Workshops
This article is compiled from a report
from focus group workshops conductedby the Department of Public Serviceand Administration (DPSA) through-out the Public Service. A total of 12focus group workshops were held, threefor National departments and nine forProvincial departments.
Three hundred and sixty eight HRpractitioners and senior HR managersfrom National and Provincial depart-ments, of whom 70% were from theProvincial departments, attended theworkshops. The purpose of the work-shops was:• to assess the capacity of HR Prac-
titioners/Specialist in supporting linemanagers in the transformation of thePublic Service;
• to solicit input from the HR practi-tioners and managers on how tostrengthen HR to support line man-agers to transform the Public Servicefor improved service delivery; and
• to give feedback on some of the inter-ventions that the DPSA has beenengaged in, in the past three years (e.g.on the outcome of the IntegratedImplementation Programme (IIP),Recruitment and Selection,
Performance Management, HR andEE planning, HRD baseline research,Senior Management Services,Negotiations and Labour Relations, etc)
The workshops were designed aroundthe following themes in the form of pre-sentations with a view to provoke adebate based on the DPSA experience inits interaction with departments atprovincial and national level:• Towards an Integrated HR in the
Public Service.• Setting the scene for improved service
delivery.• Attracting, maintaining, and retaining
professionals in the Public Service.• Beyond training and education in the
Public Service.• The state of Labour Relations in the
Public ServiceAlthough the workshops were meantfor senior managers in HR (i.e. level I3and above), the majority of departmentssent low-level practitioners. This raisesserious concern to the DPSA since sen-ior managers are responsible for strate-gic decisions. As a result, most of thelower level employees found it difficultto participate in the discussions.
Education andTraining (HRD)
OrganisationalDevelopment and
ChangeManagement
EXPECTED OUTCOMECompetencies forsustainable service
delivery
Employeewellbeing and
labour relations
Remunerationand conditions
of service
Human resourcemanagement systems
and administration
Integrated HR Model:FIG 1
23
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:34 AM Page 23
I s s u e s S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
Results of the Previous Evaluation Reports
The introduction of the new manage-ment framework in 1999 changed theculture of the public service.Accordingly, departments no longerdepend on the central government forrules and procedures. Instead they haveto interpret policy frameworks anddevelop policies.
Although this is a major paradigmshift, the general feeling among partici-pants was that it was not supported by aproper change management strategy.The Integrated Implementation Pro-gramme, which is a good initiative tosupport the implementation of change,was not used and thus there was noprior assessment to establish whetherdepartments are ready to successfullyimplement change.
The IIP report revealed many inter-esting findings, and on the basis of thosefindings a number of subject-specificevaluations were done in the areas ofrecruitment and selection, performancemanagement, HR planning, and train-ing and developmentThe results can be summarised as fol-lows:(a) Recruitment and Selection (OPSC)
(i) Advertisements vague — not clearwhat the key performance areas are
(ii) Short-listing criteria often not docu-mented
(iii) Shortlists sometimes altered by sen-ior managers/executive authoritywithout referring to the job profile
(iv) Selection panels often not represen-tative
(v) Panellists mostly not skilled in per-sonnel selection and in utilisingeffective interviewing techniques
(vi) Results of the interviews are oftennot recorded.
(b) HR Planning(i) Majority of the departments have no
approved HR plans(ii) Confuse HR plan with EE plan(iii) HR plans not linked to the depart-
mental strategic plan(c) Training and Development(i) Training is fragmented and uncoor-
dinated(ii) Not linked to service delivery and
transformation(iii) Not linked to strategy and not com-
petency-based(iv) Training providers not meeting the
transformation demandsIssues in the above report and discus-
sions that ensued led the DPSA team toconclude that there is a serious capacity
problem within HR and that HR oper-ates in "silos".
HR Readiness to be Catalysts for Change
(a) Competencies of HR practitioners:Status QuoUntil recently, HR in the Public Serviceand the country as a whole has neverbeen seen as strategic for socio-econom-ic development. In addition, despite thecritical role that HR plays in the PublicService for improved service delivery,there has generally been little concernabout the capacity of HR practitionersin the Public Service.
Also, recruiting HR practitioners hasgenerally not been that vigorous becauseof a myth that HR qualifications are nota basic prerequisite compared to financequalifications in accountants. As aresult, the Public Service has an abun-dance of HR practitioners who are actu-ally personnel administrators and do notunderstand the impact of their work onoverall service delivery in the PublicService.
The end-result is a backlog in captur-ing leave forms on PERSAL which hasresulted in a huge contingent liabilityfor the state as an employer in terms of
Strategic objective and plan
HR plans, job profiling, definitionof competencies and
performance measures
Workplace skills plans andindividual and goup/team
development plans
Work organisation anddefinition of functions
FIG 2
24
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:34 AM Page 24
25
I s s u e sS D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
“unused” vacation leave days at retire-ment.
In one province it was reported that alllabour relations practitioners are formershop stewards who are still loyal to theirrespective trade unions. As a result, dur-ing “stayaways” they don’t provide statis-tics required to effect the policy of “nowork no pay”. They cited lack of propertraining especially after appointment asthe sole reason for such behaviour.
In addition, the quality of skills devel-opment plans by departments was verypoor. HRD or training managers,among other things, see this as an add-on and an exercise to comply with theSkills Development Act, hence the de-linking of the role of the SkillsDevelopment Facilitator from that ofthe HRD/Training Manager.
Generally, HRD/training practition-ers see job profiling and job evaluationas the responsibility of Work Study offi-cers. As a result, in most if not allprovinces, this responsibility has beencentralised in the Premier's Office.
Job profiling and evaluation, howev-er, is a good base for the development ofindividual or group development plansthat feed into workplace skills plans,and are informed by the departmentalstrategic plans as illustrated in the fol-lowing manner:(b) Reasons behind the current statusCurrently, because of too much specialisa-tion in HR, many people work in silosand have no interest in jobs that fall out-side their scope. As a result, there is lesssharing of information and learningamong officials. Most provinces do nothave official platforms to share informa-tion, e.g. learning networks.
Secondly, while HR in departments isresponsible for the development andimplementation of performance man-agement systems, its deliverables havenot been clearly defined and it is notaccountable to anyone for the results.This is because line managers and exe-cuting authorities do not understandHR roles and responsibilities.
Thirdly, the major obstacle at ensur-ing HR accountability is delegation ofpowers. As long as decision-making inHR still rests with the executing author-ity, it will be impossible to hold theHOD and HR units accountable forsuch decisions.
This is the situation in most provin-cial departments. Some of the executingauthorities in these provinces try to jus-tify the failure to delegate powersdownwards by means of the PublicService Regulations, 2001.
The performance management sys-tem in the public service will remain a“pipe dream” if the fundamental princi-ple of delegation of powers and accept-ance of subsequent accountability is notaddressed. Forces that feel threatenedby the transformation of the PublicService will succeed in maintaining thestatus quo.
Fourthly, instead of being catalysts forchange, HR practitioners are actuallyfuelling resistance to change by advanc-ing thousands of reasons why thingscannot be done differently. They werealso reported to use their interpretationof the law and prescripts to instil fearamongst line managers.(c) DeductionIt is clear from the above that HR in thepublic service is generally not ready forchange. While there are exceptions tothis statement, based on our interactionwith provincial and national depart-ments, and looking into evaluation/assessment reports mentioned earlier inthis article, it is clear that a lot of workneeds to be done to improve the capaci-ty of HR in the public service.
Strategies to Reposition HR
One of the factors that emerged from theabove discussion about why transforma-tion of the public service is not happeningas quickly as envisaged is a generally
weak HR base. As a way of strengthen-ing the HR base, delegates in the above-mentioned workshops agreed on the fol-lowing as critical turnaround strategies.(a) Improving HR’s capacity to drive thetransformation processDelegates expressed the need for:• Standardised competency profiling of
HR practitioners with a view to guideidentification of standardised short-term, medium-term and long-termtraining and development pro-grammes and to give direction in thedevelopment of relevant learnershipsand the implementation of focusedskills programmes.
• The development of a Model HR unitfor circulation as a best practice and toassist Departments to restructuretheir HR functions.
• A benchmark exercise on the PublicService profile against best practicesof comparable employers in the pri-vate sector and other comparableinternational organisations.
• The introduction of integrated uni-form and flexible HR information sys-tems.
• Line managers to be exposed to HRissues.
(b) Facilitating and improving informa-tion sharing in the Public ServiceIt was agreed that it is critical to:• Establish a National HR forum —
along the lines of the CFO council orGITO council.
• Establish an ionter-provincial HRforum for the provinces to learn fromeach other.
• The development of a journal on HRissues (along the lines of the IPM pub-lication)
(c) Improving the work environmentfor HR practitioners
To ensure that HR practitioners getthe necessary support, it was agreed thatstrategies must be developed to foster:• Buy-in from and support of top man-
agement.• Linkages of the DPSA'’s programme
of action with regard to HR issueswith departmental annual plans.
• The evaluation of the intended impactand unintended consequences of thePublic Service regulatory framework.
• The introduction of incentives to en-courage HR practitioners to upgradetheir skills and competencies.
Instead of beingcatalysts for change,HR practitioners are
actually fuellingresistance to change
by advancingthousands of reasonswhy things cannt be
done differently
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:34 AM Page 25
26
I s s u e s S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
Strategic Management –The Contextual Setting
Performance Management is nota stand-alone management tool.It is one of a suite of strategicmanagement tools. These tools,when used together, are very
powerful. To understand wherePerformance Management fits we needto clearly define what StrategicManagement means, and to distinguishbetween strategic and operational man-agement.
Strategic Management is “the plan-ning, decision-making and actions thatdetermine the success of the organisa-tion in the medium- to longer-term”.
Two key features of StrategicManagement are:• the time-frame — Strategic
Management is concerned with themedium- to longer-term (around fiveyears); and
• the focus — is on outcomes ratherthan on inputs and outputs.
In contrast Operational Management:• has a short-term time-frame (no more
than 12 months); and• the focus is on the inputs and outputs
necessary to achieve desired out-comes.
In well-managed organisations, there
are strong links between strategic andoperational management.
At the strategic level, management isconcerned about setting goals and objec-tives (which are the desired and, there-fore, planned for outcomes) and formu-lating strategies (essentially identifyingoutputs) to achieve those outcomes.
At the operational level, managementis concerned about formulating opera-tional action plans and budgets (whichdocument planned outputs and plannedinputs of resources required to achievethose outputs) and the implementationof those action plans (that is, in manag-ing the actual inputs of resources toachieve actual outputs).
At the most basic level, StrategicManagement is about finding answersto three key questions:• Where are we now?• Where do we want to be in about five
years time?• How are we going to get from where
we are now to where we want to be?Typically, we address these three ques-tions through strategic planning.
What is a strategic plan?It is a broad master plan that:• states the organisation's mission and
objectives, and• shows how these will be achieved over
a five-year period.
PerformanceManagement as a
Strategic Tool
At the end of October 2002,
visiting Australian
Management Consultant,
Terry Layton, was invited to
facilitate a DPSA Learning
Workshop in Pretoria on the
subject of Individual
Performance Management.
Terry maintains that, to be
effective, an Individual
Performance Management
System needs to be an
integral part of an
organisation’s Corporate
Performance Management
System. The following article
is based on Terry Layton’s
workshop presentation.
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:34 AM Page 26
27
I s s u e sS D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
How then does an Operational Plandiffer from a Strategic Plan?An Operational Plan is “a one-year sliceof the strategic plan expanded to showthe input and output details of individ-ual tasks, including their resourcing andscheduling”.
This definition clearly shows the rela-tionship between strategic and opera-tional planning.
As suggested earlier, a Strategic Planseeks answers to three broad questions.Operational Planning is concerned withdetail and seeks answers to the questionshighlighted in Rudyard Kipling’s poemSix Honest Serving Men:
I keep six honest serving-men(They taught me all I knew);Their names are What and Why andWhenAnd How and Where and Who.
That is:The first honest serving man can beexpanded into the operational planningquestion: “What outputs are required toachieve our desired outcomes?”, withthe answer translating into a task list.
The second honest serving man canbe expanded into the operational plan-ning question: “Why is that task andoutput necessary for achievement of theoutcome?” The answer provides therationale for doing what we plan to do.
The third honest serving manbecomes: “When should the task startand finish, and when should it takeplace relative to other tasks?” Theanswers to these questions provide uswith the operational timetable andsequencing chart.
The fourth honest serving man trans-lates into: “How is each task to beaccomplished?” From this, we deter-mine task methodologies.
The fifth honest serving manbecomes: “Where should each task beperformed?” The answer may deter-mine the physical location of the task, orperhaps identify the unit or branch inthe organisation where it should takeplace.
The final honest serving man is veryimportant, and really becomes a series ofquestions:• “Who is responsible, at each level in
the organisation, for achieving the
required outputs?”• “Who are the corporate and unit
‘champions’ — the people most com-mitted to achieving each output?”
• “Who will be responsible for the tech-nical aspects of each task?”
• “Who has to do what to achieve theoutputs of each task?”
• “Who will guide and facilitate taskimplementation?”
So far, we have discussed the StrategicPlan, and how it must link withOperational Plans. We have not consid-ered about where Budgets fit into thescenario.
We can define the Budget as being “astatement of:• the anticipated financial resources that
will underpin implementation of theoperational plans, and
• the anticipated financial outcomesfrom the effective implementation ofthe operational plans.”
Operational Plans and Budgets are real-ly just two sides of the same coin!Operational Management is about day-to-day task management — ensuringthat resources are made available whenrequired, and that tasks are completedon time and to an acceptable standard.
Budgetary Control is ensuring on aday-to-day basis that financial resourcesare available and that defined financialoutcomes are achieved.
I have been emphatic about the differ-ences between Strategic Managementand Operational Management (includ-ing Budgetary Control) and also thelinkages that must bind OperationalPlans and Budgets to Strategic Plans. Ihave highlighted these differences andlinkages because, unless we understandthem, we are in danger of making someclassic mistakes when we bringPerformance Management into theequation.
Because Performance Managementoperates within an annual timeframe, itis tempting to look upon it as a tool ofOperational Management, akin toOperational Planning and BudgetaryControl. The key, however, is the focus.A properly constructed PerformanceManagement System (PMS) focuses onoutcomes rather than outputs andinputs, and it is this characteristic thatfirmly identifies Performance
Management as a tool of StrategicManagement.
Focusing on PerformanceManagement
What exactly do we mean by perform-ance management? There are manydefinitions. However, a classic exampleis that of Professor Jon S Bailey from theFlorida State University in USA, andthe Founder of The Society ofPerformance Management. He definesperformance management as: “... thesystematic, data-oriented approach tomanaging people at work that relies onpositive reinforcement as the major wayto maximise performance.”
Note the three components of thatdefinition:• systematic (clear processes and proce-
dures);• data-orientated (“if you can’t measure
it you can’t manage it”); and• positive reinforcement (i.e. the system
is used in a positive, non-threateningmanner).
The United States Department ofEnergy also discusses a systematic, data-oriented approach to performanceimprovement within the definition ofperformance management, that is it is a... systematic approach to performanceimprovement through an ongoingprocess of:• establishing strategic performance
objectives;• measuring performance;• collecting, analysing, reviewing, and
reporting performance data; and• using that data to drive performance
improvement.Before moving on to a specific methodof performance management — the“Balanced Scorecard” — it is worth not-ing that the concept of a balanced set ofperformance measures is now widelyaccepted
The central idea is to focus on a smallset of critical business domains or fieldsand to use a small number of criticalmeasures within each domain or field tomeasure performance.
There are several different approach-es to this concept of using a balanced setof performance measures
There is the classic “BalancedScorecard” approach encapsulated by
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:34 AM Page 27
I s s u e s S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
Robert Kaplan and David Norton intheir renowned book, The BalancedScorecard. Kaplan and Norton use four“fields” in their measurement of per-formance:• Financial — How do we look to our
stakeholders?• Customer — How well do we satisfy
our internal and external customers'needs?
• Internal Business Process — Howwell do we perform at key internalbusiness processes?
• Learning and Growth — Are we ableto sustain innovation, change andcontinuous improvement?
The United States Department ofDefence uses a similar set of fields fortheir Balanced Scorecard methodology:• Financial — Cost efficiency, deliver-
ing maximum value to the customerfor each dollar spent
• Customer Satisfaction — Providequality goods and services, effectivedelivery and overall customer satisfac-tion
• Internal Business — Internal businessresults leading to financial success andsatisfied customers
• Learning and Growth — The abilityof employees, information systemsand organisational alignment to man-age the business and adapt to change.
It is evident that the US Department ofDefence uses only slight variations to theclassic Kaplan and Norton approach. Asdoes Brisbane City Council inQueensland, Australia where the fourfields used are:
• Financial Outcomes Perspective• Community and Customer Perspec-
tive• Business Processes and Innovation
Perspective• People and Learning Perspective
Before moving on to other variationsof the concept of using a balanced set ofperformance measures it is worth look-ing at what outcomes Brisbane CityCouncil (BCC) actually seeks to meas-ure within each of the four fields.
For a private-sector commercial busi-ness, the bottom line is always a keyobjective. If you consistently fail tomake profits then you will rapidly goout of business and no other objectiveswill matter any more. But the publicsector is not driven by profit.
Under its Financial Outcomes Field,
28
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:34 AM Page 28
29
I s s u e sS D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
BCC measures two key areas of finan-cial performance:• financial capacity (has it got the rev-
enue base and reserves necessary tosupport the levels and standards ofservice delivery expected of it by itsconstituents), and
• value for money from Council’s busi-ness and services.
Under its Community and CustomerField, BCC focuses on what it sees asthree key aspects of community and cus-tomer performance:• customer service excellence — meas-
ured relative to objective servicedelivery norms;
• satisfied community, measuring howthe community perceives servicedelivery, and
• the enhanced livability of the City ofBrisbane.
Under its Business Processes & Inno-vation Field, BCC seeks to measure:• continuous process improvement,
which leads to more cost-effectiveservice delivery;
• well managed risk — essential for anypublic sector institution;
• strategic alignment — positioning theCouncil in relation to where it wantsto be in the future; and
• innovation and product development— again aimed at continuousimprovement in service delivery.
Finally, in its People and LearningField, BCC focuses on what it sees asthree key aspects of people and learningperformance:• flexible and adaptable workforce;• capable employees; and• satisfied employees.The US National Partnership forReinventing Government (NCR) advo-cates a “Balanced Measures” approachto performance management based onthree fields:• employee perspective;• customer perspective; and• business perspective.In his book Keeping Score: Using theRight Metrics to Drive World-ClassPerformance consultant and manage-ment author Mark Brown suggests amodel based on five fields:• Financial Performance;• Process/Operational Performance;• Customer Satisfaction;• Employee Satisfaction; and
• Community/Stakeholder Satisfaction.Then there is the “Triple Bottom Line”approach, which is gaining favouraround the world. This approach is usedas a framework for measuring andreporting corporate performanceagainst:• economic parameters;• social parameters; and• environmental parameters.It is sometimes referred to as the “prof-it, people and planet” approach.
All of the above are variations on atheme, and a common thread runningthrough all of these methodologies isthat the focus on a critical few fieldsand, within each field, a focus on a crit-ical few specifically outcome-based vari-ables.
I agree totally with author and con-sultant Mark Graham Brown whowrote that “... the most common mis-take organisations make is measuringtoo many variables. The next most com-mon mistake is measuring too few.”
I have deliberately spoken aboutPerformance Management at an organ-isational level.
Organisations cannot achieve objec-tives. An organisation’s objectives areachieved for it. Organisations are inan-imate, passive players. Their employeesare the active players. Only they, work-ing together, can achieve an organisa-tion’s objectives.
An organisation will only achieve itsgoals and objectives if most of itsemployees have workplace goals andobjectives that are aligned with those ofthe organisation.
All this boils down to just one thing
— performance management at anindividual level is an integral part ofperformance management at the organ-isational level. Indeed, organisationalmanagement is ALL about achievingorganisational outcomes through peo-ple.
So, when we set up a performancemanagement system we need not con-cern ourselves about whether we are set-ting up a performance management sys-tem at the organisational level orwhether we are doing it at the individ-ual level.
The simple fact is that an organisa-tional level performance managementsystem that does not cascade down tothe individual level is like a house builton a foundation of sand. There is nostable base and it is doomed to failure.Similarly, an individual level perform-ance management system, unrelated toorganisational goals and objectives, is anonsense concept.
In the next section, we look at thesteps involved in introducing perform-ance management into an organisation.
Implementing a PerformanceManagement System
The following six-step process is a use-ful way of describing how a perform-ance management system might best beintroduced into an organisation.
Step 1: Define the organisation’s mis-sion and its strategic performance objec-tivesWhat we are saying here is that thestarting point for developing and imple-menting a performance managementsystem is the development of a strategicplan. What is our mission? What arewe trying to achieve?
Now it is quite likely that manyorganisations will already have in placea five-year strategic plan that includes aMission Statement and CorporateObjectives. That’s good. The thing weneed to keep in mind is that aPerformance Management System hasan annual rather than a five-year timeframe and hence it is necessary to definestrategic short-term performance objec-tives.
These objectives MUST be directlylinked to the longer-term objectives and
Organisations areinanimate, passive
players. Theiremployees are theactive players. Only
they, workingtogether, can achieve
and organisation’sobjectives
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:34 AM Page 29
I s s u e s S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
30
MUST clearly be steps along the path toachieving the longer-term objectives.
Step 2: Establish an integrated perform-ance measurement systemWhat do we mean by an integrated per-formance measurement system? Thereare at least three aspects of integration:• Integration across fields (eg.
Financial, Customer, InternalBusiness Process, and Learning andGrowth).
• Integration through organisationallevels (eg. Corporate, Branch, Section,Individual).
• Integration of annual measurementswith five-year objectives.
Integration across fields goes to theheart of the balanced scorecard idea.The various fields are not independentof each other. They interact with eachother in often complex ways. The beau-ty of the balanced scorecard concept isjust this interaction. We are forced tomake decisions from among competing,desirable goals.
Integration through the levels wehave already spoken about. Essentially,we cascade objectives and their meas-urements down through the organisa-tion. We start with corporate level goalsand then determine what branch levelgoals must be achieved in order toachieve those corporate goals. Butbranch goals will be achieved only if keysection goals are achieved and these, inturn, will not be achieved unless indi-viduals, working together, achieve theirworkplace goals.
Finally, it is essential to break downfive-year goals into annual goals that,together, will achieve the longer-termgoals. This is an essential step in ensur-ing the vital connection between thestrategic plan and the performancemanagement system.
Step 3: Establish accountability for per-formancePerformance Management works ifindividuals are held responsible forachieving realistic strategic performanceoutcomes that they have had a role indetermining and to which they are com-mitted.
It cannot be stressed enough that cor-porate bodies do not achieve anything inthemselves. They are merely structures
that allow the individual corporate staffto achieve individual outcomes that, col-lectively, become the outcomes of thecorporate body.
Only human beings can be heldaccountable for performance.Allocating accountabilities among cor-porate employees is a key to achieving aworkable performance managementsystem.
Step 4: Establish a process or system forcollecting performance dataA common management saying is: “Ifyou can’t measure it, you can’t manageit.” True enough, but what are we goingto measure? Perhaps our old friends,Kipling’s Six Honest Serving Men canhelp us. Remember how the poem goes:
I keep six honest serving-men(They taught me all I knew);Their names are What and Why and WhenAnd How and Where and Who.
What are we going to measure?Answer: Those things that indicate theachievement of significant desired out-comes.
Why measure those indicators?Answers: Because these are the indica-tors of how well we are performing inour jobs in relation to the significantoutcomes we are trying to achieve. Inother words, they are key performanceindicators (or KPIs).
When are we going to carry out themeasuring? Answer: Ideally it would besimultaneously with the achievement orotherwise of the outcome.
This is not always possible, of course,but the longer the interval between per-formance and its measurement, the lessuseful the measurement as a manage-ment tool.
How are we going to collect the meas-urement data? Answer: By whatevercost-effective means that satisfies thecriteria of:• relevance;• timeliness;• accuracy; and• ease of collection.Where are we going to find the data?Answer: This is easy — where out-comes become apparent.
Who will collect the data and who willmake use of it to manage performance?
Answer: To both questions, the ideal per-son is the person whose performance isbeing measured. Realistically, however,someone else will collect the dataalthough we should always try to use aperformance management system to pro-mote self-management by staff.
Step 5: Establish a process or system foranalysing, reviewing and reporting per-formance dataWe are often told that we live in an“information rich” age. Wrong! Welive in what might be called a “datarich” age, although I suspect that a “datapolluted” age might be a more accuratedescription.
Data only becomes useful when it hasbeen turned into relevant information.That requires analysis, review andreporting to the person or people capa-ble of making use of that information.
Step 6: Establish a process or system forusing performance information to driveimprovementI call this the forgotten step. The wholepoint of a performance managementsystem is that it is a tool for performanceimprovement. But improvement willonly happen if there are processes inplace to review progress towards theachievement of outcomes for informingdecision-making aimed at performanceimprovement.
The management of outcomeachievement is what strategic manage-ment is all about.
ConclusionUsed as a component of a corporatestrategic management system, an inte-grated and balanced individual per-formance management system canbecome a “... systematic, data-orientedapproach to managing people at workthat relies on positive reinforcement asthe major way to maximise perform-ance”. As such it is a powerful tool forimproving both individual and organi-sational performance.Terry Layton is the Governance Sector Specialistat Brisbane City Enterprises Pty Ltd — the con-sulting and commercial arm of the Brisbane CityCouncil. He is the Project Director for theAustralia-South Africa Local GovernancePartnership Project funded by the AustralianGovernment through the Australian Agency forInternational Development (AusAID)
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:34 AM Page 30
31
I s s u e sS D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
Governments throughout theworld are faced with thechallenge to modernise theirprocesses to provide servicesto citizens at ever increasing
levels of convenience. This is a result ofthe fact that:• citizens are becoming more and more
sophisticated due to the exposure tomodern technologies in their dailylives, e.g. cellphones; and
• ever-increasing levels of service expe-rienced by citizens in their dealingwith business, e.g. internet banking.
The availability of and access toInformation and CommunicationsTechnologies (ICTs) offer opportunitiesto governments to interact with citizensin ways that traditional mechanismscannot achieve. The question in thiscontext is: what is e-Government, andwhat are its promises and benefits to cit-izens?e-Government is about:• using technology (especially ICTs) as
an enabler to facilitate governmentservice delivery by improving internaloperations of government, reducingcosts and turnaround times, increas-ing accessibility of public services to
citizens, and enabling them to interactwith government through multiplechannels at their convenience;
• rethinking current service deliverymechanisms and finding the best pos-sible ways to deliver the same servicesmore effectively. The integration ofrelated services across and withindepartments with a view to allow thecitizen more convenience when deal-ing with government; and
• redesigning the way in which govern-ment is organised in a manner thatmakes sense to the citizens.
e-Government does not suggest doingaway with traditional contact-type serv-ice delivery mechanisms but rather thatthese be complemented by more effec-tive and convenient means by takingadvantage of technological innovations.Obviously it is hoped that with time,electronic transactions will take overfrom the traditional physical contact-type services as more citizens get accus-tomed to dealing with government elec-tronically in much the same way asAutomatic Teller Machines (ATMs)have become the primary means (formany bank customers) of dealing withbanks.
LeveragingTechnology to
Support ServiceDelivery
Jack Shilubane,
Manager: Policy,
Strategy & Regulation,
Office of Government
Chief Information Officer,
is looking ahead to the
future where citizens will
be using technology
more and more in their
interactions with
government
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:34 AM Page 31
I s s u e s S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
32
Current Fragmented Service DeliveryCurrently, government is organisedaccording to departments, which oper-ate in silos. They are all governed byspecific regulations, which often do notencourage the seamless sharing of infor-mation between systems, even if the sys-tems are within the same department.This leads to a situation where certainprocesses requiring the authorisation orinteraction of different systems/depart-ments are prolonged. For example, inorder to apply for company registration(which is done by the DTI), it is neces-sary to verify that the directors of thecompany do not have a criminal record;this database is kept by the SAPS. It isalso necessary to check whether thedirectors have permanent residence — adatabase which is housed at theDepartment of Home Affairs.
This process requires the interactionof at least three departments and there-fore implies that requests have to bemade in writing to the particulardepartments for them to do a search onthe individuals applying for companyregistration whether they comply withthe requirements of the law.
This situation impedes the speedydelivery of services to the citizen. Oftenthe citizen is burdened with having tomove from department to departmentinquiring about the status of their appli-cations.
The citizen therefore carries the bur-den of identifying the departmentresponsible for the delivery of a specificservice and if interdepartmental interac-tion is required the citizen becomes theintegrator. The citizen also has the bur-den of supplying the same informationevery time they interact with govern-ment.
Integrated Customer Service
For government to work better (i.e. tothe satisfaction of citizens), it is neces-sary that government is organisedaccording to business processes ratherthan according to departments. Theorganisation of government should besuch that citizens can easily interactwith government resulting in improvedservice delivery. The citizens should beable to request services and information
about government from a single point.Government service delivery should beorganised in a manner that is organisedaround the citizen’s life events: fromcradle to grave for a natural person andfrom incorporation to dissolution forbusinesses.
ICTs offer avenues that facilitate suchan organisation of government servicedelivery. A multi-channel delivery
approach, which gives the user of gov-ernment services an option to choose themedium and channel that they are com-fortable with, is possible. This will com-plement the current contact-typeapproach to service delivery, with theuse of kiosks, intermediaries, retail out-lets, telephone and faxes, as well as cel-lular phones.
In order to ensure social inclusion, it ispossible to use technology in a mannerthat enables citizens with various dis-abilities to interact with machinesthrough voice prompts and other mech-anisms that take into account their dis-abilities and inabilities. Governmentwants to ensure the delivery of informa-tion and services to citizens in a lan-guage of the citizen’s choice. Citizenswho do not feel comfortable dealingwith government in either English orAfrikaans, should have the option tointeract with government in any of the11 official languages.
The use of ICTs to speed up deliveryof services, will have the benefits of thefollowing.
Health information
Birth, passport, ID, Death
Welfare Home Affairs Health
Traditional Approach:Separate solutions,the customer is theintegrator
Pension, grants, etc
For government to work better (i.e. to the satisfaction
of citizens) it isnecessary thatgovernment is
organised accordingto business process
rather than accordingto departments
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:34 AM Page 32
33
I s s u e sS D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
• Increased productivity in the PublicService — Government services willno longer be confined to the normaloffice hours thus enabling the process-ing of far more transactions than withcurrent contact-type services. Citizenswill be able to interact with govern-ment anytime of the day using anymedium they are comfortable with.This also offers avenues for the train-ing of current data capturers in orderto enrich their jobs to focus on otherfunctions such as approvals of leaveetc.
• Citizen convenience — Citizens willdeal with government as and whenthey want to through a channel oftheir choice.
• Reduce costs of service delivery —Whilst there will be huge investmentsin infrastructure in the beginning, it isforeseen that the migration to e-Government will in the long termresult in reduced costs for servicedelivery.The integrated customer service fore-
seen through the Gateway presupposesthat the customer will have a single viewof government in its entirety. The citi-
zen will have a central point throughwhich he/she can access public servicesthus eliminating the need for the citizento have an understanding of how gov-ernment is organised in order to dealwith government.
Technology will act as the integratorof government services, allowing citi-zens the opportunity to give govern-ment information once and have itupdated in all the relevant databases ofgovernment. This will ease the burden
of supplying information to governmentas and when some details or informa-tion about the citizen change; therewill be a single place where this infor-mation can be changed.
It must be emphasised, though, thattechnology is but just a means ofenabling this; there needs to be a carefullook at the business processes and a leg-islative framework rework to enable theseamless sharing of information.
What informs government’svision on e-government?
Our vision about using technology as anenabler to fast-track public servicedelivery is premised on the following:• the increase of productivity;• reduction in the costs of service deliv-
ery; and • provision of convenience to the citi-
zen.These are in turn supported by four pil-lars, which rest on the foundation ofcompetent skills to drive and supportgovernment ICT.The pillars are the following:• Inter-operability;• Information Security;• Economies of Scale; and• Elimination of Duplication.The appropriate institutional frame-work to ensure the realisation of thisvision has been set up and comprisesamong others agencies such as SITA.SITA is the prime systems integratorand also has a role of being the centralprocurement agency of governmentICT goods services, thus enabling therealisation of economies of scale andelimination of duplications.
The Centre for Public ServiceInnovation looks at encouraging inno-vation in the Public Service as well assetting up of Public-PrivatePartnerships.
The Government InformationTechnology Officers’ Council (GITOCouncil) advises the Minister for PublicService and Administration on theappropriate policies to use of technologyin government to facilitate service deliv-ery. There are also a number of key roleplayers apart from the above-men-tioned, which mainly comprise govern-ment departments involved in the ICTsector.
Health information
Birth, passport, ID, Death
One view on allGovernment Services
Pension, grants, etc
P r o c e s s I n t e g r a t i o n
Citizen Convenience
Lowere
d Cos
tsIncreased Productivity
e-GovernmentBusiness Case
IT Se
curit
y
Inte
rope
rabi
lity
Econ
omie
s of S
cale
No
Dupl
icatio
n
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:34 AM Page 33
34
I s s u e s S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
Case studies have historicallybeen used as interactiveteaching methods by mostlyand exclusively those in theacademic world. In the aca-
demic world, case studies have beenused to demonstrate real life examplesof what happens in the actual life ofpublic servicing.
Useful as they are for relevant andcontextually based teaching, teaching/classroom based case studies tend to lackthe contextual understanding of whathappens in the real world of public serv-icing. As the process of public servicetransformation begins to unravel someexperiences and lessons, and the need toinculcate a learning culture in the publicservice, the use of case studies relevant
and derived from that experience isbecoming increasingly important.
The case for case studies
In order to find practical solutions to thechallenges public servants face, and toavoid to reinvent the wheel as has hap-pened many times in the public servicesince transformation began, there is agreat need to share real practical goodand best practices, and nurture a cultureof learning from each other’s experi-ences. Case studies are important toolsto facilitate that process. Numerousprojects are being implemented andmethods tried and tested. The resultscoming out of these trials and projectscontain lots of valuable lessons and solu-
Case Studies andtheir Value in the
Public Service
Bongani Matomela of the DPSA explores
the strengths and the limitations of case
studies, and how these tools can be
utilised to broaden the information base
with regard to studies underpinning
service delivery improvement
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:34 AM Page 34
35
I s s u e sS D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
tions (obviously adapting in line withspecific dynamics becomes necessary insome situation). Of extreme importanceis to identify cases worth capturing andsharing with clear lessons. Through vis-its and other numerous projects that weget exposed to in the public service, wedraw in and develop best practice casestudies.
Important lessons can be learnt bylooking to other departments and publicorganisations for benchmarks and bestpractices. The private sector, whetherin industrial, commercial, or service sec-tors, does that through experimentation,massive investment in cutting edgeresearch and development, and instill-ing best practices from a range of indus-tries other than their own.
Non-governmental organisations arerenowned for their best practicesderived from their own experienceswith working with communities on theground. The public sector has to followthese trends.
Case studies are a knowledge andlearning tool which contribute toimproved service delivery, and often inthe public service their potential is notalways fully understood and appreciat-ed. It is also important to bear in mindthat a case study is not just past or com-pleted projects, but can also be projectsand work in progress with some impor-tant lessons to learn.
Through this journal, we are keepinga repository of best practices throughcases. We have published and dissemi-nated case studies on best practices onroad and public works service deliveryimprovement, mobile community polic-ing, putting people first through multi-purpose community centres, restructur-ing of state assets, social developmentand poverty alleviation, to name but afew.
Exploring a Case Studymethodology relevant for public service
As a powerful knowledge and learningtool, it is important to explore what theimportant ingredients of a practicallyrelevant and replicable case study areand what it should aim to achieve. Itcould be said that a good case studyshould provide the reader with suffi-
cient background to the project, theprocesses involved, the nature anduniqueness of the intervention, theresults achieved and lessons learntthrough that experience.
What follows is a guide on what toincorporate in writing a good case studythat has practical relevance to publicservice delivery. Although it is notexhaustive, we encourage practitionersto use this guide as a basis in developingtheir cases and write-ups
• BackgroundThis first part of a good case provides abackground and introduction of theproject and gives the audience/reader anunderstanding of the circumstances andthe context that led to its initiation.
For example, in a social developmentproject case study, a background couldbe the geographical location of the areaand extent of socio-economic backlogs,demographic profile of the targettedcommunity/beneficiaries, factors thatprecipitated the initiation of the project,etc.
In a successful crime prevention casestudy, background could be the crimeprofile before the intervention, histori-cal and present law and order and polic-ing and trends in the area, etc.
• ProblemBuilding from the background, this sec-tion highlights the specific problem/sthat justified the case for initiation of theproject and intervention.
This is a very important part of thecase because the nature of the problemexplains what the project initiator wasout to achieve, and naturally informs themethod of intervention used and theresult achieved thereof.
• Method/Intervention/Solution usedPerhaps the most central ingredient of agood case study project is the decriptionand explaination of the intervention/solution used in addresing the problem,and how it was/is.
This part has to inform the reader ofquestions like: “What did you aim toachieve and how was it done? Howunique and innovative was it, and inwhat way? Who were the stakeholdersinvolved and what was/is their mannerof involvement? What kind of
resources were or are being utilised inimplementation and fulfillment of theproject goals, and how were/are thoseresources acquired?
• Results achievedResults are very important as theyreflect and demonstrate the outcome ofthe intervention and methods used inthe execution of the project. In a verypractical way/s, what did the interven-tion/project do to the beneficiary com-munity/client. How did it address andchange the previous situation and theproblems.
For example, to what extent did a suc-cessful crime prevention programmereduce the crime rate, or if it is a pro-gramme in progress how is it progress-ing/what are the tangible demonstratedresults thus far? What were the otherunintended results achieved? Whatwere the major obstacles and, if theywere overcome, what method was usedto do that?
• Lessons learnedA case study is a learning tool. A casestudy must be replicable — one of theimportant ingredients of a good casestudy is that it must provide the reader,be it an official or member of the public,with lessons to learn and to adapt thosein their own situations.
In the public service delivery spherethis is important because it provides oth-ers with ideas in implementing similarprojects in their own domains, what toanticipate and expect and/or not expect,how to deal with challenges, and avoid-ing mistakes.
What can the reader and the generalpublic learn from the project? Whatshould they do and not do? What werethe problems and challenges, and howbest to deal with them? Highlight howthe project dealt with issues of integra-tion, co-ordination, etc, and what theresults were.
A good case identifies the issues,explains what happened, reflects onthem, and raises key emerging conclu-sions.
There exists a greater need to use casestudies as knowledge and learning toolsthat practitioners in various fileds in thepublic sector can use to improve servicedelivery.
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:34 AM Page 35
36
C a s e S t u d y S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
Themba Maluleke,
Project Manager of the
Alex Renewal Project,
highlights the difference
between two major
urban renewal projects,
in Alexandra and
Katorus townships, and
draws our attention to
the lessons learnt from
both projects
This paper discusses UrbanRenewal Project approaches inSouth Africa with specific refer-ence to the two large pro-grammes that have been devel-
oped in Gauteng: the now completeKatorus Special Integrated PresidentialProject (KSIPP) and the AlexandraRenewal Project (ARP). These projectsare used as the case studies for illumi-nating the lesson for similar large-scaleurban renewal projects. The secondaryaim of the paper is to highlight the keydifferences between these two projectsas an illustration of the generic and theunique components of project areas andthe resultant approaches that need to beadopted.
Introduction to Urban Renewal Projects
The KSIPP was the first approved RDPPresidential Lead Project, later termedSpecial Integrated Presidential Projectsor SIPPs. These projects were definedwithin the RDP, the base developmentdocument and philosophy that emanat-ed from the new government in 1994. Ithas been noted that RDP was more thana development framework for the coun-try. It aimed at reordering politics, theeconomy and society.
The national profile projects thatflowed from it or were located in the
same era had high and wide-rangingexpectations of comprehensive ap-proaches to development. The notion offocused development, of focusing ener-gies in one area, came out of a need toprovide visible, quick delivery as a meansof showing government’s willingnessand capacity to deliver.
Seven urban renewal projects wereidentified for areas in crisis “(t)o kick-start development in major urban areas,focusing on violence-torn communitiesand communities in crisis” (RDP WhitePaper, September 1994). They were ini-tiated within the first 100 days of SouthAfrica’s newly elected, democraticadministration.
These seven and later 13 projects thatwere linked with the RDP and withSouth Africa’s first democratic develop-ment wave, then, were chosen largely fortheir visibility, potential impact andcapacity to be implemented in the short-term.
A second political term heralded anew set of area-based developmentprojects in 1999. These renewal projectswere also area based. They were con-ceived in a more stable political climatethan their SIPPS predecessors and theirconsequent objectives tend to focus onboth visibility and broader, long-termdevelopment objectives from the outset.The key Gauteng project in this realm isthe Alexandra Renewal Project.
A Tale of TwoTownships:
Renewing Katorus and Alexanda
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:34 AM Page 36
C a s e S t u d y
Objectives of the Katorus SpecialIntegrated Presidential Project
The Katorus Special IntegratedPresidential Project (KSIPP) is one ofthe most comprehensive developmentprojects ever undertaken in SouthAfrica. It is estimated that the popula-tion of the area defined as Katorus(incorporating Katlehong, Thokosa andVosloorus) is one million.
The KSIPP was initiated by then-President Nelson Mandela as aReconstruction and DevelopmentProgramme in November 1994 with theapproval of R645 million, and complet-ed (save for minimal outstanding proj-ects) five years later in March 1999.
The overall aim of the KSIPP was “torepair, rehabilitate and provide housing,security, social and engineering servicesin Katorus so as to:• Establish a safe and secure environ-
ment where law and order is upheldby an effective police service.
• Ensure the effective and ongoing pro-vision of engineering services. The
target level for service provision was:— A secure and effective water con-nection to each stand;— Wet sanitation or a flush toilet oneach stand;— House to house refuse removal;— Effective road accesses to everystand including tarred primary andsecondary roads and gravel tertiaryroads;— Domestic electricity to each stand;and— Telephone and postal services toeach stand on demand.
• Provide schools, libraries, adult educa-tion, clinics and hospital services thatare at standards and levels that arefound nationally in South Africa.
• Provide recreational facilities withinwalking distance and in terms of theneeds and priorities of each commu-nity.
• Provide housing within the frame-work of the RDP to as many familiesas possible.
• Provide access to safe and convenientpublic transport including rail, bus
and taxis.• Ensure the effective administration of
Local Government services with pay-ments by residents of reasonablecharges for acceptable servicesreceived.
• Promote the development of formaland informal business.”
It is notable that these objectives reflectthe priority needs as identified up-front,i.e. the normalisation of the areas and afocus on the upgrading of engineeringservicesDuring that period in Katorus:• Engineering services including sewer-
age, refuse removal, roads, stormwater, rail, electricity and telephoneswere rehabilitated throughout thearea.
• Three new police stations and 23 satel-lite police stations were established, 68patrol vehicles were purchased and anSOS emergency communication sys-tem was established.
• Some 2 000 houses damaged duringviolence in the area were repaired,emergency services were provided to
S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
Hundreds of residents recently converged on Alexandra Park to celebrate the township’s 90th birthday
37
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:34 AM Page 37
38
C a s e S t u d y S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
all informal settlements, and 12 500new houses were developed.
• One hundred schools were repairedand upgraded, 15 clinics wererepaired and extended, three sportsstadiums were upgraded, 500 com-munity constables were given lifeskills training, and120 youths weregiven hard skills training.
The level of completion at the end of thefive-year programme represented bytotal expenditure was 96,4%.
At the official opening of Parliamentin February 2001, the State Presidentannounced a seven-year plan to redevel-op Greater Alexandra in Johannesburg.The estimated budget forthe Alexandra RenewalProject is R1,3 billion overseven years.
Objectives of theAlexandra RenewalProject
The Alexandra RenewalProject seeks to fundamen-tally upgrade living condi-tions and human develop-ment potential withinAlexandra by:• substantially reducing
levels of unemployment;• creating a healthy and
clean living environ-ment;
• providing services at anaffordable and sustain-able level;
• reducing levels of crimeand violence
• upgrading existing housing environ-ments and creating additional afford-able housing opportunities; and
• de-densification to appropriate land.This will be undertaken in a mannerthat encourages high levels of commu-nity involvement, civic pride and sus-tainable local authority administration.
From the outset the two projects weredifferent in that socio-political factorsand objectives, and particularly the sta-bilisation of the area, directly motivatedKatorus, while Alexandra was motivat-ed by socio-economic factors withunemployment and overall environ-mental improvement receiving high pri-ority. The ARP is focused on achieving
a new urban form that is reflective of anew South Africa.
The case for the two townships
Why Katorus?The history of Katorus was fairly typicalof urban black townships, being under-developed, deprived of basic servicesand devoid of institutional manage-ment.
The combination of active under-investment in these areas which wereseen as dormitory towns in theapartheid era, and the institutional col-lapse of the illegitimate Black Local
Authorities, resulted in these areasbeing extremely poorly serviced, lackingin basic social amenities and economicopportunity, and being social hotbeds ofcrime, violence and extreme competi-tion for limited resources.
The housing environment consistedof single detached and attached councilhouses, newer “bonded” housing envi-ronments, informal settlements andhostels. Much of the conflict in the areacentred around the informal settlementsand hostels, and while the war hadmany roots it was often focused on con-flict between rival political factions andcompetition for resources between thehostels and informal settlements, equal-
ly deprived and marginalised inKatorus as they were.
The apartheid conditions that heldfor Katorus also held for Alex, but local-ly and institutionally conditions in thetwo areas were unique.
Katorus comprised three adjacent butadministratively distinct townships eachallied to a white (later transitional) localauthority. Spatially it is a region that iswidely spread out. The KSIPP was bornat a time of transitional local govern-ment.
Here the conservative East Randwhite towns were amalgamated withblack local government and typically
with the civic structures of theseareas.
The Katorus SpecialPresidential Project (KSIPP) wasa direct response to devastatinghigh-profile violence in this areain the early 1990s.
The majority of the peoplewho died in violence from 1990to 1994 came from Katorus.
The KSIPP emerged out ofthis urban war in the weeksbefore the first democratic elec-tions.
The KSIPP was to normalisean area where full-blown warhad accentuated the terrible lega-cies of apartheid. It was also tosymbolise the development focusof the new government. It was toshow a new way, a new approachto development.Why Alex?Alexandra, on the other hand, isa high-density environment in a
confined location, under a single admin-istrative authority. This well locatedsquare mile slipped through theapartheid land legislation, and sobecame the one place where black peo-ple could live close to Johannesburg. It isan anomaly in planned segregation thatshaped urban “black South Africa”. Forunlike most other townships, Alexandrais located 3km from the wealthiest suburbs ofJohannesburg and possibly the wealthi-est in Africa, the plush area of Sandton.This is also the emergent prestige officeand conference and hotel environmentof Johannesburg. Directly adjacent toAlexandra are the industrial belt of
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:34 AM Page 38
39
S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2 C a s e S t u d y
Wynberg and the mixed-use belt ofMarlboro which is designated for indus-try but which has been the site of muchresidential occupation of underutilisedand abandoned industrial property inrecent years.
There are between 4 700 and 6 000residential erven in Alexandra housings o m e350 000 people at an average density of770 persons per hectare. The housingenvironment consists of formal houses,brick or corrugated iron structuresattached to the formal structures,attached rooms, subdivided dwellings,backyard rooms and shacks, freestand-ing shack settlements, hostels created assingle-sex accommodation,several complexes of flats.
Throughout its history thegrowth of Alex was restrained.There were repeated attemptsby the authorities to removethis area and to disassociatefrom it. So much so that it wastermed Dark City andNobody’s Child.
Repeated attempts atremovals and at restructuringthe area into a hostel environ-ment were matched by politicalrepression. Neither the spatialnor the political efforts suc-ceeded in defeating the socialmovements and pressures inAlex. It became a politicalhotbed and in the institutionalimpasse created by the demiseof black local authorities it fur-thermore grew within itselfuntil it was bursting at theseams with both freestanding informalsettlement as well as rooms and shacksfilling every yard around the originalhousing form in Old Alex.
The Urban Renewal Approach
Project managementBoth Alexandra and Katorus were con-sultant driven projects, managed bycontractual arrangement with provin-cial government, by a private sectorteam of consultants. The key projectheads of this team comprise a technicalproject leader and an overall, politicallyfocused project manager.
Whereas the project manager was in
effect the primary managerial interfacebetween the project, government andcivil society — the “political head” ofthe project — the project team leaderassumed primary administrativeresponsibility. The split of functionsbetween these two key role-players wasevolved over time in the Katorus proj-ects and was more or less carriedthrough to the Alexandra project wherethe almost identical team of consultantsformed the core consulting team.
Reporting to the project team leaderin Katorus, were six functional co-ordi-nators, covering the different projectdimensions: security, engineering,health, welfare and education, sport,
recreation and business, housing, andcommunication. (In Alexandra addi-tional functional areas of planning, her-itage, and local economic developmentwere defined). These functional co-ordinators did not implement projects,but supervised stakeholders and imple-menters towards implementation.
Because the private sector team is con-tract-based it is performance driven, anincentive often not in place for publicsector officials. This structure alsoenables the focussing of energies on spe-cific focus areas as well as the crossoverbetween areas without bureaucraticprocess and delay. But the consequentlack of decision-making power on the
part of consultants can frustrate process-es
Business PlanningThe development of business plans forboth Katorus and Alex ensure a con-scious budgeting of time and resourcesand an up-front prioritisation of pro-grammes. They provide yardsticks fordelivery and expenditure and are keymanagement tools in assessing theparameters of performance so critical tothese projects: delivery and pace.
Phasing of Urban RenewalProjects
The Urban Renewal Projectsare high-profile, dedicated,short term interventions. Theyare in a sense “shock treat-ments” for areas in distress.But they are also of nationalimportance and serve poten-tially as models for furtherprojects. As such their criticalsuccess path is time drivenrather than routine driven.The measure of their perform-ance relates to timing, expen-diture (delivery) and scale ofimpact.
While detailed approachesvaried according to the peculi-arities of each area, the broadstages of planning were simi-lar in the urban renewal pock-ets. These are described below:
The Katorus project wasimplemented in four phases:
Phase 1: The implementa-tion of emergency repair projects.
Phase 2: Repairing, consolidating andmaintaining those facilities that werealready in existence in the area.
Phase 3: Upgrading the services andfacilities in the area so that it movedtowards having the facilities and servic-es that are set for the rest of SouthAfrica.
Phase 4: Developing additional andnew facilities in the area.
These phases guided the implementa-tion throughout the life of the projectand were applied in each sector. Theyproved to be a successful framework asthe securing of basic levels of health andsafety in the early stages allowed the
Let the good times roll ... residentscelebrate Alexandra’s 90th birthday
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:35 AM Page 39
40
C a s e S t u d y S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
projects that required longer lead timeto undertake planning work. Each stagesecured the conditions for the followingto operate.
Pre-Planning Phase:• Identification of a Geographical Area
of Intervention: It is important toclearly define the physical area ofintervention. This enables the projectsto direct and limit its intervention.
• Assessment of need: In both projectsthis was a broad-brushed assessmentbut it provided a basis for determin-ing the key interventions required.
• Preparation of a broad business plan:The business planning approachenables the estimation of timing, costand scale of the project. At a broadlevel this needs to be understood atthe outset. It determines the mile-stones and markers for all subsequentwork.
• Lobbying of key political decision-makers in each sphere of government.
• Establishing the administrative andpolitical approval processes:Throughout the project the streamlin-ing of the administrative and politicalprocesses will be essential. Both fordetermining what these processes willbe and for obtaining political buy-infor the project from officials andpoliticians at the highest level beforethe projects is initiated, this step isimportant. The processes themselveswill be refined as the project progress-es. The establishment of the proce-dures requires extensive back andforth interaction with officials andpoliticians.
• Determining the broad parameters:This concerns the functional areasunder which the projects will beplanned and implemented. InKatorus and Alexandra these includ-ed housing, engineering services,communication, health, welfare, sportand recreation among others.
Planning PhaseThis phase usually comprises the firsttwo years of the project cycle. It is thephase in which all elements are estab-lished to allow implementation to fol-low smoothly. It consists of a mixture ofbroad level and detailed project levelinvestigation and planning.
The planning phase concerns prima-rily spatial planning, refinement ofneeds assessment for each area and plan-ning of administrative procedures.• Setting up a management system: A
lean and effective management teamis required to drive the processthrough implementation. Once theparameters of the project are deter-mined a team of dedicated specialistsis appointed to head the project seg-ments or functional areas.
• Detailed studies: In this phase typical-ly detailed studies are carried out ineach functional area to determine thenature and scale of need, the state ofexisting infrastructure, the organisa-tional issues and authorities responsi-ble for addressing needs.
• Development of a first round ofdetailed business plans: These busi-ness plans are in the first phasefocused on investigation, on capacitybuilding for implementation and onstructuring relationships that will beessential for implementation.
• Developing Special AdministrativeProcedures: Focus high profile andhigh-pressured projects require dedi-cated administrative procedures andthese need to be put in place. Theyinclude dedicated procurementarrangements, dedicated decision-making paths and other processes toeliminate red tape and ensure thesmooth flow of projects.
• Securing buy-in: The marketing ofthese projects is essential and whilehigh level buy-in is sought at the out-set, the buy-in of the communitystructures and of stakeholders at alllevels needs to be done in the planningphase. Structures for ongoing partici-pation are established.
• Physical planning including the spa-tial framework for development, theidentification of future land us pat-terns, and infrastructure webs, theidentification of land for various uses,the resolution of land tenure.
• Training: the training and capacitybuilding of officials, civic structuresand community members to imple-ment and sustain projects needs to beinitiated in the planning phase so thatcapacity is developed timeously forimplementation.
• Capacitation of line function depart-
ments: These additional project bur-dens will necessitate additionalstaffing and resource allocation. Thecommitment to these and to theirongoing funding needs to beachieved, most often form local andprovincial government departmentsresponsible for the ongoing servicingof the interventions.
• Keep to time and budget: Controllingthe budget and timing of each inter-vention is essential. Dedicated projectmanagers with accountability forimplementation are necessary forensuring that each programme's per-formance is efficient.
Ongoing maintenance and management• A maintenance plan must accompany
all projects.• Projects must have built-in sustain-
ability components including ongoingfunding and sustainability of the pos-itive economic, social and environ-mental impacts of the intervention.
• An ongoing review of the perform-ance and sustainability of projects isrequired. Such a review must belinked to reparative action.
Some key distinctions between KSIPP and ARP
Capacity to ImplementWhile Katorus was initiated withinadministrative structures including for-mer black townships at a time whenthese were still functionally separatefrom their associated white local author-ities, Alexandra was implementedunder the ambit of an integratedJohannesburg administration. Many ofthe teething problems of the early estab-lishment of integrated authorities hadbeen overcome by the time the ARPemerged. On the other hand the moresecured administrative structuring didnot allow for the extensive appointmentof new officials or creation of new poststhat was possible in the Katorus project.
Spatial FocusThe Katorus project was focused onestablishing stability in a war torn area.As such its spatial focus was related toflashpoints of conflict. Although majorinfrastructure was improved or devel-
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:35 AM Page 40
41
C a s e S t u d yS D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
oped across the area, key housing inter-ventions and upgrading was focused onareas determined to be of greatest needparticularly in relation to their propen-sity for conflict.
The Katorus SIPP also focusedentirely within the boundaries ofKatorus as a high-impact kickstart forthe area. Its regional perspective wasextremely limited.
The nature of spatial planning in theKatorus project was marginal ratherthan central. While a spatial frameworkwas developed, this was done as part ofthe housing projects and was not pre-pared at the commencement of the proj-ects, nor did it guide development in theKSIPP (although it has been used as akey planning tool in the region subse-quent to the KSIPP).
The ARP on the other hand tends tobe both Alexandra-focused and moreregional. Beyond the boundaries ofAlex, land identification and economicdevelopment are being pursued.
The economic location of Alex proxi-mate to business necessitates this out-ward focus.
Planning was accorded primaryimportance at the initiation of the Alexproject. This functional area led to thedevelopment of a spatial planning
framework for the area and serves to co-ordinate the physical interventions of allother functional areas.
These key contrasts relate to theimportance of space and land in the twoproject areas. In Alex land occupation isat a premium, the locational value ofland is high and competition for territo-ry is pronounced. These factors did notexist in the Katorus of 1994.
EmploymentIn Katorus, a total of 2 100 774 persondays was spent on some form of employ-ment creation, according to the KSIPPMarch 1999 monthly report. It was alsoreported that more than 1 300 peoplefrom the community received formaltraining in areas ranging from practicalbuilding skills to life skills.
In Alexandra a more open approachto employment and a more regional per-spective is being adopted. Here the skillsneeds of the surrounding area areimportant to the future of employmentpolicies and a narrow focus purely onthe security or building needs of theARP projects will not be appropriate.
Some Key Lessons Learnt
No level of government must take
precedence over any other. The deci-sion-making related to these projects ishighly complex and all spheres of gov-ernment need to be committed to it. It isessential that project managers do notalienate any sphere of government andthat they be able to co-ordinate theefforts of often competing senior offi-cials form different spheres. This repre-sents a new way of working and onethat does not obey the traditional hierar-chy of decision-making. Rather it fol-lows an approach that acknowledgesthey key decision-making points uniqueto each project and nurtures those,whether local, provincial, national or acombination of these.
The projects are national imperatives.They therefore need to serve as modelsof innovation. They also need to be usedto demonstrate government policy andnew thinking.
The design phase of these projects istypically two years long. In this timemuch of the work is of a technical andadministrative nature and may show novisible delivery. The danger in this isthat both officials and communitystakeholders may lose patience andenthusiasm. The importance of short-term delivery of high-profile projects inthis era must be emphasised. In addition
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:35 AM Page 41
C a s e S t u d y S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
42
all opportunities for marketing,whether through launches, or themedays or radio and print media must beseized.
A key factor in the success of manage-ment within both the Katorus and theAlex project is the up-front acknowl-edgement and incorporation of thepolitical and technical levels at whichthe projects would have to operate. Theemployment of a project manager and ateam leader, with one taking primaryresponsibility for political concerns andthe other managing the technicalities ofdelivery, enabled a smoothing of theflow of projects and process.
The value of a functional areaapproach whereby the project is dividedinto different line programmes is that isallows specialist attention to areas,allows a comprehensive approach with-in areas, and ensures that lines ofaccountability for each area are identi-fied. Furthermore quality control is pos-sible within defined boundaries of oper-ation. It also allows for special interestgroups and special projects to be cateredfor.
The approach, however, can only suc-ceed with correct co-ordination betweendifferent functional areas and this is typ-ically the role for the project manager.Project management is required tounblock political and administrativeblockages that face all functional areas.
It is furthermore essential to deter-mine which areas of operation are to bemaintained within a functional area andwhich are the areas of overlap thatrequire a holistic approach. In Katorusand Alexandra, the areas of holisticintervention included administrativeprocesses, community participation atthe broad level, tendering and procure-ment procedures, and the political inter-face of the project.
Integration between functional areasaround particular projects and aroundproject principles is necessary. InAlexandra, for instance, the integrationof welfare, health and housing in proj-ects aimed at providing for the accom-modation needs of persons with specialneeds (the disabled, etc.) is critical to thesuccess of any intervention.
The danger of inadequate integrationis that the programme as a whole coulddisintegrate into splintered interven-
tions. Projects in different functionalareas may also compete against oneanother for resources, decision-makingand profile.
The value of high-impact visible proj-ects is that these are politically impor-tant in legitimising government actionand they get the buy-in of key decision-makers and politicians. At the sametime they build community confidencein the projects and in the area and sopromote support for the projects as wellas the necessary positive image of thearea required for future communitycommitment to, and investment in, thearea.
The threats of a consultant-drivenapproach relate to the capacity of organsof the state to take over and maintaininitiatives that are implementedthrough consultant management. Inorder for this to be effective a dedicatedplan for handover needs to be developedand needs to be structured into the proj-ect.
The building of capacity of officialsthroughout the projects and theirinvolvement at all stages is essential, as isensuring that decision-making aboutproject implementation occurs withinauthorities that will be responsible forongoing management of interventions.
While broad approaches can be devel-oped, these need to be adapted to localcircumstances. Each area offers uniqueproblems, social relations, tensions andspatial realities. These will alter theproject approach fundamentally.
The sustainability of projects requiresan up-front understanding of the holis-tic nature of development and anapproach that is ultimately integrative.So the concept of housing needs to beseen as a housing process providing for awhole living environment, a servicedand viable neighbourhood, rather thanthe provision of shelter.
Furthermore infrastructure cannot beplanned in isolation from the pro-grammes that are required to service,maintain and staff the infrastructure.
In a project that is large and that com-prises different functional areas whilepursuing integration, a fine-tunedassessment of what must be integratedand what must be split at the level ofplanning and of implementation isneeded.
Politicians often get hooked intoshort-term high-profile goals. Balancingthese with long-term sustainable devel-opment objectives is important.
Sustainability depends on ongoingaffordability. On the one hand this mayrequire that appropriate technology andlevels of services are designed to ensurelow-cost maintenance such as for elec-tricity where overhead cables are easierand more cost effective to maintain evenif technology and aesthetic dictate thatunderground systems are preferable.
In other cases the development ofhigh-cost, high-quality infrastructure,such as in the building of schools or clin-ics, can ensure lower costs in mainte-nance.
The ongoing impact of the projectneeds to be appropriately focused on thebroader region. So training and employ-ment promotion, for instance, need tofocus on the economic needs andemployment capacity of the environ-ment around the project area. Thisavoids the employment created beingshort lived.
It also avoids a dependency on theproject for employment. Thus it is in theinterests of the projects to promotetraining and employment in areas ofendeavor that may not have any bearingon the infrastructure developed withinthe renewal project.
References
Alexandra Renewal Project: Overall BusinessPlan: 2001CSIR (May 2002), Special Integrated PresidentialProjects Evaluation for the South AfricanDepartment of Housing by the CSIRGauteng Provincial Government 1999: KatorusSpecial Presidential Project Evaluation Report,prepared under management of Tanya ZackDevelopment PlannersKatorus Special Presidential Project (October1994): Stability, Reconstruction and DevelopmentProgramme, Overall Business Plan.Katorus Special Presidential Project, March 1999monthly report.White Paper on Reconstruction andDevelopment: Government's Strategy forFundamental transformation, September 1994Zack, T. (2001): Nobody's Child, a Kind ofHeaven trapped in History: Planning Challengesin Alexandra, Presented to the Royal AustralianPlanning Institute Conference “A PlanningOdyssey” October 2001
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:35 AM Page 42
43
S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2 C a s e S t u d y
In March 2002 the Premier ofGauteng formally opened Folateng.This event was received with hugesupport and great excitement. Folateng, a SeSotho word for “Place
of Healing”, is a network of privatewards or differentiated amenities thatare set up within Gauteng’s public hos-pitals. Each ward gives the patient thequality and convenience of privatehealth care with specialist physiciansand cutting-edge technology that only along-established hospital has the capaci-ty to offer. The main aim is to attractprivate patients back into the public sec-tor and generate additional income.
“Folateng” is a revolutionary rethinkabout how public health care will bedelivered in future. What is it that weneed to be excited about?
Before we answer this, we shouldlook at some of the challenges facing thepublic health system.
Background
The clinical care in most public hospi-tals is of an acceptable standard. In themain it is not better or worse than theprivate sector. Certainly for tertiary carein institutions like Johannesburg, ChrisHani Baragwanth and others our serv-ices are equal if not better than the pri-vate sector. The problem is really our“hotel” services. In other words the
quality of food, cleanliness, availabilityof linen, negative attitudes and otherfrills like TV and bedside telephones.
Customers generally vote with theirfeet — poor hotel services will continueto be the single obstacle to attractingconsumers on health insurance or whohave the ability to pay.
In addition, the health sector in SouthAfrica has to contend with problemssuch as:• huge budget pressures;• perceptions of declining quality of care;• public perceptions that the public
health sector is for the poor; and• declining revenue collection.Against this rather bleak background, itbecame evident that something had tobe done; hence the “folateng” initiative.
Objectives
How will Folateng begin to addresssome of the above challenges? Thisstrategy seeks to achieve a few keythings:• Change the view that public hospitals
are for the poor.• Ensure that under- and non-utilised
state assets and resources are workedto produce additional revenue.
• Enable the availability of affordablelow-income insurance packages forblue collar and informal sector work-ers.
FolatengA Place of Healing
In this case study,
Sagie Pillay the Chief
Executive Officer of
Johannesburg General
Hospital, shares with us
the experiences of a
project aimed at
attracting private
patients back into
the public sector
and thus generate
additional income
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:35 AM Page 43
44
C a s e S t u d y S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
• Develop an interface forpublic-private interac-tions.
• Retain doctors and otherhealth professionalswithin the public sector.
'Folateng' changingthe face of Jo'burg Gen
Following a Cabinet deci-sion a pilot project was ini-tiated at JohannesburgHospital to attract payingand insured patients.
Gauteng PremierMbhazima Shilowa andHealth MEC GwenRamokgopa officiallyopened the first Folatengward at the JohannesburgHospital in July 2002. Inorder to make “folateng”effective, the provincial governmentinvested a lot of money to enable Jo’burgGen to offer the quality and conven-ience of private health with similar frillsas available in private hospitals.
For starters, there is ample parkingfor visitors and patients. When it comesto food, patients have a wide choice oftasty and healthy meals. There is a max-imum of four beds per ward and, forthose who want more privacy, privatesuites are available though in limitednumber. Patients in all these wardsenjoy a choice of television and radiochannels.
Folateng offers a full range of special-ist and sub-specialist services supportedby access to the latest research and bestpractices via a network of informationsharing with national and internationalprofessionals.
Customers will have all the privilegesof the private sector but at prices that areaffordable and sustainable.
Starting with 27 beds in May 2002,bed occupancy had increased to 95 byNovember 2002. The unit intends toincrease the number of beds to 250 bythe end of 2002.
For the first time, this gave membersof medical aids and private patientsaccess to quality treatment and care inpublic hospitals.
Who benefits?
The current users of public hospitals:This project will bring in significantadditional revenue that otherwisewould not be available to the public sec-tor. This revenue will be used toimprove very basic aspects of curtains,linen, crockery and key equipmentrequirements for our public patients.Over time we will be able to offer a bet-ter, more acceptable hotel services to allpublic patients.
Health professionals: Presently manyof our health professionals do remuner-ative work outside the public sector(RWOPS). This means that they see pri-vate patients outside their normal hoursand admit them in private hospitals.The Folateng initiative is a way toenable our doctors, nurses and otherhealth professionals to improve theirincome by doing their remunerativewithin public sector (RWOPS) atFolateng. The competing needs of pub-lic and their private patients can be bet-ter managed on one site. The public sec-tor doctors will no longer have to drivefrom one hospital to the next to treattheir private patients. The monitoringof RWOPS will be easier and less con-frontational.
Medical Aids: The fees for private
patients at Folateng are significantlylower than the Board of Health CareFunders (BHF) rates. Strict clinical pro-tocols with appropriate drugs use will beintroduced for all penitents, public orprivate. All clinical work will be peerreviewed with teamwork encouraged atall times. Only appropriate and clinical-ly indicated interventions will be done.Health professionals will practice ethi-cal medicine every time. JohannesburgHospital will compete on price andquality. For the tertiary and highlyexpensive services a differentiation willbe made on expertise and price.
Insured customers: Price will be low,co-payments lower and benefitsstretched over a longer period. Hoteland clinical quality will be the same orbetter. Patients will have access to high-ly trained and experienced doctors,nurses and allied health professionals.Patient rights will be respected withproper information sharing before andduring the health care experience.
A key strength of public hospital is24-hour on-site availability of a crosssection of medical officers and specialistradiographers and anaesthetists, andother professionals who work as teamsto provide comprehensive health care.
Uninsured patients: A more afford-able hospital service makes it possible
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:35 AM Page 44
C a s e S t u d y
45
S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
for schemes to market low-cost insur-ance packages hence an increase in thepool of insured patients. This also laysthe foundation for the introduction ofan affordable and sustainable SocialHealth Insurance system. In the interimthose individuals with the ability to paywould get better value for money andspend less.
Preferred Provider agreements
Gauteng Health Department will bemarketing the differentiated amenitiesunder the brand name Folateng.Services offered will range from levelone to highly specialised services.Presently, preferred provider agree-ments are being negotiated with variousschemes to deliver a range of services ona fee for services basis but at rates signif-icantly lower than private hospitals.
Currently on the African continentmany countries send patients to Europeand North America for specialised careand have to pay in foreign currency.
Folateng becomes an attractive, afford-able and convenient option, and alreadythere is huge interest from many coun-tries on the continent.
Progress to date
Medical schemes and private patientsalike have enthusiastically received theproject; by mid-November 2002 over600 in-patients had passed throughJohannesburg Hospital’s Folateng unit.
Disciplines treated to date includecardio thoracic surgery, neurosurgery,orthopaedic surgery, general surgery,renal surgery (including two kidneytransplants) and internal medicine.Bookings have also been received forpatients requiring antenatal care. Inaddition to proving popular with SouthAfrican patients, the facility has alsoattracted patients from Malawi,Seychelles, Uganda, DRC, Angola andBurundi.
In order to meet demand, the facilitywill be expanded early in the New Year
to cater for dialysis and gastroenterologypatients and will include a dedicatedintensive care unit and operating the-atre.
Conclusion
The pilot has unleashed incredibleenthusiasm and innovation from all themanagers and frontline workers and cli-nicians. It demonstrates a strong deter-mination to succeed!
Folateng is a unique approach for thepublic sector. It is a bold and visionarystep forward and suggests a public sec-tor that is considering revolutionaryway to improve access, quality and valuefor money. We are all learning by doing.
It is hoped that once the project hasbeen successfully implemented atJohannesburg hospital, further rolloutwill take place in order to providepatients and funders with a well-devel-oped network of Folateng facilities.This will include Helen Joseph, PretoriaWest and Sebokeng Hospitals.
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:35 AM Page 45
I s s u e s S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
46Measurement and service delivery
The business of every governmentis or should be to improve thelives of its people. It does so byproviding infrastructure to facil-itate economic growth and
development; by implementing devel-opment programmes or strategic inter-ventions for specifically targeted socialgroups and areas that are disadvan-taged; by providing or facilitating accessto social services; or by directly support-ing needy households or individuals;and so on. The sum total of all this isservice delivery to individuals andhouseholds. In a democratic environ-ment, governments stay in power orsurvive on the basis of how well theyhave delivered essential services to theelectorate.
The service delivery concept does notmean the same thing to everyone.However, in this article, it refers to serv-ices delivered by the public service andother government agencies to the publicat large, as well as to interest groups thatrely on government services for theirfunctioning. Interest groups includegovernment institutions, private busi-ness, non-governmental organisations,
civic organisations, international organ-isations, and so on.
As part of the democratic process,governments are called upon to accountfor their mandate to govern, which, inpractice, amounts to service delivery.The accounting process often involvesmeasuring performance using measuresbased on statistics generated from sam-ple surveys and administrative data orparameters from censuses.
The standard framework foraccountability has been to set up anagency or system to measure govern-ment performance. The agency is usual-ly a National Statistics Office (NSO) or,increasingly of late, a National StatisticsSystem (NSS). A NSO or a NSS pro-duces “official” or “national statistics”,that is statistics used in the publicdomain. One often finds NSOs even incountries with undemocratic govern-ments because of other benefits of offi-cial statistics beyond the measurementof accountability for government per-formance. In summary the role of offi-cial statistics is threefold:• Centred on activities around the gross
domestic product (GDP), official sta-tistics provide a meaningful descrip-tion of a country’s economy.
• National statistics also provide a
Akiiki Kahimbaara, Executive
Manager, National Statistics System
Division within Statistics South Africa
outlines how the National Statistics
System (NSS) that has recently been
established in South Africa is poised
to improve upon service delivery in
the country. The article starts by
outlining the role and functions of
official or national statistics in
measuring delivery of services by
government. The main point made
is that the NSS will enhance service
delivery by measuring government
performance much better than is
currently the case
How the NationalStatistics System
Impacts on Service Delivery
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:35 AM Page 46
47
S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2 I s s u e s
description of the distributionalaspects development among socialgroups and geographical areas, suchas those vulnerable to poverty.
• In so doing, they provide a window onthe work of government and on howeffectively the government is doing it.
• Official statistics also support deci-sion-making processes by the widercommunity, including the private sec-tor.
We establish from the foregoing thatmeasurement is an essential aspect ofservice delivery. Just about every coun-try has an official agency set aside toproduce “official” or “national statistics”as a means of assessing government per-formance. South Africa is no exception;Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) is thestatutory organ of state mandated toproduce official statistics.
In South Africa, in particular, officialstatistics perform five major functions,
all intrinsically linked to effective deliv-ery of services. We briefly describe themhereunder.
Engendering social debateA key element of a democratic society isthe ability of the citizenry to engage indebates that affect their life circum-stances in order to influence the direc-tion of their development. To be able toengage in social debate meaningfully,the citizenry must have attained a cer-tain degree of economic literacy suchthat it is able to discuss governmentpolicies, strategies and targets; and areable to advocate their own preferences.In short, they are able to participate inpublic affairs.
All said and done, economic literacypromotes the essential characteristics ofdemocracy — transparency andaccountability in government. Thesecharacteristics are essential ingredients
of effective and efficient delivery bygovernment, and especially the publicservice that implements governmentpolicies.
However, before the citizenry can beeconomically literate, they have to bestatistically so. In this sense then nation-al statistics are a necessary ingredient ofservice delivery.
Resource allocationA second function of national statistics isto facilitate resource allocation. Exam-ples of the use of national statistics forthis purpose include allocation of fundsto provincial and local governments bythe Finance and Fiscal Commission(FFC), and the allocation of grants toprovincial and local governments by theDepartment of Housing. In this way theuse of national statistics fundamentallycontributes to objectivity in allocatingresources for service delivery.
National statistics provide indicators fortrading progress in the implementation ofa given development plan
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:35 AM Page 47
I s s u e s S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
48
Design of development programmesand interventionsThe design of development pro-grammes and interventions requiresdetailed analyses of situations. As wehave stated earlier, the main objective ofsuch programmes is service delivery.National statistics provide data for theseprogrammes.
Monitoring progressNational statistics provide indicators fortracking progress in the implementationof a given development plan or inter-vention. This is an aspect of monitoringthe effectiveness and efficiency of pro-gramme implementation and subse-quent service delivery. Production, bothof intermediate (or process) indicatorsand of final indicators, constitutes mostof the work of a NSO or a NSS. Inter-mediate indicators consist of input indi-cators (or resources) and output indica-tors (or products resulting from the useof resources).
Final indicators, on the other hand,consist of outcome and impact indicators.Outcome indicators measure the extentto which intended beneficiaries of adevelopment programme or interventionhave actually benefited from it. They areestablished through sample surveys andcensuses, and measure access to, use of, orsatisfaction with services delivered.Impact indicators measure the contribu-tion of a specific programme or interven-tion to a given outcome.
Report on outcomesNational statistics are the main source ofdata for assessing the impact of govern-ment policies and programmes onintended beneficiaries. The President’sannual state-of-the-nation address is anexample of a report on outcomes.
Organising for better service delivery
We have hitherto discussed the rele-vance to service delivery of official ornational statistics. This section outlines anew and more efficient way that hasbeen established to transform the cur-rent practice of producing national sta-tistics. The new way takes the form ofthe national statistics system that hasjust been established, and already
referred to. To appreciate how the NSSwill improve upon social services deliv-ery requires an appreciation of the cur-rent state of national statistics in SouthAfrica, and what needs to be done for itto be transformed into its desired state.The following, among many others,characterise the current state of nationalstatistics in South Africa.• The system of statistical production in
the country is very fragmented, whichis a legacy of the past policy ofapartheid.
• There is lack of quality in existing sta-tistical information because there areno standards against which to judgeoutput.
• There is clearly a lack of reliableinformation on disadvantaged socialgroups, which constitute the majorityof the population.
• Users are faced with the problem ofhaving to manage disparate outputs ofcompeting data peddlers.
• There exists a mismatch betweenexisting statistical output and userneeds because there has not beenmuch opportunity for users to articu-late their needs to producers.
• There is also insufficient capacity interms of skills to produce the requiredstatistics.
The overall result has been a post-apartheid information gap for planning
and decision-making. The gap has cre-ated a desperate need by all the post-apartheid spheres of government forinformation, resulting in a free-for-allsituation that has generated all sorts ofinformation peddlers and problemsolvers such as consultants, marketresearch agencies and internationalagencies. It is not unlikely that some ofthe products peddled are of question-able quality.
It is the unsatisfactory nature of thecurrent situation that has led to theestablishment of a NSS. The idea of aNSS is not unique to South Africa, as itis at the moment regarded as interna-tional best practice.
Nevertheless in the South Africancontext, establishment of a NSS hasbeen necessitated by a number of imper-atives. In this respect reliable statisticalinformation is needed for:• policies and programmes required to
drive social transformation; and thisrequires coordination of statisticalproduction in the country;
• socio-economic development and goodgovernance in terms of implementingthe principles of the Reconstructionand Development Programme (RDP)and government priorities;
• facilitating integrated planning byintroducing standards and qualitydimensions into the production
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:35 AM Page 48
I s s u e s
49
S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
process of national statistics;• facilitating democracy and globalisa-
tion by producing information use-able for participation and advocacy;and producing statistics to inform thedynamics of globalisation;
• promoting statistical and economicliteracy; and
• meeting international obligations.The NSS is expected to meet the infor-mation needs identified above by creat-ing a partnership of users, producersand suppliers of national statistics whichwill provide a framework for producingstatistical outputs that meet user needs,beginning with government policy pri-orities. The system will have more thanone producer of legally recognisednational statistics.
Thus, in practice, each agency will beexpected to produce its own statistics tomeet its mandate. However, productionwill be centrally coordinated under thedirection of the Statistician-Generalwho will make sure that standards aremet and that there is no duplication inthe production process. The list belowcaptures the framework for institutionalarrangements.
Institutional framework forimplementing the NSS
The NSS is expected to deliver:• development indicators, which are the
main output of any statistical organi-sation or system;
• a Management System for StatisticalInformation (MSSI), which is an elec-tronic assemblage of developmentindicators for ease of access by stake-holders;
• a national data warehouse, which willassemble databases used for extractingindicators for queries and furtheranalysis;
• capacity building mostly in statisticalskills and to a lesser extent in policyanalytical skills;
• standards through a system of certify-ing data produced by agencies otherthan Stats SA as national statistics;and
• application of quality dimensions tostatistical output.
As already indicated, implementation ofthe NSS has already begun. The systemwas launched in September 2001. A
NSS division was set up at Stats SA toimplement the system in December2001. Since then the division hasreached a number of milestones.
An international workshop was heldin Cape Town last April to discuss bestpractice regarding the process of indica-tor identification required to supportdepartments through a process of skillstransfer. The ultimate aim is to empow-er departments to identify indicators ontheir own.
The main recommendation from theworkshop was for Stats SA to workwith FOSAD Clusters and departmentsto clarify policy questions for whichindicators would be needed. There hasbeen success in this area; consistent col-laboration continues to occur betweenStats SA and all the five clusters as wellas the departments of Housing (themost successful so far), Health,Education, Agriculture, SocialDevelopment and CSIR. Stats SA is alsoinvolved with the Department ofScience and Technology, ISRDP and theCommunity Development Programme.
Stats SA is represented in all clustersin order to appreciate policy issues bet-ter for the purpose of better measure-ment.
A framework document for certifica-tion of statistics from departments otherthan Stats SA has been drawn up.
A framework document on monitor-ing and evaluation concepts has alsobeen completed.
The NSS will benefit stakeholders inseveral ways. The government andother users will get policy questionsdirectly and deliberately addressed withregard especially to the provision ofbaseline information and M&E. Theywill also benefit from the integratedplanning that the system will facilitate.Producers will benefit from a reducedworkload, will be more effective andefficient, and will speak the same lan-guage not only through sharing stan-dards but also by producing coherentdatasets.
Suppliers will benefit from reducedresponse fatigue arising from a reducednumber of producers seeking data fromthem. A reduction in response fatigueshould lead to improved qualitythrough improved response rates. Ingeneral the country will save resources
by minimising duplication, and bybuilding capacity that will be able to sus-tain statistical development.
As would be expected, however, thereare a number of challenges facingimplementation of the NSS. A mainchallenge is the difficulty for policymakers and top managers of depart-ments to break with tradition, charac-terised by a lack of a culture of measure-ment and the prevalence of crisis man-agement in the public service.
There is also the issue of hierarchy,where informed staff at times find itimpossible to access top managers inorder to assist them with requisite infor-mation for decision-making.
Thirdly, there appears to be less use ofskilled staff already in the public servicethan consultants who might be even lessskilled. This may not further the inter-est of sustainable development in certaininstances.
Fourthly, lack of a clear clarificationof roles is a challenge. Who is responsi-ble for indicator identification is notalways clear to clusters, when theresponsibility should lie with users.There is currently a belief that Stats SAhas the responsibility of coming up withindicators on policy questions which it isnot aware of.
Lastly, there are insufficient skills instatistical and policy analysis.
In spite of the challenges, which webelieve will be resolved in due course,the NSS is poised to transform servicedelivery by the public service in a funda-mental way. In particular, it will incul-cate in the public service a culture ofmeasurement which will entrench M&Ein the planning process.
Thus before any development orintervention programme is implement-ed, users will have been identified, goalsset, programmes defined, indicators(input, output, outcome, impact) identi-fied, targets set, and baseline informa-tion gathered. Only then should the pro-gramme be implemented. Monitoringwill then follow by tracking indicatorsover time and geographical areas.
Finally, evaluation or programmeimpact assessment will take place inorder to enable policy review. How bet-ter can transparency and accountabilitybe effected in the delivery of services bythe public service?
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:35 AM Page 49
I s s u e s S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
50
Advocate Simom Jiyane,
MD: Court Services,
Gauteng Justice
regional office, explores
innovative ways that
have been introduced
to ensure that our courts
are run efficiently
Court Managers and Challenges
Facing our Courts
Prior to the promulgation of theConstitution of the Republic ofSouth Africa, 1996, on which ournew democratic order is found-ed, our courts were managed by
legal professionals. Chief Magistrateswere in charge of magistrates’ courtswhile Supreme Courts (the current highcourts) were managed by Registrarsunder the guidance of Judge Presidents.
The new democratic order broughtfar-reaching changes into our legal sys-tem. The Constitution provides for theprinciple of separation of powers interms of which the three branches ofgovernment, namely the Legislature,the Executive and the Judiciary, havedistinct roles under the Constitutionand they function independent of eachother in order to effect necessary checksand balances.
In terms of the principle of separationof powers it is no longer desirable toburden members of the judiciary withexecutive responsibilities and expectthem to report to the Director-Generalas the executive arm of government.Consequently the judicial officers hadto relinquish their executive responsibil-ities and this provided the Departmentwith the opportunity of introducing theCourt Management concept, which ledto the creation of Court Managers’ posts
in the larger courts throughout thecountry. In the long term theDepartment hopes to appoint CourtManagers in all courts.
The Department took a holistic viewand reviewed the existing structuresand processes with a view of improvingthe efficiency of our courts. To do thisexercise the Department established theRe aga boswa project which looks atbusiness process reengineering with aview to revamping the current ineffi-cient structures and processes in thecourts. Courts are the nerve centrewhere our constitutional and legal sys-tem is tested.
If the courts are ineffective our worldrenowned Constitution and our pro-found legal system become meaninglessto the ordinary people who flock to thecourts daily to seek redress. The currentrestructuring process follows the policydecision taken by the Department dur-ing November 2000 to reconfigure itselfinto core-business orientated BusinessUnits governed through a Board ofDirectors constituted by both executiveand non-executive members.
The Board comprises ManagingDirectors (Deputy Directors-General)of the eight Business Units, the ChiefJustice, the Chief Executive Officers ofthe National Prosecuting Authority the
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:35 AM Page 50
I s s u e s
51
S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
Legal Aid Board, theChief Justice and mem-bers representing the pub-lic interests and drawnmainly from the legal andbusiness fraternity.
The Minister, or in hisabsence the DeputyMinister of the Depart-ment, chairs the Board.The Court Services Busi-ness Unit, under the lead-ership of its ManagingDirector Advocate SimonJiyane, is one of the coreBusiness Units of theDepartment and its man-date is to render adminis-trative support to thecourts to enable them tofunction smoothly in dis-pensing justice to the citi-zens of the country.
The other Business Unitsare the Master, the LegalAdvisory Services, HumanResource Management, In-formation Systems Man-agement, Public Educationand Communication,Legislation andConstitutional Development and theOffice of the Chief Financial Officer.
Project Re aga boswa
Project Re aga boswa is part of the over-all Criminal Justice StrengtheningProgramme (CJSP). The CJSP is astrategic partnership initiative aimed atsupporting and strengthening thecapacities of the Department of Justiceand Constitutional Development's corebusiness (i.e. Prosecution, CourtServices and Adjudication) in order tomake the Criminal Justice System inSouth Africa swift, effective, accessibleand efficient.
Re aga boswa is the mainstay projectof the Department and as its name sig-nifies, it looks at rebuilding new struc-tures and processes at the courts toimprove the standard and quality ofservice delivery at the courts. (The nameRe aga boswa is a Sotho phrase translat-ed into English as “we are rebuilding/reconstruction”). The project is gov-erned by a specially constituted Steering
Committee chaired by the non-execu-tive member of the Department ofJustice and Constitutional Develop-ment’s Board of Directors, Advocate PMtshawulani. The Steering Committeereports to the Director-GeneralAdvocate Vusi Pikoli as the ultimateAccounting Officer of the Department.
The project is designed to support thevision of the Department of Justice andConstitutional Development, which isto transform the judicial system into alegitimate system, which gives effect tothe principles enshrined in theConstitution, and is customer focusedand organised in line with the “BathoPele” principles.
The primary objective of Project Reaga boswa is to develop a detailedorganisation and process design for theCourt Services Business Unit that coversall aspects of a national, and local organ-ization, structure and procedures tosupport a decentralised operating envi-ronment for the courts. In a nutshell theproject seeks to:• Create an enabling environment for
the smooth function-ing of the courts;• Provide supportservices to theJudiciary, the prose-cution and other courtusers to ensure swiftand equal justice forthe people of SouthAfrica;• Ensure that value isadded in return for thefunds allocated for theadministration of jus-tice by proper utilisa-tion of resources andefficiency throughperformance manage-ment; and• Provide quality pol-icy advice to theMinister and Govern-ment concerning allaspects relating to thefunctioning of thecourts.The project is sched-uled to run for threeyears commencingfrom August 2002,and the following are
some of the benefits that will derivefrom the restructuring process:• The resources of the Department,
both human and financial, will be re-channeled to the courts where theyare needed most.
• Staff at the courts will be capacitatedthrough relevant training pro-grammes to provide quality servicesto all court users.
• The appointment of Court Managersand other court functionaries will freeup valuable and scarce resources inthe Judiciary and Prosecution fromroutine administrative functions andthereby enable them to focus on theircore functions. This will in turnenable the judicial resources at a courtlevel to focus on the reduction on thebacklog of cases and reduce the cycletime of reported cases.
• Through the implementation ofService Level Agreements and estab-lishing an internal customer serviceculture, consistent, reliable andresponsive support services will beprovided to the Courts.
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:35 AM Page 51
I s s u e s S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
52
The project is implemented in twophases, the first, which has been com-pleted looked at designing a new modelfor court services, and the next phase,which will start at the beginning of 2003focuses at the implementation of themodel.
The model will first be piloted inKwaZulu-Natal between February andApril 2003 and thereafter it will berolled out to the rest of the country.
Strategic Priorities for 2003
Appointment of accountable Court ManagersThe appointment of Court Managershas brought a number of positive spinoffs for the Department: The realloca-tion of administrative functions toCourt Managers has freed more time forMagistrates.
More magistrates have been reallocat-ed to courts and as a result more courtsare sitting daily and judicial officershave more time to focus on the casesbefore them and engage in extensivelegal research to improve the quality oftheir judgments.
On the administrative side the CourtManagers who are appointed are thosewith multiple competencies relating toleadership, resource (people and finan-cial) management, conflict resolution,coordination and planning. It is an opensecret that since the 1980s the finances ofmost of the courts have never reconciled,a fact which has put the Department in anegative light every time it becomes theDepartment’s turn to appear before theParliamentary Standing Committee onPublic Accounts.
The biggest challenge is to turn thataround and Court Managers stand at theforefront of this challenge. It is for thatreason for eligibility to be appointed asCourt Manager one must show the abili-ty to manage funds.
Implementation of an integrated courtmanagement systemOne of the most significant recent inno-vations to be brought into the courts isthe development of a sound and effec-tive court management system in termsof which individual cases are trackeddown from the moment they enter thesystem until finalisation. The United
States was the first country to develop acoherent court management system andrecently the experts who developed thesystem were invited to South Africa toconduct a seminar for Court Managers,Judges, Magistrates and Prosecutors as astepping-stone towards the develop-ment of our own system.
Comparable studies were also madewith the Singaporean and New Zealandjurisdictions to benchmark best prac-tices that can be adapted to our own sys-tem. Through the implementation of acase management system the Depart-ment seeks to:• Introduce an integrated approach to
case management within the JusticeCluster to ensure that the Police,Correctional Services, the Prosecutionand the Courts operate in a coordinat-ed way in terms of planning andresource allocation. This will elimi-nate the current situation where it isconvenient and easy for one func-tionary to pass the blame to anotherfor all the failures and ills of the jus-tice system.
• Judges and Magistrates are encour-aged to play an active role in casemanagement and thereby dictatingthe pace of the trial. Currently liti-gants (Prosecutors and Attorneys)dictate the pace and this leads to thefinalisation of cases being prolonged.This will reduce unnecessary post-ponements and cases will be finalisedwithin acceptable cycle times (thetime from reporting of a case to final-isation).
• Proactive positive interventions willbe made during the passage of a vari-ety of litigation types to ensure thatcase flow management facilitates,access to justice and blockages areaddressed before the matter comes tocourt for trial
• Most of the cases that enter the courtsare not trial-ready and this lead tohuge withdrawal of cases. The courtmanagement system will ensure thatall cases are assessed and made trialready before they enter the system.
Expansion of Family and Sexual Offences CourtsIt has been the intention of theDepartment to establish specialisedFamily Courts to provide a one-stop
service to all family-related disputes.Currently different courts are dealingwith different family disputes, forexample the High Courts handledivorce and custody matters while theMagistrates’ Courts handle maintenanceand domestic violence complaints. Thiscauses hardship to the court users as thecomplainant must shuttle between thedifferent courts, sometimes at a highcost, to get legal redress.
The aim of the Family Court is toprovide redress to the traumatised vic-tims of family dysfunction at the samecourt. The current family court centres,which were piloted in Johannesburg,Cape Town, Durban and Lebowa-kgomo will be rolled out to other largercentres during 2003.
Sexual Offences Courts, which hearrape and other sexual offences cases, willbe expanded to provide better serviceand protection to victims of sexualoffences.
Implementation of the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination ActThe National Treasury has beenapproached to provide the much-neededresources to implement the Promotion ofEquality and Prevention of UnfairDiscrimination Act (the Equality Act)and the Department has made somefunds available to start implement theAct on an incremental basis.
The implementation of the Act will goa long way towards addressing racism,which continues to undermine ourdemocracy.
As we undergo the restructuringprocess which takes into account theprovisions of Resolution 7 of 2002 issuedby the Department of Public Serviceand Administration, it becomes crucialto assure the employees of the Depart-ment, members of the Judiciary and theProsecution and all court users includ-ing members of the public that the cur-rent changes are for a good cause.
The transformation of the Judiciarygoes beyond the appointment of a repre-sentative bench that reflects the demo-graphics of society. It also implies trans-forming old structures and attitudes togive way to structures and processes thatare capable of delivering an efficient andeffective service delivery.
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:35 AM Page 52
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:35 AM Page 53
?54
I s s u e s S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
Dr MJ Mafunisa of the
School of Public Management
and Administration at the
University of Pretoria argues
that because unethical
behaviour permeates all
sectors of society, these
organs should come together
in helping government to
inculcate clean governance
and moral rectitude in
the public sector
Code of Conduct forPublic Functionaries
An Effective Control Measure or a “Lip Service”
Because a human being is fallible,it has to be accepted that uneth-ical behaviour by public func-tionaries may probably occur.Public functionaries should be
able to identify the manifestations ofunethical behaviour and devise meas-ures to combat such behaviour. The cat-alogue of unethical behaviour includesthe protection of, or covering up of,incompetence, fraud, bribery, corrup-tion, sexual harassment, nepotism, vic-timisation, subjective and arbitrarydecisions, disclosing of confidentialinformation, tax evasion, speed moneyand manifestations of inefficiency andineffectiveness.
The above manifestations of unethicalbehaviour have generated a general andwidespread concern about the ethicalbehaviour of public functionaries. Andas a consequence a similarly generalsearch for remedies. Remedies that insome cases are aimed not only at penal-ising this improper conduct or misbe-haviour, but also to prevent this fromhappening, and to encourage acceptablebehaviour. Remedies for unethical
behaviour include institutions for pro-moting constitutional democracy. Theseinstitutions include the Public Protectorand the Public Service Commission.
Codes of Conduct
There are two types of codes of ethics.These types are the phantom code ofethics and the formal code of conduct.These types of codes of ethics will bediscussed in the following paragraphs.
Phantom Code of Ethics
Ethical codes are general statements ofprinciples. How public employees inter-pret these principles, understand theirmeaning and depend upon the ethicalculture of the municipal service. Theethical culture provides the contextualsignificance that translates these princi-ples into actions. The codified princi-ples, then, only have practical signifi-cance in so far as they are exemplified inthe behaviour of those modelling behav-iour within the public sector.Especially influential as ethical role
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:35 AM Page 54
55
S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2 I s s u e s
models are those individuals selected bythe departments of the public service tohold positions of responsibility, specifi-cally those with whom the public offi-cial engages in meaningful interaction.Individuals in these positions are sanc-tioned leaders, those who have beenimbued with authority. These personsusually occupy a higher level on theinstitutional structure than those look-ing to them for ethical guidance.Public employees carefully attend tohow duties are performed, what behav-iour leads to reward, what behaviour isrewarded most highly and what behav-iour leads to lack of rewards or retribu-tion (Jurkiewicz, 1999:9-10).
Leaders are the primary influencersof ethical conduct in the public service.Leaders, both formal and informal, areseen as responsible for the ethical stan-dards that govern the behaviour of sub-ordinates in the public service, they setthe moral tone and they are personallyresponsible for the set of ethics or normsthat govern behaviour.
While formal leaders do not havemonopoly on creating public service cul-ture, their authority gives them anenhanced ability to influence value sys-tems and establish codes of behaviour,since they can reward or punish thosewho follow or ignore their lead (Morgan,1986).
It is essential for senior publicemployees to personify the values of thepublic service and as such provide tangi-ble role models for junior publicemployees to follow. Senior publicemployees show their subordinates theright (model) way of behaving at work(Deal & Kennedy, 1988:14-15). If uneth-ical practices exist at the top of the hier-archy, it is likely to permeate the entirepublic service.
Rasheed and Olowu (1993:44) arguethat the unethical practices known toexist in Africa starts at the top of thepolitical and public service leadershipand flow down the ranks by example.Once the head gets rotten the body hasno chance of escaping the cancer. Forexample, if senior public employees atthe top who are well paid are engaged inthe manifestations of unethical prac-tices, the attitude of the traffic officer tohis/her job is likely to change drasticallyand he/she will see nothing wrong in
taking a bribe, for example to release adriver who violates a road sign. In thisatmosphere all senior public employeesdiscover illicit ways of obtaining moneyfrom their jobs.
Senior public employees need to firstset an example or display their ethicalbehaviour and then their juniors mightimitate them. To create the public serviceclimate that contributes to the develop-ment of ethics and accountability seniorpublic employees need to set an ethicalexample in (i) their own behaviour and(ii) the functioning of the public service.Public service policies about punctualityand loyalty to one’s work are just so manywords if senior public employees disre-gard them in their actions.
Many junior public employees maydevelop the perception that it is not nec-essary to develop acceptable valueswhen the senior public employees donot regard them as important.Modelling is a powerful form of socialinfluence. If senior public employeesexpect their juniors to have respect forpublic properties such as official vehi-cles, senior public employees shouldrespect their official vehicles too.
Whereas formal ethical codes losecredibility when violations go unforced,and most codes have no mechanism forenforcement, the phantom code ofethics is never subject to such a reduc-tion in impact. It is a virtual code, inter-nally consistent yet mutable, and alwaysaccountable in terms of rewards givenor withheld. The definitiveness withwhich public employees display anunderstanding of the phantom code ofconduct is attributable to its simplicityand immediacy. Public employees arewitnesses to multiple daily demonstra-tions of what constitutes acceptablebehaviour.
Given the lack of relevant encounterswith the formal code, it is more easilyviewed as unrealistic and not applicable.This contributes to duplicity wherethere are things public employees saythey do, which exist in contrast to thethings they actually do. To have thesame impact as the phantom code ofethics, the public service needs to alignits formal code of conduct with thebehaviour exhibited by those in posi-tions of authority.
The necessary process is analogous to
a mission statement translated into avision, and then into measurable goals,then into specific individual contribu-tions to those goals, which in turn arerewarded through compensation andpromotion. In order for the formal codeof conduct to meld with the phantomcode of ethics, such an alignment musttake place. The formal code of conductmust be viewed as an amplification ofthe phantom code of ethics if it is toexercise behavioural control(Jurkiewicz, 1999:12-13)
Formal Codes of Conduct
In this section, the objectives of codes ofconduct, characteristics of effectivecodes of conduct, advantages and limi-tations, sources of codes of conduct andmaking the formal code of conduct willbe discussed.
Objectives of codes of conduct
Objectives of a code of conduct includepromoting public trust and confidencein the ethical performance of publicemployees; decreasing, and, if possible,eliminating, unethical practices by dis-couraging and punishing them; legit-imising the imposition of sanctions forunethical behaviour; sensitising bothcurrent and aspiring public employeesto the ethical and value dimensions ofbureaucratic decisions; reducing uncer-tainty as to what constitutes ethical andunethical behaviour; developing skills inthe analysis of ethical and value issuesand assisting public employees toresolve ethical and value dilemmas andpromoting moral development(Chapman 1993:18).
Both public employees and theirpolitical office bearers benefit from theincreased public trust in governmentthat tends to result from the carefuldrafting and effective administration ofa code of conduct. A code of conductprovides a means by which politicaloffice-bearers can hold public employ-ees accountable for their activities. Inaddition, if ethical standards are raisedby the existence of a code, the chancesthat the government of the day may suf-fer political embarrassment from theethical misconduct of its public employ-ees are reduced.
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:35 AM Page 55
I s s u e s S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
56
Members of the public receive bothpsychological and practical benefitsfrom ethical performance by publicemployees. Taxpayers are assured thatpublic employees on the public payrollare less likely to use their positions forpersonal gain. Therefore, citizens canexpect and demand that public employ-ees serve them in an equitable andimpartial manner (Kernaghan &Dwivedi, 1983).
The Code of Conduct for PublicServants (Public Service Commission:Undated) was drafted with the purposeof giving practical effect to the relevantconstitutional provisions relating to thepublic service, acting as a guideline topublic employees to what is expected ofthem from an ethical point of view,enhancing professionalism and helpingto ensure confidence in the public serv-ice. Although the Code of Conduct wasdrafted to be as comprehensive as possi-ble, it does not provide a detailed stan-dard of conduct.
Heads of departments are, in terms ofSection 7 (3) (b) of the Public ServiceAct, 1994 (Proclamation 103 of 1994),inter alia, responsible for the efficientadministration of their departments andthe maintenance of discipline. Theymay therefore supplement the Code ofConduct in order to provide for theirunique circumstances. Heads of depart-ment should also ensure that their staffare acquainted with these measures, andthat they accept and abide by them.These departmental codes of conductshould be agreed upon with the appro-priate representative bodies of publicemployees and promulgated in writingto every public employee.
It can therefore be argued that theCode of Conduct contributes to devel-oping ethics and accountability in publicemployees. The reason for this is thatpublic employees will endeavour to per-form their duties effectively and effi-ciently for them not to violate the provi-sion of the Code of Conduct and getpunished.
The most important requirement ofthe code of conduct remains the attitudeof its employees towards their work,employer and members of the public. Ifemployees do not adhere to the code ofconduct in actions and attitudes its suc-cess would be seriously impaired.
Making the formal code of conduct a living document
The mere existence of formal codes ofconduct has no discernible impact onthe ethical behaviour of public employ-ees (Jurkiewicz, 1999:13). In balance,there are three other contentions equal-ly clear in the literature about what doesinfluence the ethical behaviour of pub-lic employees:• the process of formulating of code
conduct;• regular, open discussions of ethical
issues; and• integrating the code with both public
service practices and values of theindigenous people.
The process of formulating a formalcode of conduct can be effective mecha-nism for disseminating public servicevalues if it is an inclusive one. This is notsupposed to be a top-down process.Differences in opinions should be illumi-nated, discussed and evaluated withoutany attempts to convince or cajole.Developing a mutually acknowledgedframework of values as they evolve fromthese sessions provides a basis uponwhich to engage in regular, open discus-sion of the ethical dimensions of specificbehaviour, policies and practices.
Broad invitations to engage in suchdebates afford public employees anopportunity to achieve greater align-ment between what they feel they oughtto do and what they actually do (Jurkiewicz & Thompson, 1999:41-53).
According to Bowman (2001:350), tomake the code of conduct a living docu-ment, to align their values with existingpower structures: guidance on its useincluding implementation procedures,case materials and study resources, andcommonly-asked questions and answersmust be included; it must be integratedinto the personnel system, from recruit-ment through training to evaluation;and must provide the basis for the insti-tution to undergo periodic ethical auditsto identify contemporary issues con-fronting it.
Another way of making the codes ofconduct a living document is by inform-ing members of the public about deviantbehaviour not expected of publicemployees. Members of the publicshould also be sensitised to the provi-
sions of the codes of conduct of publicemployees to enable them to serve aseffective whistleblowers. One powerfulinstrument for making a code of con-duct a living document is the exemplify-ing of ethical behaviour by senior publicemployees. For junior public employeesto behave ethically, as instructed by theirseniors, they have to see them behavingthus in words and deeds (which is thereal function of the phantom code ofethics).
The establishment of an ethics office,manned by an ethics officer, is essential.This office’s major role will be to instilethical behaviour in public employees. Itmust serve as a resource centre, withvarious documents related to ethics,including codes of conduct of public andprivate sector institutions. The ethicsofficers should be able to provide guide-lines on the implementation of the codeof conduct to concerned public employ-ees. Ethics officers must also be able toadvise public employees as far as ethicaldilemmas in a working situation areconcerned.
Advantages and Limitations
The first complaint made by critics ofpublic service codes of conduct is thatthe broad ethical principles contained inmany codes of conduct are often diffi-cult to apply to particular situations. Asecond and related concern is that codesof conduct, even if they contain detailedprovisions, are difficult to enforce; manycodes of conduct contain no provisionfor their enforcement.
Third, given the considerable size andcomplexity of the public service, it is dif-ficult to draft a code of conduct that canbe applied effectively and fairly across alldepartments of the public service.Fourth, codes of conduct are ineffectivein dealing with systemic mal-administra-tion where the public service professes anexternal code of conduct which contra-dicts internal practices and where inter-nal practices encourage, and hide viola-tions of the external code of conduct.Fifth, a code of conduct is regarded as a“lip service” as senior public employeesand political office bearers fail to abide byits provisions (Mafunisa, 2000:31).
Advocates of codes of conduct in thepublic service acknowledge that codes
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:35 AM Page 56
57
I s s u e sS D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
alone are not sufficient to ensure ethicalbehaviour but contend that codes caneffectively promote some of the objec-tives outlined above and make a modestcontribution to achieving all others.
In addition, it is argued that carefuldrafting and effective administration ofcodes of conduct can overcome the crit-ics’ concerns (Chapman, 1993:19). Thekey to ensure the effectiveness of codesof conduct is to create an environmentwhere a high standard of professionalbehaviour is the norm. While everypublic employee is responsible forhis/her own conduct, most junior publicemployees will take their cue from theirsenior public employees, and thereforesenior public employees have a particu-lar duty to set and maintain high stan-dards of honesty, responsible use ofresources, punctuality and conscientiousperformance of their duties (WhitePaper on a New Employment Policy forthe Public Service, 1997).
Towards Professional Ethos: FromCodes of Conduct to Codes Ethics
According to Bowman (1999:7-8) rule-based codes of conduct are more oftenimposed on (and often resented by)employees with no advice for effectiveimplementation, training and develop-ment, or recognition of the importance ofleadership modelling. Attempting toconvert the realm of ethics into the realmof law, this coercive, quick-fix strategyusually reduces ethics to legalism byfocusing on both the lowest commondenominator and penalties for devia-tions. The strategy does little to promotea philosophy of excellence or to engendera sense of personal responsibility.
In contrast, codes of ethics demandmore than simple compliance; theymandate the exercise of judgement andacceptance of responsibility for decisionsmade, which is the real work of ethics.Acknowledging the ambiguities andcomplexities of public service, codes ofethics offer interpretative frameworksto clarify decision-making dilemmas. Inshort, codes of conduct detail what apublic employee must do to avoid pun-ishment and stay out of trouble.
A code of ethics relies on instillinginternal controls, the moral maximum.It is not only concerned with adherence
to the codes of conduct and the law, butalso with the cultivation of virtues,integrity and character. This is mainlydone through the socialisation process,which is the formation of “character andconscience” (Selznick, 1992:125). It isthe process by which public employeeslearn the public service values andnorms and develop the work behaviourand attitudes necessary to perform theirspecific public service roles. Norms areinformal rules of conduct that emergeover time to regulate behaviour that areconsidered important in the public serv-ice (George, 1995:495).
Hart (1992: 15) emphasises that actingmorally, both intentionally and volun-tarily, is essential for moral character inpublic administration. Such moralactions are exemplary when they pro-ceed from genuine qualities of charac-ter. He further defines exemplary publicadministrators of good character withfour distinguishing elements.
First, good moral character is not asometime thing; it is a constant aspect ofthe exemplary administrator. Second,he/she must act intentionally, voluntari-ly, and freely with no compulsion fromrules or superior institutional authority.Third, the exemplary administratormust be relatively faultless — not per-fect in all things but striving toward it.Finally, the exemplar’s actions are notfrivolous, and must result in “real good,even in failure”.
Character is identified as enduringattitudes, sensibilities and beliefs andthe resulting habituated patterns ofactions and feelings. It is also identifiedas a unification of a person’s tendenciesthrough time and the expression ofhabitually dominant tendencies organ-ised into one’s fixed character (Luke andHart, 2001:532). In most cases, however,character is seen as the ways in whichpeople most commonly think or act andis embedded in the “actions of everydaylife crises, confrontations, projects andwork” (Hart, 1992:26).
Effective socialisation means that thepublic employees (especially the newlyappointed ones) have changed somebasic attitudes and beliefs. It thus meansan internal commitment to the publicservice goals, rather than just compli-ance with public service practices.Socialisation ensures that the newly
appointed public employees adhere tothe values and behaviour patterns of thepublic service. Socialisation is, therefore,a control mechanism to promote pro-ductivity or excellence in the publicservice. Important values are essential tothe public service; they define itsessence. For example, a strong belief inefficiency is essential for the public serv-ice because the available resources usedare limited.
According to Godsell (1983:53), suc-cessful socialisation results in “creativeindividualism”. “Creative individual-ism” is defined as an acceptance only ofpivotal public service values and norms,and rejection of all others. Because theemployee has not adopted all the valuesthe public service has to offer, a charac-teristic of the creative individualist is thathe/she is able to influence the public serv-ice, as well as being influenced by it.
Innovation (the influence of the pub-lic employee on the department of thepublic service) and socialisation (theinfluence of the department of the pub-lic service on the public employee) areprocesses which should complementone another in every career.
It is essential for exemplary publicadministrators to act morally, efficientlyand effectively for them to be able totransmit ethical and professional valuesthrough daily interactions with theircolleagues and juniors.
Concluding Remarks
Although it is generally believed thatunethical behaviour such as corruptionis the sin of government, it also exists inthe following sectors: religious, business,non-governmental and semi-govern-mental. The business sector, non-gov-ernmental and semi-governmentalinstitutions are involved in most gov-ernment corruption. Therefore, allthese sectors should assist the govern-ment in fighting unethical behaviour.However, this paper only discussed therole of code of conduct in combatingunethical behaviour.
The code of conduct is one of the mostimportant documents for the day-to-dayfunctioning of the public functionaries.Senior public employees must ensurethat their subordinates abide by the pro-visions of the codes of conduct.
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:35 AM Page 57
58
C a s e S t u d y S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
At the launch of the Learning Network in
Johannesburg on 8 August 2002, a case study was
presented by Peter Walker from Turner & Townsend
Business Solutions on the Department of Water
Affairs and Forestry’s achievements and trials in the
supply of water and sanitation infrastructure in all
areas not previously supplied by municipalities
Understanding theCommunity Water Supply
and Sanitation Programme
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:35 AM Page 58
C a s e S t u d y
59
S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
Since the democratic elections in1994, the provision of basic serv-ices to the poor people of SouthAfrica, including communitiesin remote rural and semi-arid
areas, has become a fundamental con-cern of government departments. TheSouth African Department of WaterAffairs and Forestry took up this chal-lenge and embarked on an ambitiousprogramme to supply appropriate waterand sanitation services to the entire pop-ulation. A commission of this naturerequired exceptional co-ordination ofprojects and demanded extraordinarycommitment and programme manage-ment leadership.
Background
The supply of water and sanitation topreviously unserviced communitiescommanded a high priority within thenew government with the then-President Nelson Mandela giving impe-tus by selecting special pilot projects tolead the process. The programmebecame known as the CommunityWater Supply and SanitationProgramme (CWSSP) and can be sum-marised as follows:• Aimed to service approximately
14 000 people;• Covered all nine provinces, especially
rural and inaccessible areas;• Consisted of 1 040 individual projects;• Spent R4 035 million by March 2000
(£400 million), 10% of which was aEuropean Union grant;
• Approximately 300 government staffworked on the programme; and
• Over 500 consulting and contractingcompanies worked on the programmecreating employment for 338 400 peo-ple.
The programme rapidly gainedmomentum since it was clearly meetinga great need. However, the imperativeof delivery led to the compromising ofsound project and programme princi-ples. By 1999 the programme had begunto run into serious project and pro-gramme management difficulties forthe following reasons:• There was no consistent project or
programme management protocol;• There was no single point responsibil-
ity to coordinate the programme
across the organisation;• There was no dedicated programme
management reporting tool;• Differing priorities within the Depart-
ment resulted in a fragmented com-mitment to consistency; and
• There was a serious lack of projectand programme management capaci-ty and skills as well as a high rate ofstaff turnover accelerated by the polit-ical pressure for transformation.
A need was identified to assist and guideProject Managers within the PublicService in the management and imple-mentation of projects and programmes.
Methodology
In response to the programme difficul-ties experienced by DWAF, Turner &Townsend Programme Managersdesigned and implemented a holisticand unique solution combining projectand programme business processes,training and capacity building, and anIT support system.
The following considerations influ-enced the methodology used by Turner& Townsend:• The need to develop skills within
DWAF to empower it, and to facili-tate and manage its core businessprocesses without external interven-tion in the future;
• The need for a process that ensurescompletion of initiatives;
• The need for an inclusive and trans-parent process; and
• The importance of addressing bothcore business areas and support areasconcurrently due to an urgent needfor improvement in all areas.
Key principles such as 1) capacity build-ing and knowledge transfer 2) innova-tive and flexible approaches 3) clientfocus 4) organisational change 5) busi-ness processes 6) single point accounta-bility 7) information technology 8)financial management 9) ownership ofbusiness processes 10) benchmarkingand 11) stakeholder synergy guided theimplementation of the PMIP.
The Programme ManagementSupport to Regional Management inte-grated the inputs and activities of a largenumber of organisations and stakehold-ers. The organisations involved in theproject were those that had an impact
on the delivery of water to rural com-munities through the CWSSP. Theorganisations included DWAF HeadOffice, DWAF Regional Offices,Consultants supporting DWAF Headand Regional Offices, ImplementingAgents and local Government.
In general, the methodology of theproject was approached in stages andphases, each culminating in a deliver-able, to ensure that:• DWAF was able to evaluate the proj-
ect at the end of each stage and phase,and based on this evaluation, deter-mine whether to proceed with thenext stage or phase;
• DWAF was able to control the cost ofthe project; and
• The MSC and DWAF were able tobetter overall manage the CWSSP.
The PMIP consisted of two distinct yetinterrelated stages. Stage one entailed anassessment of the present situation andlaid the foundations for improvement.The focus of stage two is on continualimprovement. The PMIPis schematical-ly presented in Figure 1 on ther follow-ing page:
The methodology was further divid-ed into five phases as per Figure 2:
Stage 1 of PMIP was a crucial stage inwhich an overall organisational analysiswas conducted, new processes weredesigned, systems set up and skills trans-ferred.
Phase 0 required thorough projectplanning. During this phase Turner &Townsend also assisted in the appoint-ment of programme managers and thedesign of reporting structures withinDWAF. A schedule as well as deliver-ables were clearly laid out and defined.
Phase 1 entailed a comprehensiveorganisational assessment. A modelbased on the Carnegie-Mellon ProjectManagement level assessment, was usedto benchmark the initial programmemanagement capacity and measure theimprovement as the PMIP was rolledout. This model measured individualcapacity, methodologies and systems.During this stage business processes andprocedures and existing ProgrammeManagement Capacity was also docu-mented.
Phase 2 necessitated the design of acomprehensive set of ProgrammeManagement Business Processes for
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:35 AM Page 59
60
C a s e S t u d y S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
DWAF. The main objective was tobring consistency into the programme.These business processes addressed bothproject and programme managementissues.
Although the business processesdeveloped were based on internationalproject management best practice, newand creative programme managementtechniques were designed that best suit-ed the needs of DWAF. Key perform-ance indicators were used to ensureDWAF’s commitment and to shift thefocus away from merely spending thegiven budget to a combined effort toachieve the real desired outcome.
The business processes developedwould become the backbone forProgramme Management. The business
processes developed were also suffi-ciently robust to have peripheralprocesses (such as Business Plan docu-ment management) “piggy backing” onit.
Business Procedures were developedto provide detail and rigidity on selectedissues in the project and programmemanagement process. They served toprovide practical steps to guide projectand programme managers to use a con-sistent methodology to better managetheir programmes. In some instancesthe procedures had forms attached.These forms then assisted in imple-menting the procedures.
The information support system andtools designed during this phase aimedat making the business processes more
effective and efficient. This ensuredtheir sustainability with a reasonablelevel of resourcing.
Phase 3 focused on the implementa-tion of previously designed businessprocesses and procedures. An essentialelement in this phase was to train staffin the usage of the business process andthe information support system. An ini-tial skill assessment conducted in phase1 determined the training requirementand thus the training programme. Thetraining programme consisted of fourcustomised courses that took staffthrough a structured learning improve-ment of generic project managementskills, business processes and proceduresand the IT tool.
Phase 4 called for continual transferof skills and capacitation and an assess-ment and appraisal of the previouslyimplemented phases.
Turner & Townsend Project Manage-ment were again appointed in July 2000to implement Stage 2, a stage of contin-ual improvement of the project.
PMIP Objective
The primary objective of the Pro-gramme Management Support toRegional Management was to establishconsistent, repeatable management ofprogramme and projects that conformto internationally accepted practices.
The objective of the project was fur-ther to build the Project Managementcapability of DWAF (CWSSP national-ly and regionally) from the presentProject Management Maturity level 1 tolevel 3 as indicated in Figure 3.
Overall, the project was intended to:• Document the business processes to be
used;• Consolidate the current business
processes into a single uniformprocess for managing programmeand projects;
• Identify resource weaknesses, recom-mend and agree corrective action andimplement the agreed recommenda-tion;
• Identify staff training requirements,recommend training, establish andimplement the recommendation atHead Office and in the Regions;
• Integrate the training of staff and thetransfer of knowledge;
BenchmarkCapacity
Status-QuoStudy
DevelopHolistic
BusinessProcesses
Training
IT Tool
MeasureImprovement
Mentor andFollow-up
ContinuedImprovement
Programme Management Improvement
Phase 0Project Planning
Phase 1Analysis
Phase 2Design
Phase 3Establish
Phase 0Consolidation/
Embed
Project Plan• Deliverables• Schedule• Risk Management• Reporting Requirements• Management Processes
Current Status• Projects• Processes• Procedures• Institutional Arrangements• Funding• Role Players• Regional Management• Cash flows• Financial Reporting
Design/Re-design• Management Prosesses• Systems• ProjectsTo support• Sustainable water and sanitation services delivery
Management Support• Strategic programme management• Financial management and reporting• Programme monitoring and reporting• Training and capacitation
Strengthening MeasuresIn response to problemshighlighted by the ITsystem• Modified/corrected tools and procedures• Harmonised approaches• Training and development
Figure 1: Programme ManagementImprovement Process
Figure 2 : Five phases of the PMIP
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:35 AM Page 60
61
C a s e S t u d yS D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
• Co-ordinate and integrate the imple-mentation of an information systemthat supports PMIP and requiredbusiness processes;
• Review the improvement CWSSPcompetencies of departmental staff,Implementing Agents and LocalGovernment;
• Reinforce the training provided inprocesses, procedures and the IT sys-tem;
• Identify and document any minoradjustments that are required to theprocesses and procedures in a particu-lar region;
• Monitor the quality of the inputsreceived from Regions andConsultants; and
• Guide and support the DWAF staff inmanaging the CWSSP both national-ly and regionally.
The Results
PMIP achieved its primary objective,that was to establish business processesand procedures that all ProgrammeManagers could use to consistently andeffectively manage projects and roll upprojects. Furthermore it assisted to pro-vide a consistent benchmark for themanagement of “the project” for all staffand any implementing agents involvedin the programme. It also made availablea consistent framework within whichprojects could be managed and provideda consistent guideline for all ProgrammeManagers to manage their specific ele-ment of the programme. PMIP provedto assist in controlling difficulties associ-ated with programme and project man-agement and most importantlyaddressed Programme Managementcapability.
Programme ManagementCapability
With regard to Programme Manage-ment capability, the project surpassed itsinitial objective of reaching an improve-ment level of 1.5 and actually reached alevel of 1.74 at the end of June 2000.The maturity level was further raised tolevel 1,94 by December 2001. However,the desired level 3 was not reached with-in the timeframe envisaged at the startof the project. The MSC team identi-
fied the following factors, which con-tributed to the plateau in the improve-ment curve at level 2.• Lack of a clear framework for matrix
management;• Lack of project financial, schedule and
scope objective versus the objective toonly spend annual budgets;
• The variable level of commitment tothe project by DWAF Regional man-agement;
• The pending devolution of CWSSimplementation to local government;and
• Maintaining operational disciplinewithin a changing organisational set-ting.
It was estimated in June 2002 that thecompetency level stood at 2.4.
Programme Management InformationSupport System (PMISS)The planned development work natu-rally differed in some details from thatwhich was executed. In particular, themore advanced functions were notdeveloped, as the project managementmaturity had not reached the levels thatwould be required to manage thosefunctions.
On the operational side, the plannedlevel of work was carried out but thiswas insufficient to achieve a regularmonthly reporting by Regions andImplementing Agents on project status,
especially scope and schedule. This ledto the evolution of PMISS to providealternative areas of support to regionaland national management rather thanfocussing on areas which wereunachievable.
Mentorship — Regional Co-ordinationThe success of the skills transfer processwas due to the co-operation of RegionalCo-ordination staff in the skills auditand skills transfer process. The phasingout of the MSC consultant’s involve-ment did not significantly disrupt theoperational activities of the Directorate.
The sustainability of the operationalfunctions of Regional Co-ordinationwas a concern, though, due to the quick-change requirements from implementorto regulator.
Actual Work Parameters Achieved• Quantification achieved by project
management improvement maturity;• Roll out PMIP processes and proce-
dures;• All regions were trained in the use of
the PMIP processes and procedures;• The project management maturity
level assessment indicates that thePMIP processes are being utilised byall the regions;
• The PMIP manual will need anotherrevision to accommodate change tothe way DWAF manages its CWSS
5.00
4.50
4.00
3.50
3.00
2.50
2.00
1.50
1.00
0.50
0.00
Jun 99 Dec 99 Jun 00 Dec 00 Jun 01 Dec 01 Jun 02
1.00
1.74 1.761.90
Scheduled Actual Power (Actual)
CWSS CAPEX Programme Management Improvement
Figure 3: Current Competency Curve
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:35 AM Page 61
projects, including its role as regula-tor;
• Project management maturity assess-ment to be continued and improved bythe National Programme Manager;
• Roll out of PMISS IT system;• All regions were trained in the use of
the PMISS information systems tool;• The PMISS system is available with a
web-based interface via the DWAFintranet;
• Regional and National ProgrammeManagers have been mentored;
• Instituting regular Regional Pro-gramme Manager’s meetings hasenabled the MSC team to mentorDWAF CWSS Programme Managers;
• The regular PMIP assessments haveidentified areas requiring improve-ment with corrective action beingundertaken by Regional ProgrammeManagers; and
• National staff competency improve-ment has been ongoing with fruitfulresults.
The project also achieved the following:• Improved the efficiency of usage of
South African and British (via the EUgrants) taxpayers money by improv-ing the programme management ofR4 000 million grant funding;
• A wide range of skills were improvedand transferred to create sustainableimprovement, including providingthe catalyst for further skills develop-ment in the Department beyond justthis project; and
• Methodologies and experience gainedfrom the project have been trans-ferred back to Turner & Townsend inthe UK to provide a basis for applica-tion elsewhere internationally.
The introduction of the ProgrammeManagement Support to RegionalManagement approach to DWAF’sCWSS-P also produced measurableimprovements in the consistency ofimplementation as well as in the man-agement of programme annual andMTEF budgets. Schedule and scopeinformation improved, but not as sub-stantial as cost information.
Lessons for PracticalImplementation
The following lessons were learnt:
• Success in process management re-quires a “holistic” view of the busi-ness;
• In order to manage programmes androll out projects effectively, a consis-tent process is needed;
• Differing priorities within a Depart-ment will result in a fragmented com-mitment to consistency;
• Measurement and continual monitor-ing are essential elements in a compe-tency improvement programme;
• Proactive monitoring and reportingon key performance indicators andkey focus areas (not just annual budg-etary requirements) are crucial;
• Programme ownership and singlepoint responsibility are essential ele-ments of a successful programme;
• Programme improvement will onlybe sustainable when skills are trans-ferred to the organisation's staff;
• Project identification, selection andimplementation needs to be clearlydefined;
• Need to monitor compliance withVariation Order processes;
• In order to sustain the PMIP process,ongoing PMIP refresher training isrequired;
• A key lesson of this intervention hasbeen the need to identify DWAF staffto take over MSC consultant's activi-ties. The skills transfer process wasdisrupted at various times due to theredeployment of consultants withinthe MSC contract and the transfer ofDWAF staff. Also, to ensure continu-ity, a process such as this needs to belinked to DWAF’s overall HRD pro-gramme.
When you measure whatyou are speaking about and express it in numbers,you know somethingabout it, but when youcannot express it in numbers your knowledgeabout it is of a meagreand unsatisfactory kind.
Lord Kelvin, 1824
62
C a s e S t u d y S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:35 AM Page 62
C a s e S t u d y
63
S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
Restructuring theAgricultural Sector in
Limpopo
In this paper presented
at a seminar last year,
Massoud Shaker
explores the challenges
facing the agricultural
sector in Limpopo, and
how this can be
re-engineered in order
to create jobs and
income, and also to be
self-sustainable
While endowed with abun-dance of naturalresources, Limpopo Pro-vince is characterised by ahigh rate of poverty,
unemployment and very low HumanDevelopment Index.
According to the Centre for StatisticalServices (CSS, 1996) close to 91% of theprovince’s 5,3 million population live inrural areas. Plus minus 46% of the eco-nomically active population of theprovince is unemployed and theHuman Development Index (HDI) atProvincial level is 0,47 (the lowest afterFree State) and its poverty rate is close to60%.
In terms of a UNICEF survey in 1994the rate of stunting for children lessthan five years of age in South Africa is23%, a scenario that can be worse inLimpopo Province due to its highpoverty rate.
The major socio-economic challengesfaced by rural Limpopo can be sum-marised as follows:
UnemploymentUnskilled masses, high young popula-tion percentage and high rural-urbanmigration.
Food insecurityLow food accessibility and affordability,
land related issues and inadequacy ofagricultural support services.
Inadequacy of basic services.Unreliable and inadequate water, sani-tation, health and educational services,coupled with absence of their associatedinstitutional structures.
Almost all the agricultural projectsmanaged by the Agricultural and RuralDevelopment Corporation (ARDC) aresituated in rural areas of the provincewith limited or no impact on the socio-economic status of the rural people.
The above challenges certainly didcall for the transformation of thinkingpatterns with respect to existing agro,socio-economic concepts.
Agricultural and Rural DevelopmentCorporation (ARDC) was establishedon 01 April 1996 by means of a procla-mation in the provincial gazette interms of Northern Province Corpora-tion Act 5 of 1994 and was intended tobe engaged in the promotion of sustain-able agricultural activities in theLimpopo Province, targeting theresource-poor farmers.
ARDC in turn established 13 com-mercially based Agricultural estates/projects, some with and some withoutindependent legal personality. This cat-egory of projects covers a total land area
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:35 AM Page 63
C a s e S t u d y S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
64
of about 18 000 ha with the participationof 1 200 workers.
The other category of projects devel-oped by ARDC, which were calleddevelopmental or farmers’ settlementprojects, numbered 43, covering anextent of +23 600ha and employing+400 workers.
From the inception date, in discharg-ing their responsibility the managementof the ARDC adopted the wrong policyapproach that resulted in the followingdisastrous implications within theemerging farming communities in theprovince for which the corporation wasestablished:• Creation of full dependency of farm-
ers in all aspects of farming practiceson the corporation;
• Inappropriate utilisation of the annualfinancial injection from Government;
• When in 1999 the government’s annu-al capital injection was reducednoticeably, the continuation of thewrong approach by the managementof the ARDC persisted and resultedin the creation of millions of rands ofdebt to creditors and banks.
• Inappropriate loan allocation methodsto farmers resulting in the creation ofa large debt in the loan book.
• Closure of many projects and ill dis-missal of hundreds of workers result-ing in Labour Court judgementsagainst the corporation;
• Illegal sale of loose assets to continuethe operation with the same wrongapproach;
• Withdrawal of cash from viable com-mercial projects and subsidiaries topay the salaries of staff of other proj-ects, head office and managementstaff;
• Settling farmers on projects with noattempt to capacitate them or facilitat-ing the sourcing of their operationalcapital.
In view of this unacceptable state ofoperation in ARDC, the ExecutiveCouncil of the Limpopo Provinceadopted the recommendation of theProvincial Department of Agriculture,that the ARDC had to be restructuredand transformed.
Problem statement
In view of the above background, the
question arose as to how the viciouscycle of poverty, with its major con-tributing factors such as unemployment,food insecurity and inadequacy of basicservices, can be broken in ruralLimpopo. How and based on whatprinciples, could the restructuring of theARDC projects contribute to thisprocess?
Intervention applied
When in April 2001 the provincialDepartment of Agriculture took overthe management of the ARDC the fol-lowing challenges were faced by theARDC.
Disastrous and critical technical, bio-logical and managerial status of all theprojects in terms of:• Application of fertiliser, chemicals and
irrigation water.• Non-availability of agricultural and
harvesting machines at the rate ofclose to 95%
• No orchard maintenance, weedingpruning, etc.
• No harvesting and marketing plan.• No management plan to prevent theft
and asset deterioration.
Financial management crises createddue to the millions rand of debt owed tocreditors causing the following impacts:• Urgent court interdicts for liquida-
tions of Gillemburg, Lisbon andARDC as a whole.
• Complete loss of credibility.• Unfavourable media coverage, attacks
and misrepresentation, negative prop-aganda.
• Legal deficiencies in the status of thesubsidiary companies and commercialprojects.
• Inappropriate reaction of workers andworkers unions in fear of possible joblosses.
• Extreme financial difficulties anddeficiencies due to mismanagement ofthe funds in terms of departmentaladopted strategies.
Pressure from client bodies (farmers) toreceive services as rendered before interms of:• Wages and salaries to farmers settled
and their helpers.• Loans and services that could not be
repaid nor paid for, resulting into mil-lions of loan book debt.
Through comprehensive research andwith the help of rural engineering prin-ciples, a restructuring model was devel-oped which was titled “Equity shareholding model”. This restructuringmodel, which was supported by theaffected workers’ unions in ARDC, cov-ers the following principles:• The model emanated from the con-
cept of Community Public PrivatePartnership (CPPP).
• Full restructuring of the project infavour of workers, community, (landowner) and their strategic partner.
• Land to be retained by the landownerand to be long leased, e.g 15 years tothe transformed project operator(Operating company shared by landowner, workers and strategic partner.)
• Long-term sustainability, to providejob and economical growth at local,provincial and national levels.
• Adherence to the government policywith respect to equity principles andsound economical base for manage-ment and operational success.
• Adherence to the government policywith respect to “Black Empower-ment” in attracting investors/strategicpartners from first local and thennational levels.
• Safeguarding the equity share of theworkers and the communities (landowners) in the long run.
• Equitable and economically basedshareholding structure for the trans-formed project operator (operatingcompany shared equitably bylandowner, workers and strategicpartner).
• Allocation of right to operate the proj-ect to the transformed project opera-tor within a predetermined period, i.e15-20years.
• The transformed operator shouldoperate the project at their ownaccount (investor/strategic partner toprovide or facilitate such capital).
• Provision of an exit strategy for theinvestor/strategic partner in favour ofthe workers and landowners.
The implementation of the equityshareholding model was first adoptedfor the ARDC commercially based proj-
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:35 AM Page 64
65
C a s e S t u d yS D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
ect and was informed by an extensiveand comprehensive financial and eco-nomical cost benefit analysis. Thisanalysis revealed the following facts:Financial Internal Rate of return (IRR) = 5%Net Present Value (NPV) at discountrate 5% = R4,122, 075.Economical Internal Rate of Return(IRR) = 19%Net Present Value (NPV) at 5%
discount rate = R332 400 360In terms of macro socio-economic
impact, this process would contributeR140 million to GDP of the country,create more than 2 000 jobs and con-tribute R18 million annually to the poorstrata of the society.
Progress and achievements
Since April 2001 the following achieve-
ments were realised in the implementa-tion of the equity shareholding model of the commercially based ARDC proj-ects.
The total ARDC number of employ-ees was reduced to 1 600, from 2 800,due to early retirement, voluntaryretrenchment or being taken over by thenew operating company in the restruc-tured estate.
The annual salary bill of ARDC hasso far been reduced by 55%.
One estate has now been restructuredand taken over by the new operatingcompany while heads of agreementhave been finalised and signed withstrategic partners for another fiveestates.
Short term management agreementshave been signed for six estates withprospective strategic partners to main-tain the status of these estates at theircost.
All the legal documents required forthe long lease in terms of the adoptedmodel have been prepared.
Full political support and drive forthe restructuring process.
Lessons learned, presentchallenges and conclusion
The following challenges are prominentin the restructuring process based onwhat has been learned so far:• Long process of land restitutions and
claims.• Long restructuring process that may
affect the interest of theinvestors/strategic partners.
• Long procedure to obtain ministerialapproval for long lease, where appli-cable.
• Collaboration with, and accommoda-tion of, differing view points of vari-ous workers unions.
• Formation of community and work-ers’ trusts.
• Difficult learning curve-comfort zoneof nobody.
It can be concluded that the restructur-ing of state assets based on the principlesof the “equity shareholding model” canbreak the poverty cycle in rural areas ofLimpopo Province.
The Government and its agents willthen focus on their core functions.
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:35 AM Page 65
C a s e S t u d y S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
66
RepositioningPay Points in KZN
Food for Thought
Dianne Dunkerley, Chief
Director responsible for
social security in the
KwaZulu-Natal Provincial
Department of Social
Welfare and Population
Development explores
some innovative ideas
aimed at improving the
functioning of pay points
for government grants in
Kwazulu Natal
The Department of Social Welfarein KwaZulu-Natal pays grants,in terms of the Social AssistanceAct, 1992, to more than 1,2 mil-lion people each month. Of
these, only 8% collect their moneythrough direct transfers into their bankaccounts. This means that approximate-ly 1,1 million are paid in cash eachmonth. This cash payment takes placeat a total of 2 609 pay points situatedthroughout the province. This numberincludes post offices, which are used ascash pay points. The total amount ofcash paid in direct transfers exceedsR400 million per month.
The issue of pay points is an emotion-al one — and rightly so. This is thepoint at which the Department interactsdirectly with its customers, who makeup the most vulnerable members of ourcommunities. The challenge faced bythe Department is not only to ensurethat the customers receive the service towhich they are entitled, but to ensurethat the services are rendered in the bestmanner possible. This includes makingsure that the pay points used are suitablefor the service.
Analysis of the Problem
Unfortunately, at this stage, approxi-mately 60% of the pay points used donot meet the standards as set in the
nationally approved norms and stan-dards document, which stipulate that allpay points should provide at least thefollowing basic services: access to water,toilets, shelter, seating, security and firstaid.
An uninformed position is to move allsocial grant payments to banks. This isnot feasible for a number of reasons,including the cost of running a bankaccount, the present lack of bankinginfrastructure in the rural areas, and toa certain extent the unwillingness ofbanks to provide a service to this com-munity, who really still operate within acash environment.
Another aspect to take into account isthe fact that grant payments become thehub of the local economy — grant pay-ments do not take place in isolation, butwithin an extremely vibrant market.Local vendors selling a variety of goods,from food, poultry, clothing to hand-made crafts, follow the payments, anddepend on pension pay days for theirsurvival. Any attempt to move paypoints thus has a ripple effect on thelocal community economy, and part ofthe Department’s strategy is to developlocal communities rather than move theeconomic activity into the towns andcities.
During a visit to pay points in theOngoye district on 21 August 2002, witha team from the IPSP project office at
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:35 AM Page 66
67
C a s e S t u d yS D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
the Department of Public ServiceAdministration in Pretoria, two paypoints were visited. The first isKwafuneka Store, established on thegrounds of a local shop owner. The paypoint is in a fenced-off area, on opengrassland. The store owner has erected arudimentary shelter, but there are nochairs, toilets or water available for pen-sioners. Access to the site is via a nar-row dirt road, which on pension paydays is lined with informal traders,severely restricting movement of vehi-cles.
The second pay point visited was atNyoni, where the payment takes placefrom a community hall next to thepolice station. The area is securelyfenced, and pensioners have access tothe hall, where chairs are available.Toilets and water facilities are provided.The informal traders are situated on theoutside of the fenced area, on the sidesof the access road.
These two pay points are typical ofthe pay points in the province, where
some have the necessary facilities whileothers do not meet even the most basicrequirements. A dilemma faced by thisDepartment is the upgrading of all paypoints, even where many are not oncommunity or Departmental ownedland.
Proposed Method of Intervention
In order to begin addressing the chal-lenges of pension payments in thisprovince, a pay point development strat-egy has been developed, using fundingfrom IPSP. This development strategyseeks to harness a number of initiatives,as well as taking an innovative approachto the lack of resources. It can be under-stood that to build in excess of 2 000 paypoints, some of which may be used foronly two to threee hours each month, isnot economically viable.
A further compounding factor is thatless than 1% of the pay points currentlyused operate from Departmental ownedpremises.
The purpose of the pay point develop-ment plan is fourfold, namely:• To ensure compliance with the nation-
al norms and standards set for socialsecurity;
• To improve service delivery in linewith the strategic plan for the socialsecurity component;
• To “live” the core values espoused inthe strategic plan;
• To transform the public service andensure the delivery of respectful andcompassionate services.
The pay point development plan pro-poses three distinct options, namely:• The development of infrastructure for
those pay points which serve a signifi-cant number of customers, where pay-ments take place over more than 1 dayeach month, and where there is no othersuitable facility in that community.
• The use of existing facilities in com-munities, within easy reach of the paypoints, such as community halls, ortraditional courts;
The Mdunges of Trust Feed, in KwaZulu-Natal, are just one of manyfamilies who depend on pension payments for their livelihood
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:35 AM Page 67
C a s e S t u d y S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
• and the contracting out ofportable amenities for paypoints.
With the first option, namely thedevelopment of infrastructure, thestructure which is built is a basichall, with two offices, which canbe used for support services bothduring pension payments, or socialwork services throughout themonth. Where the area has elec-tricity, pre-paid meters areinstalled. There are also ablutionfacilities built, and the area isfenced for security purposes.Once the structure is complete,ownership becomes a communityresponsibility, which then main-tains and manages their resource.Land is usually sourced from thetraditional authority, or may bestate owned.
One such hall has been built inthe Hlabisa district, and four otherprojects identified for develop-ment within the next year. Thesedevelopments do not take theroute of normal tender projectswithin the public service, but a paypoint committee is establishedwithin the community. This com-mittee, comprised of communitymembers, Departmental staff and theCPS development manager, implementsthe project. CPS provides the qualityassurance, but all the work is overseenby the committee.
The projects are used to provideemployment for local community mem-bers, and the material and labour issourced from within the community.For all projects, the majority of theworkers must be women. The approachof utilising local skills, while certainlytaking longer than “importing” expert-ise in the form of large contractors,ensures that the money generated by theproject remains within the local com-munity and true ownership of the proj-ect is never in dispute.
These structures are funded througha development fund, which has been setup as part of the payment contractawarded to Cash Paymaster ServicesKwaZulu-Natal — the company whichhas the contract to pay grants on behalfof the Department in this province. Interms of the contract, CPS contributes a
set amount into the pay point develop-ment fund each month. Funds sourcedfrom other role-players and donors canalso be deposited into this fund, whichoperates as a trust account.
Grant payments must be, by theirvery nature, a mobile service. No cus-tomer should have to travel more thanfive kilometres to their nearest paypoint. However, where payments takeplace at a pay point which does not pro-vide the basic services, and a communi-ty facility is available within a reason-able distance, negotiations can beentered into with the community mem-bers to relocate the pay point.However, no pay point can be relocatedwithout consultation and agreementfrom the affected customers and thelocal community structures. This is thesecond option included in the strategy,and is currently being implemented.
The third option, which is both inno-vative and exciting, is to source mobilesupport services for pay points. Thereare pay points which are strategically
situated, and should therefore notbe moved. However, in the medi-um to long term, with the empha-sis on rural development, it is fea-sible to expect banks to provideservices in many of these areas.This will facilitate the gradual,voluntary migration of pensionersto bank payments. However, inthe meantime, facilities which donot erode the dignity of the pen-sion community are required. Inthe light of this pressing need, thisDepartment is considering theawarding of contracts, on a locallevel, for entrepreneurs to providetemporary, portable services atpay points.
The idea is to define the con-tracts according to a particularwelfare district (currently theDepartment operates in 65 dis-tricts in the province). The con-tractor will be provided with thepayment timetable — pensionpayments take place over a 20-daypayment cycle each month — andexpected to ensure that eachmorning, before the paymentteam arrives at the pay point at08h00, a tent is erected to provideshelter, plastic chairs are set out,
and portable toilets are available on site.These facilities will then be removed
at the end of the payment day andmoved to the next pay point for the fol-lowing day. The provision of this serv-ice can then become fulltime work for alocal community member, who mayeven be in a position to employ a smallnumber of staff. This should grow alocal micro enterprise — true develop-ment as practiced by the Department.
Conclusion
Making this development plan comealive, and not remain merely a docu-men, is a challenge which must be methead on by this Department over thenext few years, as it is at the interactionpoints with our customers that theDepartment is judged.
There is a unique opportunity to livethe principles of Batho Pele and ensurethat the people really do come first.Anything less is an indictment on ourhumanity.
68 Photograph: Peter McKenzie
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:35 AM Page 68
69
P r o f i l eS D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
Astonishingthe Gods
Tiisetso Makube speaks to the head of a Soweto school that has consistently registered
excellent matric results in spite of the squalor and poverty that cling to many of its pupils
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:35 AM Page 69
‘The question thatbegs for an answerwith a growingsense of urgency,”said then-deputy
president Thabo Mbeki inhis address at the 1997 launchof Fort Hare University’sCulture of Learning andTeaching Campaign, “iswhether we have achievedthe ideals for which so manyof our best youth and stu-dents sacrificed their lives.”
If they could, I am inclinedto believe, the learners —sometimes called students —at St Matthews High Schoolin Rockville, Soweto, wouldmost probably answer by say-ing, quoting from the Nigerian writerBen Okri, “In the kingdom of this world,we can still astonish the gods ... and bethe stuff of future legends.”
These words encapsulate the kind ofspirit that seems to have been canonisedat this remarkable school of 22 years’standing.
The facts speak for themselves. StMathews is one of a few townshipschools that have consistently registeredexcellent matric results over the years —an average of 99% pass rate since 1994.The school outdid itself last year whenall of their 113 matriculants passed theiryear-end exams, earning 46 distinctionsin the process.
What makes this all the moreremarkable is the miasma of povertyfrom which many of the school’s pupilscome and, as is common with townshipschools, the lack of resources conduciveto the sort of academic exertion requiredat high school level.
The principal of St Mathews, SisterFrancis, took Service Delivery Reviewinto her confidence about the success ofthe school: “I am telling you, with all thedifficulties that we have, and they areinnumerable, we are blessed with a ded-icated staff. The teachers are beautiful.They just never tire, which of coursemakes a whole lot of difference at theend of the day because without suchcommitment, it’s anybody’s guess wherewe would be.”
Sister Francis herself is a qualifiedmathematics teacher. She also has a
masters in educational leadership fromthe Australia Catholic University.
At St Matthews Sister Francis isknown for her strictness and impatiencewith blithering, undedicated pupils.Her work ethic is legendary.
Every Saturday, she dedicates at leastthree hours of what should be her sparetime to giving extra Maths classes toGrade 12 pupils.
But each of the 24 subject teachersgives their own extra classes, says the 53-year-old principal.
For instance Anthony Kafeero, theScience teacher, starts his classes at07h00 every school day.
On our visit on late Friday afternoon— the time when I and doubtless manyother professionals are bound to bequaffing beverages at their favouritewatering holes — David Moradu, whoteaches biology, was still at schoolpreparing for the following week’s class.Also present were some of Moradu’spupils.
But has it always been like this?“Well, we have always set our stan-
dards very high. The culture of learningis entrenched, but I think our pupils arerealising that there are opportunities outthere that require that they be wellequipped academically. So a lot of themare putting in a lot of effort.”
Sister Francis has been at St Matthewssince 1994,.
Before then, she was at Iona HighSchool in Pretoria where she was princi-pal for 13 years.
Coming to Soweto meant adjustingfrom the tranquil and leafy surrounds ofJacaranda city to the crowded, cacopho-nous existence of Rockville where theSisters of Mercy have had a conventsince 1969.
Sister Francis is driven by the beliefthat education is liberation. “Where Icome from, Limerick, in Ireland, educa-tion was, and still is, extremely valued.Also, we were given what I believe to bethe very best in education and we werebrought up to value it, for obvious rea-sons.
“Now, it was shocking, though notaltogether surprising, when I came herein 1971, to see the kind of inferior edu-cation black people were being subject-ed to.
“It has since been my desire to see to itthat when it comes to education there isequality and that people actually haveaccess to education.
“One of the things I feel terrible aboutis that we always have to turn somepupils away every year because of lackof space. And people don’t alwaysunderstand. But our biggest problem ismoney. We struggle with finance andbecause of that we can’t expand theschool.
“It’s also expensive to hire teachersbecause the government does not paythem. They give us a subsidy of course,about 60%, but they don’t pay the teach-ers. Still, one never stops to hope thatthings will change, gradually. That’swhat we live for .”
70
P r o f i l e S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
Sister Francis with some of the pupils
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:35 AM Page 70
I s s u e s
71
S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
First South AfricanPublic Management
Conversation
The Minister for Public Service andAdministration, Ms GeraldineFraser-Moleketi, hosted andlaunched the First PublicManagement Conversation
(SAPMC) which took place from the 1stto the 4th of December 2002 at theStonehenge River Lodge in Parys, FreeState.
The SAPMC is a mutation of theSouth African Public ManagementWorkshop, a series of workshops whichwas initially facilitated by faculty fromthe John F Kennedy School ofGovernment at Harvard University,and funded by OTIS Ltd over a periodof ten years.
The series focused on training PublicManagement Academics in the CaseStudy and other interactive methods ofteaching and learning, so as to preparecadres for the new government and civilservice for the coming challenges, aswell as to stimulate dialogue on key pol-icy issues facing the new democraticPublic Service.
The Conversation brought together aselect group of delegates from the public
service, academia, civil society, the pri-vate sector and included a small groupof internationals. Its aim was to priori-tise conversations on challenges con-fronting Government, among the vari-ous professional stakeholders, in orderto fully recognise each other’s contribu-tions and limitations, to streamlineintentions and work together in creat-ing sustainable pathways to the resolu-tion of those challenges.
This First SAPMC focused on threethemes (challenges):• Policy co-ordination, integrated plan-
ning, integrated public service;• Service delivery innovation (incorpo-
rating e-government and informationmanagement); and
• Anti-corruption and ethics.The Conversation was convened jointlyby academics from the University of theNorth and members of the Departmentof Public Service and Administration,and was generously funded by OTISand GTZ. A full report on the delibera-tions and outcomes is under construc-tion. The second annual Conversationwill be held in 2003.
C o n v e r s a t i o n s
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:35 AM Page 71
I s s u e s C o n v e r s a t i o n s S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
72T
he topic that was put to me is abroad one. It speaks to a chal-lenge that we have in govern-ment of policy co-ordination, ofintegrating government and the
whole notion that has been spokenabout for some time now, of integratingpublic service or a single public serviceas some would refer to it. It is quite adifficult task but perhaps it is made a lit-tle bit easier by the fact that some of usare in a moment of reflection for a num-ber of reasons.
For those of us in government we arestarting to think about the next 10 yearsthat is post-2004 and obviously it’s agood opportunity for us because we doso on the basis of a review of what hap-pened in the previous 10 years, perhapsnow eight years or eight-and-a-halfyears or so. On the basis of that assess-ment we are starting to formulate whatare the bigger questions that we need tobe tackling. I guess the same applies tothose who think about these issues morepolitically.
The ruling party is obviously prepar-ing itself for the 10-year celebration aswell as the 2004 elections and I guessissues of the review of policy will alsoarise. I guess those in the opposition willdo the same and I guess academicsobserve, analyse and study this processwith great interest. So, I say this becauseI think that the overwhelming context
of my discussion and presentation isgoing to be about the sense of reflection.
In an attempt to reflect, one obviouslyuses one’s own experiences, one’s ownbiases to reflect in a particular way hop-ing that the lessons that we’ve learnt,both good and bad, would be able toinform us how we should behave as weare going forward. I think that fromthat point of view a Conversation likethis is quite helpful. I guess pretty muchin the same way as the Mount Grace dis-cussion was important in charting theway forward. While the focus is ratherdifferent, nevertheless what I am hop-ing to get from the Conversation overthe next two days is hopefully to begiven your insight that can continueinforming us in this process of reflectingthat we are engaged in.
Siting where we are today it is veryeasy to forget that the context withinwhich we set in 1994 was very differentfrom the one that we have here today. Iguess the fact that we are dealing withtwo completely different contexts actu-ally also speaks to the fact that hopeful-ly to some extent we were able to quitesuccessfully change the dynamic that wewere facing at that particular time, andalso meeting some of the challenges thatwe had. For me, that is what I wouldcall high-level goals. High-level goalsare important because of the weakness-es of those of us who are involved in
How Capacity andLeadership can
Enhance Delivery
Robinson Ramaite, the
Director-General of the
DPSA, outlines the scope
of issues tackled through
the innovative self-
introspectory programme
of Conversations
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:35 AM Page 72
73
C o n v e r s a t i o n sS D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2 I s s u e s
public management has always been tothink about our profession and our areaof activity in an insulated way forgettingthat it is in actual fact a sub-set of poli-tics and political agenda and govern-ment agenda. For me, what was veryinteresting in going back and trying toanalyse what happened in 1994 was to alarge extent the link between the high-level agenda (the high-level goal) andwhat transpired in the public serviceafterwards.
In 1994 government was concernedabout the hegemony of the developmentagenda in government as a whole. Thatwas manifested in various forms, theRDP (most of us remember very well inits various manifestations). It was a keypriority that the language of govern-ment had to change and had to be pri-marily concerned with the constructionof a development agenda. I think that toa large extent that high-level goal waswell understood, and was basically acommon objective.
It had to be pursued in a number ofways. It had to be pursued by creating asense of “quick win” for the SouthAfrican society about the possibilities ofdevelopment. It had to be concernedabout making sure that we are able todeal with some of our immediate chal-lenges of peace. Some of you willremember that the initial integratedprogramme that we had was justaround thee end of 1995-96, theIntegrated Urban Renewal Project inKatorus. It was one of the RDP flag-ships by then. Therefore the notion ofan integrated government is not just apost-1999 concept.
Already, this was a drive that wasmotivated by the need to diversify ourpublic sector and in particular makesure that it included the entire publicsector so that the entire developmentagenda could be nurtured. I think thatto a large extent that is what the firstfour years in government was all about.
In the institutional public manage-ment sense there was an overridingfocus obviously that if you want tochange the orientation of the govern-ment, policy becomes a key issue. It thenfollows that there was a lot of policywork and white papers that were quitecritical in that process. Very interestingfrom a paradigm point of view that
there was no doubt that South Africawas following a path that generally canbe scribed to a number of other transi-tional countries, more akin to what wesaw happen in the Eastern Europeancontext. What tends to happen in thosetransitional environments is concentra-tion on economic thinking, generallyspeaking, over other broad politicalagendas. I think that to a large extent inSouth Africa it was pretty much thesame belt-tightening, fiscal stabilisation.All this was part of pursuing that high-level goal and I guess a lot was achievedthrough that strategy.
I coin a particular metaphor which isnot original, coming from other previ-ous discussions that were held, which isthat what also tended to happen wassomething that one would call “pointingan object”. Basically, you were a gov-ernment faced with numerous chal-lenges and a very wide agenda, andwhat you saw developing from thenumber of white papers that were pub-lished, was a plethora of prioritiesemerging which were in a sense over-whelming an institution that was in theprocess of formation.
Thus, while you were still developingand nurturing those institutions therewas an overwhelming agenda that washitting on them in a very big way. If youwere an official in the Department ofHousing you didn’t only have to worryabout amalgamating 16 different hous-ing departments, you had to worryabout meeting a target of delivering amillion housing units. This is the sort ofinstitutional set-up that was occurringat that time. You can imagine the sort ofpressure that was prevalent during thattime amidst those policies, institutionallegal changes and the numerous high-level targets that were to be met.
In any event, that process ended invery significant outcomes. With hind-sight, our integration process was verywell executed and to a large extent theprocess of restructuring as well. Whenone speaks of the 1996 restructuringprocess a lot of people have mixed feel-ing about it, especially in relation to vol-untary severance packages, etc.Generally speaking, any restructuringexercise of that magnitude can neverreally be perfect, but to a large extentthere was a good process towards the
implementation of the Constitution,and above all we ended up with a veryfirm system of government in place, astable institutional base as well as what Iwould call a sound legal and regulatoryframework.
In 1999, most of the traditional fea-tures had started to disappear. The focushad to turn to processes of sustainableforms of delivery. Government had tostart examining very clearly how wedesign systems that can result in sustain-able service delivery. Using theDepartment of Water Affairs as anexample, the Department had done a lotto achieve a lot of its targets; the deliveryof so many taps to villages in rural areas,which can counted in numbers, and somany projects. What we started to seewas some of those projects, beyond theexcitement of meeting the quantity tar-gets, started to collapse.
Thus, the focus beyond that was howdo you put in place systems and mecha-nisms for sustainable service delivery.That is, making sure that we havesound implementation mechanisms thatcan stand the test of time. This obvious-ly meant that there had to be a greaterfocus on management, strong institu-tions to make sure that the service wehave delivered becomes sustainable overa period of time. Obviously some ofthese are continued.
In my reflection I find that the ten-dency that developed, particularly post-1999, was what I would call the rate ofpragmatism. Government went into ahigh pragmatic mood. It was no longerimportant to have many discussionsabout how you do something. Theheroes and heroines were those whowere going to stand up and and say wehave done it. This is very importantfrom a paradigm point of view. For me,the context of the macro-politicaldebates in the country around outsourc-ing, privatisation and so on, are essentialabout a position that says we need tostart reflecting about what becomesmore important. Is it the successfuldelivery of social pensions or is it doingit in the most “proper” way?
That reflects the current discussiontoday because my argument is that ifyou observe (I am getting a little bid intoa controversial territory) those depart-ments that have been able to, particular-
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:35 AM Page 73
ly post-1999, make a lot of improvementin their delivery modes, they have tend-ed to pursue very unconventional meansand, to a large extent, did not pause andwait for overwhelming consensusbeforehand.
So, consistently I have formulated asaying that refers to “the strong and thewilling”. If you are strong and you haveenough conviction on the agenda thatyou are pursuing, and you are willingenough in a sense to take on the verycomplex decision-making system of thegovernment, the likelihood is that therewould be a lot of success. Of coursethere would be other sets of variablesthat we will have to examine a little bitlater. But I think that there is a veryclear distinction and a case that can beshown around this. We can think, as anexciting example, about Minerals andEnergy. There could be more.
Over and above, this is what hap-pened over the two periods that we’vebeen talking about and we can continueto reflect further. But, in thinking aboutwhere are we going from here, there area number of areas that we need to reflecton still.
One area that we need to reflect on isessentially what we could term “twinchallenges”. On the one hand, how dowe construct a macro-framework formof integrated governance going into thefuture, and on the other hand equallycreating a framework for service deliv-ery. For me, the challenges that we talkabout remain at these two levels.
Part of the process was based on les-sons that we learnt over the past eightyears or so, to reflect on a number of keychallenges that we have identified. Wehave put these in a series of questions.
If you look at the micro-frameworkfor integrated governance, what we arebasically concerned about is the fact thatwe have a system of government inSouth Africa which most of you know isbased on a Constitution that allows forthree spheres of government — whatone would call the quasi-federal frame-work. This issue is becoming more andmore interesting because a number ofissues are developing around how ourintegrated framework is structured.One that I heard about not so long ago isfrom the MEC of Health in the North-West who is doing some research on
governance. He provided a hypothesis,which every time I mention it, I get nod-ding heads.
According to this hypothesis, thereseems to be more progress in servicedelivery in departments that do not haveconcurrent functions. What it basicallysays is that where you do not have a splitin the division of powers and functionsthere seems to be more progress indelivery. I don’t know what the fullanswer to this hypothesis is but what itwould basically mean is that most of theproblems that we have in the social serv-ices, education and health primarily,could be related to the fact that thereseems to be a failure in the logic of co-ordination between the three spheres ofgovernment. Some of the bigger weak-nesses in government, e.g. as shown inCarte Blanche about HIVAIDS inMpumalanga, are because the way inwhich these programmes are funded isthat policies are decided at nationallevel. National government says that inorder for our policy priorities to be car-ried out though provincial and localinstitutions we institute what we call“conditional grants”.
This is funding that you give toanother sphere of government on condi-tion that they only spend it for that par-ticular field. You will remember thatthere has always been a challenge that
provincial government is 70% socialservices. If all your policies are decidednationally and they already come withpre-budgets, what the hell do theseprovinces do, particularly because theyare essentially government, they havetheir own legislatures, etc?
We had a similar debate not long agowhen we were talking about the cre-ation of a social security agency to paypension grants because if you take awaythose grants then you have essentiallytaken away a big part of provincialbudgets. Also, naturally provinces donot have much of a role in doing any-thing with that money because it is actu-ally transferred money. Of the 70% ofpersonnel budgets that provinces dealwith between 85 and 90% is personnel,and you are left with very little which,because of how the present policy trajec-tory is developing, comes in the form ofconditional grants.
Last year the president announcedthat by 2004 no child would study undera tree. The policy and institutionaleffects of that is that all the public worksmoney directed at school building, forinstance, now becomes conditionalgrants. Therefore, the level of flexibilityat provincial level becomes rather limit-ed. However, the issue is that even thelink between policy planning and exe-cution between the three spheres of gov-
I s s u e s S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
74
C o n v e r s a t i o n s
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:35 AM Page 74
75
I s s u e sC o n v e r s a t i o n sS D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
ernment is not working and, if youwant, the evidence that it is not workingis the fact that that is were you have theleast satisfactory levels of delivery if theSefularo hypothesis is correct.
In that respect the question is: are theinstruments for effective integrated pol-icy planning and implementation acrossthe three spheres of government work-ing, and are any interventions that canbe made in that particular area?
In government we have tried a num-ber of things. In our meeting of DGs wewere reflecting on these things. We havehad the IDZ, the Integrated Rural andSustainable Development Programme,we have had local economic develop-ment programmes, we now have some-thing called the Integrated Develop-ment Plan. We have had all these mod-els of planning within a period of eightyears. We are quite sure that if analysisis done on most of them and, in particu-lar, if we could use variables such as lackof proper allocation of accountability,etc. they would not pass. We are veryworried about the performance of theseprogrammes.
Secondly, if you look at the perform-ance of our conditional grants we wouldbe worried about how issues have beenpopping up.
Thirdly, if you look at our intergov-ernmental structure, it is clear that theonly intergovernmental structure thathas a legal mandate, a legal basis andthat is working seems to be the budgetcouncil. But the other MINMECS,Education for instance, where theMinister of Education sits with theprovincial MECs, always seem to com-plain that it is very difficult because theauthority and the framework for inte-grated policy and planning is not veryclear. It is very difficult to determinewhat is achievable in those particularsituations because of the way the currentsystem functions.
The other question would relate tothe division of powers between the threespheres of government and how itimpacts on service delivery. There maynot be a legal regulatory programme.Going back to our discussions, therehave always been complaints about thepredominance of lawyers during the ini-tial constitutional design stage. What weare asking has nothing to do with the
legal framework. It has nothing to dowith the law or the regulatory frame-work. It has to do with the logic of serv-ice delivery. Is the current three-spherearrangement logical from a servicedelivery point of view or should wereview that? There are a number ofvariables. We could give the municipal-ity the responsibility of building andmaintaining schools and let the educa-tion department focus on the delivery ofpolicies at schools.
The next question is: are there designflaws or unintended consequences in theway in which we design the public serv-ice? The answer is, there are some thatwe know about. We continue to worryabout implications and a lot of unfocusedinstitutions and so in a sense most of therecommendations of the PresidentialReview Commission remain relevant.We think that the issue of the conflictbetween the Public Service Act and thePublic Finance Management Act is onesuch design flaw with unintended conse-quences, the role of provincial DGs,alignment of administrative systemsacross the three spheres, the design of ourbargaining structure and all those sort ofthings — including the fact that we didnot necessarily conceive some of ourexpenditure.
For instance, we spend R600 millionon the IEC per annum and the IEC per-forms only two elections in a period offour years. Of the R600 million, R300million is used on capacity which mostpeople do not use. Is that a sustainableway in which to run our elections? Isthere a way in which we can differentiatebetween an election commission and anelection delivery capability because theConstitution does not say we should havean election administration. It says wemust have an independent commission.
We think we agree that there is a needfor us to develop an integrated system ofgovernment, based on the principle of aunified and not uniform public service.We need standardised policies and proce-dures for common principles and proce-dures, but at the same time we need flex-ibility to address sectoral constraints. In asense what we are talking about is astrong centre for policy co-ordination andintegration governance and a strongerperiphery for service delivery and flexi-bility at that particular area. That is pre-
cisely how we understand the integratednature of our system of government.
There is a whole lot of work that weneed to do in this particular area, partic-ularly in relation to the three questionsthat we are talking about.
Going forward into the next 10 years,I think that most of the responses thatyou will see from government will befocusing on those issues including, forexample, the question of the need for afunctional audit to align mandates ofinstitutions; the duplication issues; thequestion of the division of powers andpowers across the three spheres of gov-ernment; the notion of effective inter-governmental framework in terms ofthe institutions to foster intergovern-mental co-operation; the need to correctdesign flaws and correct unintendedconsequences through simpler regula-tions of the public service; the need todevelop a holistic competency frame-work for the public service; the need todevelop increasingly going forwardmodels for integrated service delivery,particularly with the support of innova-tive technology which brings about con-venience of citizens rather than the con-venience of institutions of government;and lastly focussing on leadership.
I just wanted to end on this notebecause in a sense creating a conversationsuch as this there could arise the usualdoubt whether the problem that we aredealing with is that of capacity as opposedto that of leadership. We think that thereare effective instruments for good leadersto be able to do what they need. In mostinstances people hide behind the capacityconundrum.
We think that we have enough lessonsif we look at the performance of our pub-lic service today to see that where youhave good, strong, willing and capableleadership you are able to make goodprogress irrespective of the capacity issue.Capacity problems have been with us forsome time in the sense that they are gen-erational; they result from our history.Going forward with the investments weare making into our education system,our skills development programmes, ourtraining courses and PSETAS there willdefinitely see change.
But, I think as a country we haveenough capable leadership in all sorts ofsectors despite the normal difficulties.
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:35 AM Page 75
I s s u e s S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
76
C o n v e r s a t i o n s
Professor J Kuye
University of Pretoria
Integrating government functions, ashas been widely acclaimed to be a
viable solution to most of the servicedelivery bottlenecks, comes with manypractical implications and responsibili-ties. Central to those is the overallunderstanding of the government struc-ture, that is whether federal or unitary,and its implications to the realm of serv-ice delivery.
It is from this understanding that pol-icy makers and decision-makers in gov-ernment should explore innovativeideas that would give more impetus toservice delivery. Rather than imposingimported systems from elsewhere,assuming that by default they would berelevant, policy makers have to formu-late policies that would not only reflectthe South Africa context but also appealto the needs of the citizens of the coun-try.
Our approach towards policy formu-lation and planning should encompassco-ordinated viewpoints about servicedelivery from all three spheres of gov-ernment, particularly local government,which is comparatively more attuned tothe daily life circumstances of the citi-zens.
Power sharing
The separation of powers among thethree spheres is a problem in the absenceof incubating systems. If it is generallyacknowledged that the bulk of servicedelivery activities occur at local govern-ment level, then efforts should be madeto introduce proper infrastructure andeffective management systems to bolster
its ability to deliver services. Lack ofsuch incubation systems is a recipe forbreakdown.
In addition, the local sphere of gov-ernment, by virtue of its favourablelocation, could provide valuable inputabout the real socio-economic circum-stances of the citizens that is crucial indeciding about the nature of service tobe provided. Such input is also valuablein terms of planning.
A unified public service
For any efforts by government to shiftfrom a fragmented and disjointed to aco-ordinated, integrated mode of opera-tion to succeed, there has to be a con-certed effort towards aligning all its sys-tems and processes, and achieving a cli-mate of intelligibility and co-operation.Throughout the three spheres of gov-ernment there has to be a shared com-mon purpose of delivering services tothe citizens. While each of the threespheres operates, according to theConstitution, in a distinctive environ-ment, their nature of work forces themto adopt an interrelated and interde-pendent approach which, in turn,underlines the importance of a unifiedpublic service.
Some of the advantages of a unifiedpublic service would include reducedred tape and a relatively faster deliverypace.
Of great importance, creating a uni-fied public service requires an improvedand capable leadership, particularly inprovinces. Efforts should be made toprop up provinces that do not have thecapacity and also to standardise rulesand regulations that apply across thethree spheres of government.
Responses to Robinson Ramaite’s
Paper
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:35 AM Page 76
77
I s s u e sC o n v e r s a t i o n sS D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
Finally, the public service should rig-orously fight those factors which withtime have been identified as blockagesagainst efforts towards delivering serv-ices. These include:• The lack of a common vision among
officials in the three spheres of gov-ernment.regarding service delivery.
• The tendency to redeploy people whoact as “stumbling blocks” against serv-ice delivery rather than exploring pro-cedural ways of purging them.
• Poor leadership and ability to dele-gate, which disables government’scapacity to deliver.
• A general lack of understanding ofgovernment legislation that results inservice delivery efforts being bungled.
Dr Vincent Maphai
Political Analyst
A s a developing country, South Africashould be complimented for its
effective strategies to manage its eco-nomic and political realms.
In addition, the concerted effortstowards policy co-ordination and inte-grated planning as generally promotedin government, should logically have apositive effect on service delivery as itwould involve all government struc-tures through the three spheres, thusensuring that all government institu-tions “sing from the same hymn book”.This is basically what constitutes sur-vival in any situation
However, it should be pointed outthat any endeavour towards alignmentwould be doomed to failure unless it iscontext driven. Government shouldstrategise beyond alignment and define,by means of context, the nature andextent of the phenomenon of alignment.Our strategies should go beyond align-ment and co-ordination to decide “howtight or how loose” such alignment orco-ordination should be. Either waywould have some consequences.
Culture
One often hears about the consolidationof democracy. As part of a people’s cul-ture, democracy is an ongoing phenom-enon with temporal characteristics.From the moment when a country
launches itself as a new democratic dis-pensation, its culture, both political andotherwise, evolves with time. Elementssuch as crime have been seen to be acommon feature characteristic of thefirst five to 10 years of democracy inmany countries. Examples on an inter-national scale include the UnitedKingdom, where consolidation of dem-ocratic processes took 370 years,Sweden, 60 years, and Ireland since 1920after emerging from British decolonisa-tion. South Africans should acknowl-edge the fact that theirs is a youngdemocracy which would require moretime to mature.
Beyond the political culture, align-ment should encompass both goals,objectives and strategies while visionand mission should be central to anyform of operation, particularly wherepolitical undertones are eminent. Lackof mission and vision might result intotal derailment of efforts.
Pressures in the post-apartheidSA dispensation
After the first democratic elections inSouth Africa in 1994, the country cameunder a first generation of leaders in astrange political environment. Theseleaders were prime movers who did nothave anything to fall back on in terms ofa political culture.
They had a lot of things to pulltogether, some of which were irreconcil-able, including building a governmentof national unity from various politicalparties. Located under one nationalumbrella, the various parties had to layaside their different political ideologiesand co-operate to avoid clashes. Theyalso had to deal with a country with newgeographical boundaries and steer amiddle course within the ranks of theANC itself, which had four cultures —the Robben Island culture, UDF cul-ture, Umkhonto culture and the Lusakaculture.
In terms of the nature of their office,South African presidents had to charac-teristically act as transforming presi-dents while their American counter-parts, for instance, were there to main-tain a certain culture. The environmentin which a transforming president oper-ates requires a culture of urgency, deci-
siveness and building, e.g. integrationand co-ordination to ensure sustenanceand survival of the fledgling democracy.
Problems
The tendency to be “half pregnant”.The recent debates about the politicallandscape in South Africa, whether weare a federal or unitary state, are symp-tomatic of a major crisis. While thestructure of our government is legallyclear, the political environment suggestsotherwise as, for instance, the rulingparty is predominant in most of theprovinces.
While the current geographical set-upof nine provinces was relevant in 1994,does the government’s endeavourtowards service delivery benefit fromhaving provinces and provincial govern-ments? One may argue that provincesmight be unnecessarily prolonging thesystems or channels of delivery.
On the other hand, structures mightpose a challenge in speedy delivery, butwith strong, determined and innovativeleadership they could be circumvented.Delivery is to a large extent a publicservice rather than a political issue. Thiscalls for public servants to be boldenough to take charge.
Steven Friedman
Centre for Policy Studies
The overall impression that SouthAfrica managed to project through-
out the world is that of a country whichis over and above in control of its sys-tems and strategies.
The main problem, that is widelyshared by most people in the country, isthe tendency of people to be impatientand highly demanding. It has to beborne in mind that South Africa is onlya fledgling democracy that is hardly 10years old.
The challenge of leadership is two-fold; getting things done, and takingpeople along with you. There is A needto deepen democracy for public pro-grammes. Sometimes there appears tobe no adequate understanding of issuesat grassroots. People need to be givenchoices to make. The public service isthere to make democracy work.
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:35 AM Page 77
78
I s s u e s S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2C o n v e r s a t i o n s
Corruption in South Africa is aserious problem affecting allsectors of society that needs tobe understood in the contextof both globalisation and the
country’s own unique history. Publicsector corruption drains the state ofresources and weakens its capacity tomeet the needs of its people and its abil-ity to create opportunities for personaladvancement and growth.
As a result of changes in the way gov-ernments now operate all over theworld, with a new emphasis on market-driven growth and development, newopportunities have been created for cor-ruption, particularly in the procurementof goods and services. In South Africathose who pursue individual enrich-ment rather than collective empower-ment abuse what is intended as a strongdevelopmental state.
While it could perhaps be better com-municated, the political will to addresscorruption has been demonstrated by anumber of important programmes,cases and processes that compare wellwith international good practice. It isimportant that preventative and com-bative components of anti-corruptionboth be prioritised at this point. Betterimplementation of policies and greaterrigor at the level of individual state enti-ties is also required.
It is increasingly important to recog-
nize that successfully addressing cor-ruption is directly linked to the issue ofvalues. The value system underpinningthe public sector needs to be corruptionresistant, since managerial and technicalsolutions, while important, cannot suc-ceed alone. Leadership by politiciansand officials needs to clearly demon-strate commitment to a value systemthat is based on the fundamentals ofhonesty and integrity.
The Challenges of Globalisation
Post World War II development wasshaped by Keynesian policies, charac-terised by state-driven nationaleconomies, focused on the reconstruc-tion and development of post-warEurope and the post-colonial world.During this period, global firms andmultinational companies grew instrength and influence. Nevertheless,key characteristics of the period includ-ed: control of major industries by thestate, state control over most servicesand encroachment by the state on themarket, especially in post-colonialAfrica and Asia.
These features led to over regulationand bureaucratic procedures in the serv-ice delivery process, with attendantincreases in employment in the state sec-tor. During this period market compet-itiveness played a major role in the
First Public Management Conversation
Anti-corruptionand Ethics
Richard Levin outlines
government successes
that have thus far been
achieved in arresting
corruption within the
many public sector
organisations. However,
he notes that we might
have won some battles,
but there is still a major
war ahead of us
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:35 AM Page 78
79
I s s u e sS D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2 C o n v e r s a t i o n s
emergence of corruption in the post-colonial world. Limited market oppor-tunities saw transnational companiesrelying increasingly on bribery to securecontracts in developing countries.Countries endowed with scarce naturalresources such as oil and diamonds wereparticularly vulnerable, and briberybecame an established way of securingcontracts and doing business in coun-tries like Nigeria and Angola.
During the post-war years, globally,political management and appointmentsfeatured prominently in the top eche-lons of the bureaucracy. At the sametime though, key state values in thisperiod included loyalty, impartiality andjob security, with a strong emphasis onethical conduct. By the end of the centu-ry, these public administration impera-tives gave way to the paradigm of newpublic management.
This paradigm shift was driven byglobalisation and information networkexpansion, with the late 20th centuryneo-liberal focus on the market as themajor driving force of the economy andsociety. Globali-sation also established agreater role for supra-national organisa-tions, in particular the European Union,the International Monetary Fund andthe World Bank. Regional trading blocsassumed a far greater significance, andnew technologies speeded up informa-tion flows and business transactions,while enhancing opportunities for cor-ruption.
Key characteristics of the era of glob-alisation include the decentralisation ofauthority by nation states to regionaland local level, with pressure rising forgreater public participation in gover-nance.
New technologies have forced gov-ernments to act more quickly and speedup decision-making. The weight of themedia has changed the relationshipbetween governments and governed;indeed, the new world order demandsfrom governments the ability to changerapidly and greater accountability.
Globalisation has also seen a decliningfaith in the state and public administra-tion with management being regardedas the key to improved public adminis-tration. Private sector management isseen as the inspiration for improvedpublic management, in the context of a
shift in focus from administration todelivery. The state bureaucracy has beenviewed as being bloated and in need ofdown/right sizing as part of an integrat-ed package of good governance meas-ures.
During the 1990s, good governancebecame a condition for development,the “political level” of structural adjust-ment, with a blueprint of correctivemeasures, which developing countrieswere expected to adopt in order to gainaccess to debt relief, foreign aid, directforeign investment and other globaldevelopment resources. Good gover-nance prescriptions have typicallyincluded:• freeing of markets from state inter-
vention;• downsizing the state;• privatisation of state assets;• transparency and accountability;• elections;• public participation;• impartiality in service delivery;• efficient and effective use of state
resources;• sound human resource management;• performance management; and• customer-orientated service delivery.Under conditions of globalisation, thevalues of good governance have alsoseen changes in emphasis. Loyalty haslargely been displaced by state valuessuch as accountability and transparency,entrepreneurship, performance, servicedelivery, “customer” orientation andcontract work.
Globalisation and Corruption
Definitions of corruption are contested,mainly because corruption takes somany different forms. Definitions ofcorruption also tend to place undueemphasis on the state side of acts of cor-
ruption, while minimising the role ofprivate persons and institutions. Hencethe near universally accepted definitionof corruption is: “Abuse of public officefor private gain.” The difficulty of suchdefinitions is that they ignore or down-play the role of patronage, and underes-timate the extent to which corporategain motivates acts of corruption.
In South Africa, it is important tounderstand corruption in its historicalcontext. Corruption developed under anillegitimate apartheid state and at cer-tain levels of both the state and civil soci-ety became institutionalised. Redressand reconstruction of a racially skewedpolity and economy are the major driv-ing imperatives of the new democraticstate, and are fundamental conditionsfor successful post-apartheid develop-ment.
This is because under the new democ-racy, despite the opportunities for blackpolitical and economic empowerment,the majority remains excluded fromeconomic benefits.
The present global conjuncture hasalso been accompanied by the rise of the“corruption industry”. New technolo-gies have enabled corruption to takeplace speedily across time and space, andaddressing corruption has become aglobal industry spawning conferences,experts, consultancies and “best prac-tices”.
Perception indices framed and imple-mented by supra-national agencies havebecome the defining standard for thenation state’s level of corruption, anddecisively shape investment flows fromdeveloped to underdeveloped countries.
One of the problematic effects of thisindustry is the method used to measurecorruption. These include corruptionindices and international league tables,which invariably place developingcountries on the bottom end of the scale.Scoring systems are invariably based onperceptions, but these perceptions oncecomputed and articulated in tables andgraphs have a real impact on investmentflows.
With the evolution of good practice inanti-corruption, there is a growing con-sensus that anti-corruption policyshould combine enforcement and pre-vention measures. There is also agree-ment that a greater focus on prevention
New technologieshave enabled
corruption to takeplace across time
and space ...
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:35 AM Page 79
80
I s s u e s S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2C o n v e r s a t i o n s
is likely to reduce the need for enforce-ment.
Moreover, the prevention and com-bating of corruption needs to be imple-mented on both the moral and systemicterrains, while building an honest andeffective state requires an understand-ing of the different factors, which giverise to corruption.
In South Africa, redressing the legacyof apartheid requires concerted stateintervention. The legitimate use of thestate to redirect accumulation processesand to ensure redress of historical racialimbalances heightens the risk of corrup-tion, and demands high levels of integri-ty to prevent empowerment strategiesfrom becoming compromised by theconflicting interests of patronage andpersonal enrichment.
These constitute some of the key chal-lenges to the South African state in pur-suing its anti-corruption agenda.
Some of South Africa’s Anti-corruption and Ethics Achievements
The commitment of the new democrat-ic government to fighting corruptionhas been demonstrated in a variety ofways, including the national anti-cor-ruption summit held in April 1999.Resolutions taken at the Summit relatedto combating and preventing corrup-tion, as well as building integrity andraising awareness. Subsequent to theadoption of these resolutions, govern-ment has initiated and implemented anumber of programmees. These can besummarised as follows:
Combating Corruption
• A review and revision of legislation. Anew Prevention of Corruption Billhas been developed.
• Establishment of whistle blowingmechanisms. Protected DisclosuresAct commenced on 16 February 2001.
• Speedy enactment of the OpenDemocracy Bill. The Promotion ofAccess to Information Act, 2000 wasassented to on 3 February 2000.
• Establishment of special courts toadjudicate on corruption cases. A spe-cialised commercial crimes court andprosecuting unit was established as a
pilot in Pretoria in 2000, and a secondpilot site was established in Johannes-burg in 2002.
• Establishment of a multi-sectoralcoordinating structure to support thedevelopment of a national anti-cor-ruption programme. The NationalAnti-Corruption Forum (NACF) wasestablished in June 2001.
• The establishment of the Directorate:Special Operations (of the NationalDirectorate of Public Prosecutions)with its focus on organised crime.
• The establishment of the Asset For-feiture Unit, which has begun tomake serious inroads into recoveringthe ill-gotten gains of both criminalsand corrupt officials.
Prevention of Corruption
• All departments are obliged accordingto the Public Finance ManagementAct (PFMA) and Treasury regula-tions to conduct risk assessments andto implement fraud prevention plansinformed by such risk assessments.
• Blacklisting of individuals, businessesand organisations that are proven tobe involved in corruption. The black-list is accessible on the NationalTreasury website.
• Establishment of Anti-CorruptionHotlines.
• Disciplinary action against corruptpersons.
• A greater focus on monitoring andreporting on corruption.
Building Integrity and raising awareness
• Promotion and pursuance of socialresearch and analysis and policy advo-cacy to analyse causes, effects andgrowth of corruption. The first step is
the completion of the UN CorruptionCountry Assessment.
• Enforcement of the Code of Conductand Disciplinary Codes in each sector.An Explanatory Manual on the Codeof Conduct for the Public Service hasbeen produced.
• Promotion of training and educationin ethics. National training modulesfor public service managers have beendeveloped.The South African approach recog-
nises the importance of developing amulti-sectoral approach to preventingcorruption. This derives from a clearunderstanding that corruption is a prob-lem of the public and private sectors aswell as being a national and internation-al phenomenon that requires globalsolutions.
The Enron and World.Com scandalsillustrate that corruption is not limitedto developing countries or small corpo-rations. It is a problem that manifestsitself through a range of activities andcontexts, from petty corruption involv-ing misrepresentation of travel claims togrand corruption in reporting in twomajor corporations.
Measuring GovernmentPerformance in Anti-Corruptionand Ethics
In the absence of reliable anti-corruptiondata, a possible measure of government’ssuccess is to benchmark it against inter-national good practice. The OECDrecently published a policy brief entitledBuilding Public Trust: Ethics Measuresin OECD Countries. The brief wasbased on a survey designed to establishthe steps required to build trust by citi-zens in public institutions. Emergingout of the survey, the OECD identifiedthe following steps:• Defining a clear mission for the public
service.• Safeguarding values while adapting
to change.• Empowering both public servants and
citizens to report misconduct.• Integrating integrity measures into
overall management.• Coordinating integrity measures.• Shifting emphasis from enforcement
to prevention.• Anticipating problems.
The South Africanapproach recognises
the importance of developing a
multi-sectoralapproach tocorruption
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:35 AM Page 80
81
I s s u e sS D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2 C o n v e r s a t i o n s
• Taking advantage of new technology..When we benchmark the post-1994experience against these criteria, SouthAfrica is performing well.
Defining a clear mission for the Public ServiceThis is spelled out in the Constitution aswell as in a number of key policy state-ments. Chapter 10 of the Constitutionoutlines the values and principles ofpublic administration, which includeefficiency and effectiveness, the promo-tion of professional ethics, transparencyand accountability, public participation,sound human resource managementand affirmative action. These princi-ples have been further developed in theWhite Paper of Public Service Trans-formation and the White Paper onBatho Pele.
Safeguarding values while adapting to changeThe new imperatives of service deliveryexcellence and a new macro-economicregime, has demanded inter-alia the pri-vatisation of state resources, andincreasingly the restructuring and refo-cusing of the public service. Theseprocesses continue to be underpinned bya commitment to high standards of pro-fessional ethics as enshrined in the pub-lic service code of conduct.
Empowering both public servants andcitizens to report misconductThe passage of the Protected Disclo-sures Act of 2001 has provided whistle-blowers with protection. The PublicService Commission (PSC) has conduct-ed awareness campaigns, and PublicService institutions are in the process ofdeveloping whistle-blowing policies andmechanisms to ensure successful imple-mentation of the legislation. In addi-tion, numerous hotlines have been setup at national and provincial level toreceive complaints.
There is certainly room for improve-ment in the hotlines as they provide anuneven service, and there is reason toconsider the establishment of a singlenational hotline. Institutions such as thePublic Protector and the PSC receiveand investigate complaints from thepublic and public service on allegationsof corruption and unethical practice.
Integrating integrity measures into overall managementThere is clear recognition of a need tointegrate ethics and risk managementinto overall management. This is artic-ulated in government’s anti-corruptionstrategy, and in transversal managementtraining programmes being developedby the South African ManagementDevelopment Institute (Samdi). Arecent multi-sectoral ethics surveyundertaken by KPMG, the PSC andTransparency South Africa (TiSA),revealed that in all sectors integritymeasures are not well integrated, andthat managers responsible for ethics aregenerally not senior enough to make animpact, although this was less of a prob-lem in the Public Service.
Coordinating integrity measuresSeveral steps are being taken to improvecoordinated action around anti-corrup-tion and ethics. Within government, theDepartment of Public Service andAdministration (DPSA) convenes anAnti-Corruption Coordinating Commit-tee (ACCC). The NACF and the MoralRegeneration Movement (MRM) arenational multi-sectoral structures backedby the Minister of Public Service andAdministration and the Deputy Presidentrespectively.
Both organisations aim at developingcoordinated responses to corruption andethical issues. Questions must be posed asto the realisation in practice of a coordi-nated approach, however.
An audit of anti-corruption agenciesby the PSC published in 2001 arguedthat while the necessary structures werein place to effectively combat corrup-tion, coordination was the major obsta-
cle to meaningful implementation.
Shifting emphasis from enforcement to preventionCurrently South Africa places an equalemphasis on both the combating andprevention of corruption. I would arguethat both are priorities at this point inSouth Africa’s development, and thereis no reason to prioritise one over theother. They should rather be viewed asinterdependent aspects of a commongoal: the limitation and containment ofcorruption.
Anticipating problemsThe PFMA and the Public Service Act,with their respective emphases on riskmanagement and fraud prevention andstrategic management plans, lay thebasis for thorough planning aroundanti-corruption and ethics. The successof implementation can only be meas-ured through targeted studies, whichare in the pipeline, but frameworks andsystems have been developed to antici-pate and plan around problems and riskareas.
Nevertheless, it should be acknowl-edged that generic systems and sloppyimplementation means that much morerigor is still needed to ensure successfulimplementation in these areas.
Taking advantage of new technologyThere is certainly much room forimprovement in the use of informationtechnology in the public service, partic-ularly in the poorer provinces. Whilethe main administrative departments inPretoria have efficient IT systems, manyof the large service departments are seri-ously underprovided.
Moreover, the IT systems of majordepartments still do not talk to eachother adequately. Capturing of data isnot uniform across the anti-corruptionagencies, but under the aegis of theACCC these problems are beingaddressed with regards information oncorruption.
At the same time, measures are inplace to produce telematic anti-corrup-tion and ethics promotion courses tobroaden access to modules that havebeen developed.
The foregoing is not an exhaustiveanalysis, but simply an indication of the
South Africa hasundertaken a
variety of measuresconsistent with
international goodpractice in advancingits anti-corruption and
ethics programme
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:35 AM Page 81
82
I s s u e s S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2C o n v e r s a t i o n s
kinds of steps that have already beentaken to establish an anti-corruptionand ethics infrastructure within govern-ment. Moreover, the benchmarks usedwere developed for ethics specificallywithin an OECD context.
It is possible to conclude, however,that South Africa has undertaken a vari-ety of measures consistent with interna-tional good practice in advancing itsanti-corruption and ethics programme.The effectiveness of the programme isnot yet clear, but indicators on the extentof corruption and the success of anti-corruption programmes will always be acontested terrain.
It is important to consider the ques-tion of government commitment andpolitical will. A recent Mail & Guardianeditorial argued that:
“The failure of South Africa’s anti-corruption strategy is not legislative orinstitutional. A plethora of state bodiesexists to combat graft, including the spe-cial investigations unit formerly underJudge Willem Heath, the Scorpions, thePublic Service Commission, the audi-tor-general’s office and units in all statedepartments. Government has con-vened an anti-corruption summit andenacted codes of conduct for executivemembers. New legislation is planned.The problem lies at the level of imple-mentation and political will. Leadersrecurrently fail to lead by example andto take swift and uncompromisingaction against offenders in their ownparty.
Political will is relative and is neverabsolute in any national context. Thereare cases which demonstrate politicalwill, and those where will is not demon-strated. Expectations around “swiftaction” are sometimes unrealistic whenlegal processes need to run their course.Often when they have, then the out-comes demonstrate that in fact there ispolitical will. The recent example of theforestry tender issued by theDepartment of Public Enterprises is acase in point. Arrests in connectionwith the theft of state medicines inMpumalanga are another example ofthe existence of political will. At thesame time there are lingering questions,which remain around other cases thathave been profiled by the media, includ-ing the arms procurement case.
Political Will, Morality and theDevelopmental State: SouthAfrica’s Corruption Challenges
There is no evidence of a denial of theproblem of corruption in South Africa.The President frequently makes refer-ence to the unacceptability of corruptionin keynote speeches, often in relation tothe sphere of local government. Not-withstanding the doubters, particularlyin the media and political opposition,the perpetrators of both petty and grandcorruption are brought to book, and areoften successfully prosecuted or disci-plined.
South Africa is faced with a problemof personal morality, which manifestsitself in corruption. This problem hasled to the establishment of the MRMunder the aegis of the Deputy President.Underlying the creation of this move-ment is a disquiet in leading circles thatnational liberation has been accompa-nied by a decreasing concern for the col-lective good in exchange for an obses-sion with personal advancement andenrichment. One of the manifestationsof this is the misuse of state power andaccess for personal gain. This is an ethi-cal problem that presents a major chal-lenge for the new South African democ-racy.
The other major challenge is perhapsmore complex, but is related and possi-bly more challenging. It concerns thelegitimate use of the state and stateresources to facilitate empowermentand the redirection of accumulation anddevelopment.
This lies at the heart of the transfor-mation and reconstruction of South
African society, but the dividing linebetween the empowerment of blackpeople as a group, and patronage andpersonal enrichment is very thin. Whatbecomes a critical challenge is the pro-curement process and the issuing of con-tracts.
Risks are increased by service deliverystrategies pursued during the global eraof public management reform.Privatisation, outsourcing and the cre-ation of delivery agencies provide oppor-tunities for empowerment, but at the riskof state power being abused in the pro-curement and contracting processes.
Resolution of these issues is where thechallenge of political will lies. Personalmorality, and the commitment toempowerment over patronage and per-sonal enrichment, are challenges thatcan only be resolved through exemplarypolitical commitment and leadership.
Conclusion
This paper has argued that globalisationand public management reform posechallenges to anti-corruption and ethicsprograms. Technological advancesenable rapid communications and trans-actions, which heighten the risk of cor-ruption.
In these conditions the role of themedia has changed, providing a poten-tially countervailing force to global cor-ruption. Good governance service deliv-ery reforms, such as privatisation andoutsourcing have created new opportu-nities for corruption.
South Africa has moved to create asound anti-corruption and ethics struc-ture in the post-apartheid period.Sound prevention management andethics systems have been developed andare being implemented, while combat-ive legislation and agencies are beingstrengthened.
The legitimate use of the state to redi-rect and refocus development and accu-mulation is open to abuse, while theimperatives of personal enrichment andaggrandizement have led to an identifiedneed for moral regeneration.
This has placed issues of personalmorality firmly on South Africa’s trans-formation agenda. A large part of thesolution lies is strong, principled andexemplary leadership.
Government hasconvented an anti-corruption summit
and enacted codesof conduct for
executive members.New legislation is
planned
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:35 AM Page 82
83
I s s u e sS D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2 C o n v e r s a t i o n s
Responses to Richard Levin’s
Paper
Prof Patrick Fitzgerald,
University of the North
A t hindsight South Africa has shownmuch purposeful and commendable
effort to move away from corruption.This effort was invigorated by a massivepolitical drive. This has led to generalawareness amongst the community atlarge about the damage of corruption ongovernment attempts towards servicedelivery, an awareness that resulted ingeneral openness and willingness to talkabout and expose perpetrators of cor-ruption.
Fighting corruption is a battle thatrequires concerted and integratedefforts from various sectors, e.g. govern-ment, the community and the privatesector.
From the premise that institutionsreflect the state of the society, it becomeslogical that communities should play amajor role in rooting out corrupt ele-ments.
On the other hand, institutionsshould lead by making sure thatemployees who are found guilty of cor-rupt deeds are not only exposed but alsodisciplined. Punitive measures metedout against corrupt elements should beof a nature that it would send a clearmessage about government’s “zero tol-erance” of corruption. Institutions thathave fallen prey to fraudulent actsshould not only dismiss the perpetratorsbut also retrieve assets that have beenstolen.
In order to be able to do that, institu-tions need to deal with certain internalproblems that normally provide fertile
ground for corruption, one of which isthe tendency of line managers to refertheir responsibilities to human resourcepersonnel.
The task of overseeing employees,evaluating, dealing with problems andmentoring and training where it is nec-essary, always remains the responsibilityof line managers who are supervisorand is not transferable. Specialisedagencies should only come in as a lastresort.
Hennie van Vuuren, Institute of
Security Studies
St outh Africa has taken enormoussteps in the struggle to combat cor-
ruption. The various anit-corruptionActs, Bills and policies that have beenpromulgated and the many governmentstructures and agencies that have beenset up bare testimony to that.
However, there are still many chal-lenges that need to be surmounted
Over and above the Bills, potentialwhistle-blowers need a reassurance thatthey will be protected from suspectswho are out on bail.
Bribery, be it in government officeswithin the country or involving foreignofficials abroad, is quite prevalent andneeds rigorous attention from govern-ment.
Recent business catastrophes on theglobal economic platform involving thecollapse of major companies in Americaand elsewhere in the world have high-lighted the fact that, against popular
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:35 AM Page 83
84
I s s u e s S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2C o n v e r s a t i o n s
thinking, corruption is not only concen-trated in government institutions. As aresult, government’s efforts towardscombating corruption should be multi-pronged in order to make impact onboth sectors. The multiple anti-corrup-tion agencies that government establish-es have to be efficient enough to root outcorruption in a situation that is diver-gent.
Any strategy that could prove viablein fighting corruption should involveethics training. As the phenomenon ofcorruption amounts to the abuse ofentrusted power for private benefit, it isinseparable from ethics
Far from being an exclusively govern-ment issue, corruption should be per-ceived as a social responsibility. In otherwords, if the society understands thedebilitating impact that corruption hason service delivery, they would be ableto join government in its campaign ofanti-corruption. The realisation thatcorruption robs them of their rightfulservices and improved livelihood shouldprompt the “silent majority” to joinhands with NGOs and media establish-ments to report and expose the corruptelements, both companies and individu-als who wrongfully benefit through cor-rupt means.
It is time South Africans formed acorruption pact that involves a partner-ship between various constituents of thesociety, e.g. public officials partnered bythe private and NGO sectors to engagein large scale security projects againstcorruption.
Bernie Fanaroff
Resolve
Ct hallenges against anti-corruptionefforts
Corruption indices and recordsGenerally, lack of due diligence to dealwith records is mainly responsible forthe high prevalence of preferentialtreatment in many respects in govern-ment as well as the private sector. Peoplewho at some stage were found to haveengaged in fraudulent acts are oftenredeployed to other jobs regardless oftheir bad record.
The lack of a database on corruptionin the country makes it difficult to mon-
itor and identify emerging patterns ofcorruption and thus compounds anyattempt towards dealing with it.
Usually indices that have beenderived from surveys on corruptionyield conflicting results that reflecteither personal opinion (based on expe-rience), or perception (from what otherpeople say).
This results in a skewed and less reli-able reflection of the prevalence of cor-ruption.
Legislating towards fighting corruptionThe Administrative Justice Act is a cor-nerstone of anti-corruption legislation.It enforces minimum administrationstandards for government officials.Accordingly, government officials arecompelled to give a written accountwith reasons for every administrativedecision they make.
In addition, the public has the right tochallenge such decisions in court.
As it is always the case with otherActs, the Administrative Justice Act canonly be effective if it is practised.However, most officials in governmenthave been found to ignore it.
The Access to Information Act com-pels public bodies to make informationavailable to members of the public. ThisAct promotes transparency and itenhances the possibility of identifyingand exposing corrupt and fraudulentacts.
Administration problems that lead to corruptionThe problem of ignorance among gov-ernment officials in relation to legisla-tion governing their jobs and the kindsof decisions they make is most oftenresponsible for most administrative slipsin government institutions.
This, coupled with the general inabil-ity to document information, keeprecords and administer contracts hasbeen responsible for government losinglarge sums of money on court cases andunaccountable expenses.
Besides ignorance as regards basic leg-islations, officials are often left toexplore on their own and gain experi-ence through observing others at work.This lack of proper training and basicmanuals that inform people about theexpectations and responsibilities per-
taining to their work provide a fertileground for discords and faulty deci-sions.
Regarding financial management,government introduced the PublicFinance Management Act with an aimof tightening its financial control sys-tems to reduce irregularities in expendi-ture and promote accountability.However, the tendency of governmentinstitutions to rely on outside agenciesfor auditing and financial managementreduces the Act’s effectiveness as itresults in insiders often colluding withoutsiders on fraudulent deeds.
Fighting corruption in an institutionremains the responsibility of managerswho, by virtue of their position, wouldbe more likely to observe any miscon-duct among their immediate staff. Inmany instances, there should be a set ofrules that clearly define the kind ofbehaviour that is expected of eachemployee in the institution.
For members of the community toconfidently report acts of corruptionand malpractice that they experience orobserve, they need the reassurance, interms of the Protection of DisclosuresAct, that safety will be guaranteed andtheir identity will be protected. Theyalso need the reassurance that followingtheir action, proper action would be fol-lowed to correct the situation.
Finally, the legislative frameworksand policies that are being produced inSouth Africa are some of the best in theworld.
However, beyond the paperwork liesthe responsibility to implement. Puttingin place common and coherent preven-tative strategies against corruption in allthe three spheres of government is adaunting challenge.
The situation is further compoundedby the inequality in terms of capacityand expertise among the departments atnational level, the provincial sphere aswell s the different local structures.
The need for risk management andthe expertise in terms of early warningsystems is crucial, particularly at thelocal sphere where delivery occurs andthe potential for corruption is evengreater. There is a need to improve hot-lines, make them effective and protectpeople who report corruption andfraud.
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:35 AM Page 84
I s s u e s
85
S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2 C o n v e r s a t i o n s
Service DeliveryInnovation and
e-government
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:36 AM Page 85
I s s u e s S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2C o n v e r s a t i o n s
86
Though it is the ultimate responsi-bility of government through thePublic Service to deliver servicesto the people, its ability to do sois, however, also impacted by
extraneous factors in the broader envi-ronment. These factors could serve aseither enablers that ought to be lever-aged or as potential hurdles that oughtto be managed. It is therefore importantto understand service delivery issueswithin a myriad of macro contextualfactors, including but not limited to thefollowing:• South Africa is a developmental state
and therefore this poses critical chal-lenges for the public service to ensurethat as a machinery of government itshould be optimally used to engendera thoroughgoing transformation ofour society and thus ensure a betterlife for all by inter alia providing serv-ices in an efficient and effective man-ner. The South Africa state cannotabdicate its responsibility as the prin-cipal agent of socio-economic andpolitical transformation by adopting alaissez faire approach and thus leav-ing this task to the market and otherforces
• A plethora of progressive frame-works, policies and legislation hasbeen put in place to effect the trans-formation mission. Some of the prin-cipal ones are the White Paper on theTransformation of the Public Serviceand the White Paper on theTransformation of Public Services —Batho Pele. These two policies aretestimony to the fact that the publicservice is a powerful machinery thatshould be optimally used to serve thepeople. Furthermore, the transforma-tion of the public service into a peo-ple-centred machinery is further testi-mony that the public service is notand should not be a self-serving entityoblivious to the needs of the people.Rather, the mission of serving thepeople and putting the people firstshould inform the public service howit conducts its “business”, includinghow it reconfigures itself in order tobest serve the people
• The increasing and unavoidable glob-alisation phenomenon and its con-comitant implications, such as itsimpact on the sovereignty of the
nation states. In particular the abilityof nation states to still make inde-pendent policy choices that put theneeds and aspirations of its peoplefirst, which might not always be inharmony with the “agenda” ofmultinational organisations anddonor countries
• The paradox posed by Informationand Communication Technology(ICT) revolution. Undoubtedly ICThas offered real possibilities of whatpreviously was an unimaginablemeans of doing things better, fasterand more effectively and cheaper.However, if not properly appliedwithout consideration for contextualrealities, this could have the unin-tended effect of creating new forms ofmarginalisation in society, thus creat-ing “e-apartheid”.
The importance of innovation and e-government in service delivery
The task of improving and providingpublic goods and services in an efficientand effective manner to all the people inorder to ensure a better life for all, caneasily conjure up images of an insur-mountable Herculean challenge. This issimply because service delivery is afunction of many and varied factors.Improving service delivery is therefore amultifaceted, multidimensional taskand challenge — which also requireequally multifaceted, multidimensionalintervention strategies.
There are those factors that areimmediately obvious as key to improv-ing the manner in which services couldbe delivered in a better way. Theseinclude, for instance, the usage of tech-nology ICT. However, very often peoplemake a direct link between “back-office” processes and systems such ashuman resource and its process such asrecruitment or performance manage-ment, or even financial processes such asbudgeting with service delivery.
For instance, if an institution’sHuman Resources (HR) plan & strategyare not aligned to the organisation’soverall strategy, it’s most likely that HRprocesses such as recruitment and selec-tion will not be geared towards selectingcandidates with the most appropriate
Kgotha Bantsi, Chief
Director Government
Internal Consulting
Service, explains how
e-government can be
used as an enabler in an
effort to transform
the manner in which
services are provided.
If e-government is just a
technological
phenomenon, it runs
the risk of heightening
e-apartheid, being too
costly and unsustainable,
and undermining the
spirit of innovation
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:36 AM Page 86
I s s u e sS D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2 C o n v e r s a t i o n s
competencies, expertise required todeliver the mandate of the organisation.Furthermore, if the recruitment processof an organisation is cumbersome andthus the turn-around time of makingthe final appointment decision is longand protracted, the organisation runsthe risk of losing the right candidate asthere might be other organisations whomight be competing for the same candi-date - but which have quicker andshorter recruitment and selectionprocesses and turn-around time.Obviously the consequences include thefact that service delivery is adverselyaffected.
This example of how vacant posts
adversely affect service delivery can beobserved in reality in those institutionswhich have high vacancy rates, especial-ly senior positions.
This above example serves to illus-trate that service delivery improvementand provision is a function of manydirect and indirect factors and thistherefore makes it a complex, integrat-ed, and comprehensive process whichis also time-consuming. As such, thisarticle does not aim to address the issueof service delivery in an exhaustivemanner by addressing all the servicedelivery aspects, rather the mainemphasis will be on the role of innova-tion and e-government.
It is difficult to imagine how any seri-ous attempt to improve service deliverycan happen without any attempt ofdoing things better, differently . Simplystated, the spirit and practice of innova-tion is a fundamental prerequisite to anyserious and bold effort to improvingservice delivery in a thoroughgoingmanner. Albert Einstein's words arevery instructive in this instance, "the sig-nificant problems we face cannot besolved by the same level of thinking thatcreated them".
For a developing country such asours, it's important that innovationshould be contextually relevant byaddressing real service delivery issues
87
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:36 AM Page 87
88
I s s u e s S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2C o n v e r s a t i o n s
and challenges. These issues and chal-lenges should for instance include find-ing more cost effective ways of deliver-ing services to the increasing number ofcitizens — but still at acceptable levelsof quality; ensuring that accessing serv-ices is both easy and convenient. Thismeans that easy access and convenienceshould translate into services beingnearer to where people reside, informa-tion on how to access services is provid-ed in a user-friendly non-bureaucraticway and services institutions offeringthese services offer them at times thatare convenient for citizens. Hence, theadvent of e-government and its vision of24/7 service provision is a powerfulexpression of innovation in the publicservice.
Furthermore, innovation should notjust refer to innovation in a narrowtechnological sense but should alsoinclude “soft” innovation. This refers toleveraging and fostering relationshipswith all relevant role-players in the serv-ice delivery value chain in order todelivery services in an effective manner.
This therefore also implies innovationshould also mean finding new and bet-ter ways of coalescing all forces ofchange and their energy and wisdom toimprove service delivery. These forcesinclude for instance non-governmentalorganisations, beneficiaries of services,donors, etc.
Finding better and innovative ways ofengaging users of services should ensurethat they are not just passive recipientsof goods and services but rather theybecome key active engineers, authorsand implementers of service deliveryimprovement efforts. This hopefullyshould also foster a spirit and a sense ofresponsibility and accountability amongservice recipients and users. Thistherefore also raises important consider-ations of leveraging innovation andtechnology to further deepen participa-tory democracy.
Innovation is also about the ability tobreakaway from traditional, narrowpopulist and ideological orientationsand exploring alternative means ofdelivering services. That is, being boldand thinking laterally. In thinkingabout alternative ways it’s important togive primacy to considerations of hownew ways of delivering services improve
the lives of ordinary people, how newways of delivering services can enhancethe machinery of government’s effec-tiveness and efficiency. In other words,operational efficiency and effectivenessshould also be a key consideration inexploring alternative service deliveryapproaches.
Though innovation can occur organi-cally, it is nevertheless critical that delib-erate efforts should be made in the pub-lic service to foster both the spirit andpractice of innovation by creating anenvironment within which these will benurtured, developed and be allowed toflourish.
The significant service delivery chal-lenges facing the public service are suchthat it is not enough to rely on an organ-ic process for innovative practices toevolve. Innovation should be the corner-stone of service delivery approaches.Institutionalising and fostering an inno-vative spirit and practice will require thatinnovation should be knitted into all thepublic service systems and processes suchas recruitment, performance manage-ment and incentive schemes to rewardinnovation.
Leadership is also important forengendering the spirit and practice ofinnovation by visibly driving thisprocess and “walking the talk”.
The provision of public servicesthrough ICT platforms or e-Government is a vivid example of usingtechnology to provide services in aninnovative manner. However, e-govern-ment should not be understood in a nar-row technical sense.
Gartner’s (2002) definition of e-gov-ernments is therefore very instructive inthis regard. E-government is: “thetransformation of public sector internaland external relationships throughinternet enabled operations, informa-tion, technology and communication(ICT), to optimise government servicedelivery, constituency participation andgovernance.”
It is therefore clear from the Gartnerdefinition that e-government is not justabout technology and not about technol-ogy for its own sake, but it’s rather abouttechnology as an enabler in an effort totransform the manner in which servicesare provided.
If e-government is just a technological
phenomenon it runs the risk of height-ening e-apartheid, being too costly andunsustainable.
The “e” of e-government should becomprehensive and all-encompassing toinclude all forms of technology such asfixed line and cellular telephony, radio,television and even “bricks and mortar”platforms which could be used innova-tively to deliver services in a sustainable,cost-effective/efficient and effectiveway. Indeed the phenomenal growth ofcellular phone usage globally and inSouth Africa also presents new opportu-nities to leverage technology in the questof providing services in a smarter andeffective way.
Gartner Group 2002, notes that inEurope ownership of cellular phone haspassed the one billion, the number ofcellular phones is now greater than thenumber of fixed line connections, morepeople send and receive sms on theirphones than use the internet and mean-while PC sales have generally stagnatedand their sales is dwarfed by those ofcellphones.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is clear that theHerculean task of transforming thepublic service into a well-oiled, there-fore efficient and effective service deliv-ery machinery — which puts peoplefirst and ensures that indeed Batho Peleis a practical reality — requires that newparadigms of doing things differently,better and indeed with boldness, shouldbe a fundamental cornerstone of servicedelivery improvement initiatives andethos of the public service.
This means innovation should not bean esoteric creative exercise but ratheran integral part of doing “business” inthe public service which ultimatelyshould translate into providing servicesto the people in a smarter way, which inturn should lead to the betterment ofpeople's lives.
Indeed, South Africa should capitaliseon the fact that it is one of newestdemocracies in the globe in the new mil-lennium. This presents us with the rarehistoric and opportune moment ofbeing able to learn from both the worstand best practices which other countrieshave experienced.
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:36 AM Page 88
89
S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2 I s s u e sC o n v e r s a t i o n s
Ms Lucienne Abrahams,
Wits Link Centre
There are two critical issues in talkingabout innovation in the public serv-
ice. The one is the public service inno-vation value chain. A lot of what Kgotlasaid reflects the fact that innovation isnot an event, there are a set of activitieswhich have results, spin-offs at variouspoints in time, and that suggests a valuechain context.
A basic value chain
Firstly, we start with challenge, inresponse to the challenge, we mightcome up with a number of ideas abouthow to address that challenge. Thoseideas typically are worthy of beingcalled ideas because they are differentfrom what we are currently doing. Tomake thee jump from idea to imple-mentation, there are a couple of stepswhich the public service or other typesof organisations may not engage in.
Firstly, research and development(R&D). You really can’t talk about inno-vation without talking about researchand development, which is an intensiveprocess which many institutions, orsome institutions in broader govern-ment, are engaging in currently, forinstance the Centre for Public ServiceInnovation, and the Universal ServiceAgency. I don’t want to suggest that thisis a linear chain, and that we have tomove from the one to the other as we
move along. For an example, R&D willbe a cyclical proceess which will involve,after the initial development phases,research and analysis,and also businessdevelopment.
The next set of activity in that chainwill include invention, and innovationsof quality and strategy type, or project orprogramme type, or institutional type orof a technology transfer type, in otherwords bringing new technologies whichare not in general use in the public serv-ice or innovations transfer which is nottechnology-based. Having sifted throughall that activity which is quite time con-suming, and needs to be time consuming,because unless it is, there is also the possi-bility of setting ourselves up for failure.Assuming that we are now moving intothe next phase, we will be doing thingslike testing, piloting and early stageimplementation. There are specific char-acteristics which occur in each of thesephases.
We then move and say, for instance,well actually the telemedicine pilot at 33rural clinics is working very well, it hastaught us the following lessons and weare now ready to roll-out to 500 clinics,lets say 200 clinics. And we start with acompletely new phase of activitieswhich have a number of elements suchas notification and aggregation (whichare very important), and then main-streaming. Moving on and assumingthat the process is happening with somelevel of success, and of course there isconstant articulation and sowing
Responses to Article on Innovation
and e-government
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:36 AM Page 89
I s s u e s S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
90
C o n v e r s a t i o n s
between these various phases. And atsome point we start to emerge withresults. What do we do then? How dowe assess those results? We have tomeasure those results in terms of,amongst other things, citizen/customerexperience, positive experience, efficien-cy, effectiveness, quality, savings. I don’tthink we can undermine the issue ofsavings because unless we are demon-strating savings to this process, we arenot really demonstrating efficiency,effectiveness or quality — those thingsare very much tied together.
But does the measurement of impactor result stop there? If one looks at theprivate sector innovations it does notstop there because the ultimate questionis what impact does it have on the econ-omy, and for government the question isboth what impact it has on economy andon society. For example, the positive les-sons about the automotive industry inSA, a very positive outcome in terms ofearly stage macro-economic strategy formanufacturing industry, and five yearslater showing real value additions andpositive impact for the comomy — whatdoes that mean for the public service?
Finally, if we are going to engage inR&D and innovation, we have to man-age it. Let me just very briefly point attwo of the issues, one the innovationquestion and the e-government ques-tion. We might conduct significantR&D activity at department or clusterlevel, hoping that it would lead to inno-vations in terms of delivery, and in par-ticular new service modalities, efficien-cy, effectiveness and quality. In the pri-vate sector, outcomes could be new rev-enue streams, efficiency, effectivenessand quality.
The question is how does one consid-er making revenue streams in terms andquantity in rands and cents and how onedoes one do that in terms of new servicedelivery modalities? I don't know theanswer to that question, I think it is thesubject of conversation.
E-government and information management
I want to look at only two critical suc-cess factors for e-government, accessand content. From my perspective thoseare absolutely fundamental.
Access
Let’s examine the question of accessfirst. We have over a number of years inSA looked at alternative models ofaccess. One of those is the Multi-Purpose Community Centres (MPCCs).Our thinking about MPCCs is chang-ing, although may not be changing fastenough. Currently we are still talkingabout buildings, a structure where youcan get a telephone, fax, mobile and acomputer all in one environment. Butactually anything, any institution orbuidling, is an MPCC, and it is that kindof thinking that should permeate the
drive for innovation. What aboutgarages, shops, clinics, etc — institu-tions that were typically used for a setand defined purpose. Let us think aboutthem in different ways.
The other issue is that of multi-useraccess. It is not a question of just goingto the physical centre. Is mobile thefuture?
Content
Content relates to a number of issues.First and foremost, the customer/citizenexperience. What’s is the experience ofthe person interfacing with the e-gov-
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:36 AM Page 90
91
I s s u e sS D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2 C o n v e r s a t i o n s
ernment delivery system or some newinnovation? A very significant contentissue is the question of whether govern-ment is pushing content and informa-tion at people, or people are actuallydemanding or pulling content/informa-tion and content from government.
The question of government interac-tion with citizens, questions of push andpull, citizens engaging and designingand adding information to the content,is absolutely fundamental.
Not least of all, in another very criticalarea raised here, are issues of socialdevelopment, social security, and I wantto bring this word to the conversastion,sustainable livelihoods — because thetheory of sustainable livelihoods is thatits really not government doing it.Government is providing opportunitiesand resources for people to managetheir own livelihoods.
How does e-government change thecurrent situation?
Lastly, covering these areas, there arefundamental questions about pace —the volume of innovative activity that istaking place simulteneoulsy. Yes, thereis a big debate about whether we shoulddo it in small slices or the big bangapproach. The big bang approach oftenends up in trouble, but despite that it isstill the question of voluome of innova-tive activity and the period at which wegrow them. You only get innovationwhen you have an accumulation effect,and if the effect is too small, you don’tget the accumulative effect of innova-tion.
Mr Ntjantjie Gosebo
DPSA
What we really ought to worry aboutis how citizens experience govern-
ment. How can ICT be used to enhancethat? The idea here is that citizens havetheir normal needs, and whatever we dowe need to fulfill those or satisfy thoseneeds. And the idea is to make sure thatcitizens experience government andgovernment structures itself around cit-izens.
This means that if we are talkingabout a natural person, this should hap-pen from cradle to grave, we shouldanticipate what is going to happen to a
person including life events and process-es. ICT can assist in doing that.
Problems with government now
Government is fragmented. If you wantto register a company there is no placewhere you can go where you can just say“I know where to go”. You have toknow which department offers thatservice, and once you know whichdepartment is doing that, there arethings you have to know about thedepartment and its processess.
The other problem is poor turn-around time. When you apply for anidentity document, in theory you aretold it can happen in five hours, but inpractice it may take up to a year. Andthat is not helping. This can be donemuch quicker.
The other thing, and it is the biggest,is the wrong door effect, where youstand in a queue and after 20 minutesyou discover you are in the wrongqueue. There is nothing telling youwhere you have to go. How do we usethis ICT to eliminate, amongst otherthings, this wrong queue effect?
The other challenge is access. As adeveloping country how do we accessthese ICTs? There are certainly prob-lems in accessing these ICTs.Everything (maybe not everthing) inSouth Africa, is priced in dollars —even if it is made in South Africa.
If we are talking about ICT I thinkthe first thing most of you have beenthinking about is power fault — it is aproblem. People who manufacture thesecomputers assume that everyone haspower supply from Eskom, — but thatis not always accurate.
We all come from South Africa andwe know how things are. There arealternative power sources. The otherthing is the dialling tone. If you can giveme a phone or a line where I can plugsomething in and this line has a diallingtone, I am happy. If you can give usthose two things, then we are able nowto reach these communities that normal-ly cannot be reached. When we talkICT everyone thinks we are talkingabout Sandton. We hope theConversation will assist us: how do wereach those people who are not inSandton?
Challenges — What ICT shouldbring to people
The first thing is speed. We assume thatpeople should be able to utilise speedbrought by the computer. How do wesee ourselves utilising speed comingfrom the computers and make sure thatwe get value from the speed we are get-ting?
The other thing is a single window, asingle window that is structured aroundthe life events of natural persons andjuristic persons. There is a need to pro-duce catalogues, dummy-guides, andbooklets for the citizens, providingthem with information on processes andprocedures.
Challenges
We also need to overcome the legalframework, deal with the technicalinfrastructure, language and the humanresource infrastructure.
Dr Bamidele Olowu
Institute of Social Studies
The Hague
Institutional innovation and engineer-ing is very important. Innovations,
through information technology, facili-tates communication with government— horizontal relationships and com-munication. It also facilitates transac-tional interactions, citizen-governmentinterface, and builds an electronic citi-zenship.
Understanding separation of produc-tion and provision of information tech-nology opens up possibilities. Also ofcritical importance is the contractualrelationships between the producer andprovider. Some of the problems thatface countries in Africa are lack of infra-structure, structural problems in effec-tively implementing IT innovations,and strategic problems.
There are several lessons we can learnfrom a country like India, for example.The three main issues and challengesfacing the rest of Africa and SouthAfrica are: the right policy frameworkfor innovation; research and infrastruc-ture; and procurement.
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:36 AM Page 91
I s s u e s S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
92 As a member of the Common-wealth establishment, SouthAfrica is part of the global vil-lage. By implication, thecountry has broken through
its thick isolation walls and laid itselfopen to all phenomena associated withglobalisation that affect other countries.This has major inescapable conse-quences in terms of how the countryconceptualises strategies around its obli-gations to its people, that is, how itdelivers services, foreign policies, etc.
To cement and secure its place in theglobal village South Africa has over theyears formed regional, continental andglobal alliances to seek out support onan array of issues, i.e. economic andsocial matters.
Being a member of the global village,that is, globalisation, impacts on policydevelopment. As much as policies haveto be reflective and responsive to inter-nal demands, they also, to some extent,have to reflect and conform to the glob-al perspective. Regarding service deliv-ery, the country will always be com-pared to other countries. Service deliv-ery graduates from being a local to aninternational obligation.
Therefore, when determining what
citizens want and what kind of servicewe need to provide, we have to take intoaccount what the international marketis beginning to showcase.
Service delivery
The challenge of delivering services hasbeen occupying the minds of publicservice managers over the years and itwill always feature prominently in theirfuture plans. In the present SouthAfrican context one cannot talk aboutservice delivery without consideringhorizontal governance. From the prem-ise of departmental approach to servicedelivery, our major challenge is how toreengineer processes to ensure that wecan deliver to the public services that arestreamlined. In other words, how do wemove from “siloism” in service deliveryto a single-window approach?
One of the latest paradigm shifts inthe public service involves forging part-nerships with institutions across the sec-toral divide to share the responsibility ofservice delivery. As a consequence, someof the values that were synonymouswith the public sector are more likely toerode. Therefore the major challengefacing the public sector is how it would
ConversationsAn Overview
Gordon Draper gives
an overview of
the Conversations
programme aimed
at reviewing service
delivery mechanisms
C o n v e r s a t i o n s
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:36 AM Page 92
I s s u e s
93
S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
preserve some of the good public servicevalues. In the face of new modalities ofdelivery such as agencies, outsourcingand privatisation and the use of ICTs inthe place of conventional deliverymodes.
Another inevitable consequence ofnew delivery modalities is the complica-tion of management and reportingchannels. Moving from the convention-al defined and top-down (pyramid)bureaucratic management style, thepublic service has to adjust to theprospective multi-sectoral environ-ments. This would also have effects onperformance management, i.e. perform-ance evaluation and reporting. Thechallenge is for the public sector toexplore new ways of managing per-formance in service delivery within itsnew operational initiatives. Amongstother things the public service might becompelled to adopt an entrepreneurialand innovative culture which has, overthe years been synonymous with the pri-vate sector.
In transforming the public service inaccordance with operational expecta-tions in the new delivery modalities,leadership becomes a crucial aspect tocontemplate, particularly as regardsqualities and competencies. Given thekind of qualities and competencies thathave over the years been characteristicof leadership in the public sector, whatshould be the point of concern now iswhether such competencies would stillbe relevant in the new dispensation. Ifnot, it would be contingent upon thepublic service to develop new competen-cy profiling methodology that wouldbreed a new calibre of leaders with thekinds of competencies that would matchthe challenges of the new delivery envi-ronment.
The dual-pronged nature of publicservice itself further complicates thechallenges of transforming it. By itsnature, the public service is both politi-cal and administrative. Any transforma-tion efforts should encompass a rigorousreconciliatory drive that would result inpolitical leaders and administrativeleaders co-existing in a co-ordinatedintegrated leadership environment.
Amidst the political and administra-tive confusion, we have to rememberthat South Africa, whether federal or
unitary, has three spheres of govern-ment — the national, provincial andlocal spheres. Each of these spheresrequires some guidance in carrying itsobligation of delivering. Our majorchallenge is ensuring that the business ofservice delivery takes precedence aboveall else in all the spheres.
Also, given the distinctiveness of thespheres of government, it often happensthat decision-making at policy level isirreconcilable and contrary to the actualcircumstances of the citizens. The pur-pose and relevance of government poli-cies is contingent upon the quality andvalidity of the information that they arebased on.
An integrated, co-operative workingrelationship between the three spheresof government can thrive on the exis-tence of proper information channels inwhich input from each of the threespheres would contribute towards deci-sion and policies.
While these things are being devel-oped, we should also bear in mind theimportance of continuity of high qualityleadership in the public service. Thepresent crop of skilled leadership shouldtake it upon themselves to driveempowerment programmes to breedfuture leaders through mentoring, expe-riential learning and rigorous training.
Challenges of service delivery
As is often the case with policies, theservices that the public service roll out tocitizens with the aim of improving theirlives often do not achieve that goal. Intheir quest to deliver services, publicofficials tend to draw service deliveryprogrammes within the context of whatthey think should be delivered insteadof what the citizens actually want.Service delivery cannot happen in a vac-uum. It has to be needs-driven. In addi-tion, we always have to be mindful ofbeing caught up in quantity rather thanquality of services.
Because of the bureaucratic natureand a ramification of procedures andprocesses, many governments across theglobe spend much time preoccupiedwith planning and conceptualising atthe expense of service delivery. Apartfrom quality as an important element ofservice delivery, citizens in many coun-
tries also identified timeliness as ofequal significance, calling on their gov-ernments to reduce red tape and simpli-fy government processes.
People who make decisions at highpolicy level need to be conscientisedabout the importance of interfacingwith the citizens about the kinds of serv-ices they need. Also, leadership trainingshould cascade down to the actual pointsof contact between the government andthe citizens.
By increasing the competence of pub-lic officials who are in daily contact withcitizens this will automatically improvethe quality of the services.
Breaking away from “siloism” where-by citizens access departments ratherthan services. However, as we adoptinnovative systems such as e-govern-ment and ICTs, it should always beborne in mind that IT is there to sup-port service delivery rather than drive it.Also, whatever multi-channels andinnovative initiatives we deploy, theyhave to be guided by the actual circum-stances of the citizens.
Corruption
It has to be admitted that corruption isreflective of the society and thus cannotbe isolated from the usual managerialresponsibility. In the public service anti-corruption is often compartmentalisedand mainstreamed to one unit withinthe institution or, worse still, to anagency outside the institution.
Anti-corruption and issues related towork ethics should be dealt with by line-managers. Government needs toexplore ways of incorporating issues ofethics and values into the whole aspectof performance appraisal system formanagers.
Also, bearing in mind that corruptioncan be prevented only if it is understood,efforts need to be made to explore deep-er into the nature and causes of corruptbehaviour and how issues of corruption,ethics and values can integrated intohuman resource development pro-grammes both in the public service aswell as the private sector. Furthermore,fighting corruption would most likelynot succeed without the involvement ofthe community, as corruption is a socialresponsibility.
C o n v e r s a t i o n s
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:36 AM Page 93
B o o k R e v i e w s S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
94
The Manager and the Internal Auditor Partners in Profitby Lawrence B Sawyer and Gerald Vinten
Lately, in our exploratory discussions on better ways of improving service delivery, the idea offorging partnerships almost always recurs. We talk of collaboration between sectors, organisa-tions and institutions as a way of pulling together human capital across institutional boundariesto defy the traditional “isolationism”.
Lawrence B Sawyer and Gerald Vinton’s book The Manager and the Internal Auditor —Partners in Profit, introduces a new perspective to the realm of service delivery, a rallying cryfor partnerships between managers and internal auditors. This is a book written specifically formanagers and aspirant managers, a reliable companion that will see you evade those momentsof guilt and embarrassment about mismanagement of funds.
Sawyer and Vinten, both world acclaimed, experienced auditors with numerous prestigiousawards in the field of auditing, highlight the importance of establishing internal controls inorganisations and illustrate how teamwork between managers and auditors can be a highlyeffective means to avoid corporate disasters before they occur.
The authors sound a warning that running organisations — be they in the private, public ornon-profit sector — has never been so risky. The situation is aggravated by the ever-softeningof boundaries between the sectors, i.e. the break-up of the state sector, the ambiguous interme-diary role of “not for profit” organisations and turbulence in the private sector which lends abreeding ground for chaos and a culture in which fraud can flourish.
The authors present a proven formula for organisational success through the joint workingof managers and internal auditors as partners for profit, growth and sustainability. By drawingon the latest insights into the needs and nature of management, the book clearly shows that inplanning, budgeting organising, directing controlling or formulating strategic policies, theinternal auditor's assistance is undoubtedly invaluable.The Manager and the Internal Auditor — Partners for Profit by Lawrence B Sawyer and GeraldVinten. John Wiley and Sons Ltd. Baffins Lane, Chichester, West Sussex, England. (1996)
Into the People Effectiveness ArenaNavigating Between Chaos and OrderBy Theo H Veldsman
For a long time, organisations were operating along the myth that organisational success lies inthe procurement of better and more enabling resources. Recently this traditional lopsidedapproach is giving way to a more realistic approach that regards people as the nerve-centre ofany organisation.
Theo H Veldsman prudently takes you on an analytical journey through an imaginaryorganisation in which people typically create wealth. Each organisation is an arena and in this“people effectiveness” arena, people play a pivotal and indispensable role in ensuring businesssuccess. Theo H Veldsman maintains that if people are empowered with expandable andrenewable competencies and energies, they will leverage the enabling resources of the organi-sation, e.g. money, technology, facilities, source materials and information, to work synergisti-cally to achieve the organisation's shared strategic intent.
The arena is holistic, comprising an integrated network of diverse variables in which thewhole is larger than the sum of its parts, e.g. strategies, designs and resources. Any given vari-able must be seen in the context of the other variables making up the Arena. Though each vari-able has its own unique nature, dynamic and evolution, it owes its identity to the other vari-ables and the interconnectivity between them makes them mutual dependent.
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:36 AM Page 94
B o o k R e v i e w s
95
The Mystery of Capital: WhyCapitalism Triumphs in the West and Fails Everywhere ElseBy Hernando de Soto
Reviewd by Bongani Matomela
A Peruvian economist and one-time governor of Peru’s central bank, Hernando de Soto’s bookexposes how capitalism has been made and engineered not to work and benefit the ordinaryentrepreneurial people of the developing world. It gives a fresh perspective to the failures ofcapitalism in developing countries. He identifies five mystries of capitalism: the mystery ofmissing information; the mystery of capital; the mystery of political awareness; the mystery oflegal failure; and the missing lessons of US history.
Basing his argument on research work conducted in selected major cities in Africa, Asia,Latin America and the Middle East, De Soto argues that the major stumbling block that keepsthe rest of the world from benefitting from capitalism are its rules, regulations, political andadministrative systems that prevent people in these countries from turning their asserts intoproductive capital goods and services. He argues that people in the developing world workhard, have entrepreneurial skill and zeal; they own assets worth trillion of dollars, but the legal,economic, and political systems work against them.
De Soto argues that at least 80% of people in developing countries cannot inject life into theirassets and make them generate capital because the law and the political system keep them outof the formal property system.
De Soto concludes by saying that promoters of capital have yet to understand that macroeco-nomic reforms are not enough. We must not forget that globalisation is occuring because devel-oping and former communist countries are opening up their once protected economies, stabil-ising their curencies and drafting regulatory frameworks to enhance international trade andprivate investment. What is not good with these reforms is that they assume that these coun-tries’ populations are already integrated into the legal system and have the same ability to usetheir resources in the open market. De Soto justifiably contends that so long as the assets of themajority are not properly documented and tracked by a property bureaucracy, they are invisi-ble and sterile in the market place.
This is a very insightful and refreshing book for any scholar and practitioner of developmentand economics, and has received worldwide acclaim from eminent business and economic jour-nals and publishers for its insightfulness and powerful explanation of why the capital market isfailing the poor.
S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
To a modern-day HR manager, Theo H Veldsman maintains that at the hub of the organi-sational arena is a people performance process through which the leverage of resources by peo-ple occurs, and wealth is created. The performance process consists of opportunities (challenges,problems and issues to be addressed), intentions (what is to be achieved), action (activitiesundertaken to realise intentions) and outcome (results) enabled by competencies (“can do”) andenergy (“will do”).
Veldsman, a seasoned management consultant, registered psychologist and personnel practi-tioner, keynote speaker, author and family man sends out a message to all HR managers. Amidthe chaos, tension and heat generated by the divergent dynamics characteristic of any arena, thediligent way is not to deal with issues individually but to placidly discover and build overallaction patterns appropriate to their unique situation. He also points to typical counter forcesthat usually sweep through arenas such as globalisation, competitiveness, change navigationand organisational culture and design as key factors to be on the look out for.Into the People Effectiveness Arena — Navigating between Chaos and Order. By Theo HVeldsman. Knowledge Resources (Pty) Ltd, Randburg, South Africa. (2002)
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:36 AM Page 95
96
T h e F u n n y S i d e S D R V o l 1 N o 3 2 0 0 2
Thinking laterally
Three South Africans and three Aussies are travelling by trainto a cricket match at the World Cup in England. At the sta-
tion, the three Aussies each buy a ticket and watch as the threeSouth Africans buy just one ticket between them.
“How are the three of you going to travel on only one tick-et?” asks one of the Aussies.
“Watch and learn,” answers one of the South Africans.They all board the train. The Aussies take their respective
seats but all three South Africans cram into a toilet and closethe door behind them.
Shortly after the train has departed, the conductor comesaround collecting tickets. He knocks on the toilet door andsays, “Ticket please.”
The door opens just a crack and a single arm emerges witha ticket in hand. The conductor takes it and moves on.
The Aussies see this and agree it was quite a clever idea. Soafter the game, they decide to copy the South Africans on thereturn trip and save some money (being clever with money,and all that). When they get to the station, they buy a singleticket for the return trip.
To their astonishment, the South Africans don’t buy a ticketat all.
“How are you going to travel without a ticket?” says oneperplexed Aussie.
“Watch and learn,” answers a South African.When they board the train the three Aussies cram into a toi-
let and soon after the three South Africans cram into anothernearby. The train departs.
Shortly afterwards, one of the South Africans leaves the toi-let and walks over to the toilet where the Aussies are hiding.He knocks on the door and says, “Ticket please.”
The great boat race
A Japanese company and a South African company decidedto have a boat race as an annual event.
On the day of the race, the Japanese had a manager and eightrowers in their boat. The South Africans had one senior man-ager, two assistant senior managers, three project leaders, one
observer and two rowers in their boat. The rowers of bothteams put in really gallant effort. The result — the Japanesewon the race by 10 lengths. The prize for finishing the racewas shared equally among all who contributed to the success ofthe Japanese team.
There was great concern among the South Africans. Topmanagement demanded an explanation for having been thor-oughly humiliated. An intense investigation was launched andmany meetings were held.
The managers decided to bring in outside consultants toassist in formulating a solution. They eventually decided upona great plan — invest in a sleeker boat, wider oars and impressupon the two rowers that their performance would have toimprove.
The next year the Japanese won the race by 15 lengths.In the South African team, the managers were rewarded
with promotions for formulating an excellent plan. The con-sultants were handsomely paid for their contributions. Therowers were fired. It was decided that the next year two out-side rowers would do
Advice to drinkers (and their wives)
Since you cannot stop drinking, why not start a bar in yourown home. Give your wife R840 to buy a case of whiskey.
There are 360 tots in a case. Buy all your drinks from your wifeat R6 a tot. When all the whiskey has gone your wife will haveR1 320 to put in the bank and R840 to start business all overagain.
If you live 10 years your widow will have +/-R396 000 plusinterest on deposit. Enough to give you a nice funeral, bring upyour children and marry a decent man.
Stormin’ Norm’s Words of Wisdom
In a recent interview, General Norman Schwartzkopf wasasked if he didn’t think there was room for forgiveness
toward the people who have harboured and abetted the terror-ists who perpetrated the September 11 attacks on America.
His answer was a classic. Schwartzkopf said, “I believe thatforgiving them is God’s function. Our job is simply to arrangethe meeting.”
&Odds Ends
Edition 01 2003 v5 3/24/03 8:36 AM Page 96
