The Chairperson

Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration

Parliament

Cape Town

By email

Dear Sir,

RE: Submission on Compliance with Government’s 30 Day Payment Period to Service Providers

1. The “Have your say” advertisement you caused to be published on page 16 of the Mail and Guardian newspaper on 15 May 2015 refers.
2. We welcome the opportunity to make a submission and indicate our interest in making a presentation to the committee.
3. In our respectful submission the malaise in the public service is best addressed by inculcating the values and principles of the Constitution in the members of the public administration.
4. This is a matter of education and training through good human resource management practices within the administration.
5. In order to assist those involved in the implementation of the matters referred to in paragraphs 3 and 4 above, we submit that the Pledge attached should be drawn to the attention of all members of the public administration and in particular to those involved with the payment of funds owing to service providers in the private sector.
6. The Pledge is based upon the requirements of the Constitution as they should apply to the public administration. These requirements are too often honoured in the breach in the manner in which the public administration in fact functions.
7. The taking of the Pledge on an annual basis, its publication widely in the offices of the administration and of those who provide services to the public administration, will have the effect of inculcating the type of service provision and high standard of professional ethics for which the nation strives in the hearts, actions and minds of each and every public servant.
8. Any public servant who fails to take the Pledge and who does not act in accordance with its provisions should be counselled; disciplined, if necessary, and dismissed, if recalcitrant.
9. The human resource management file of every public servant should contain a signed copy of the Pledge.
10. Practical ways and means of constantly drawing attention to the Pledge should be devised by human resource managers on a department by department basis.
11. The public should be made aware that failure to comply with the Pledge constitutes maladministration and that consequences flow from being guilty of maladministration.

Yours sincerely,

Paul Hoffman SC

Director

Accountability Now

Pledge by the members of the Public Administration of South Africa.

We, the public servants of the Republic of South Africa, proudly pledge to the nation and to all who inhabit and visit our Republic that:

1. We will promote and maintain the highest standards of professionalism and ethics in all we do in our official capacity, with ubuntu and bato pele as our ever present watchwords. [ C 195 read with policy and the spirit of the Constitution (C)]
2. We will strive without end for the most efficient, economical and effective use of resources, including human resources, in our places of work. [C195]
3. We will at all times remain development oriented in our work in the public administration. [C 195]
4. We will act impartially, fairly, equitably and without bias in our provision of services to the people in South Africa, forever showing responsiveness to their needs as communicated to us through the public participation processes in place. [C 195 read with C 33]
5. We will act accountably, by always explaining our actions reasonably and by justifying our decisions properly. [C 195 and C 1]
6. We will, within the limits of the law, provide the public with timely, accessible and accurate information in the interests of transparency in all we do. [C 195 read with C 1 and C 32]
7. We will cultivate good human resource management and career development practices so that human potential is maximised, on the basis that the public administration remains broadly representative of the South African people. [ C 195]
8. We will respect, protect, promote and fulfil the rights guaranteed to all in the Bill of Rights. [C 7(2)]
9. We will at all times uphold the foundational values of the Republic as they apply to human dignity, equality and freedom; the advancement of non-racialism and non-sexism; the supremacy of the Constitution and the rule of law; responsiveness to peoples’ needs and openness in the public administration. [ C 1]
10. We will, in our loyal execution of the lawful policies of the government of the day, be forever vigilant to ensure that we act in a manner consistent with the Constitution, its values, tenets and principles. [ C 197 read with C 2] We will, in particular, procure goods and services in accordance with a system that is fair, equitable, transparent and cost-effective [ C 217 ] and perform our obligations diligently and without delay [ C 237 ]

In offering this pledge, we affirm our belief that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, united in our diversity. We further affirm that we are working ceaselessly to build our multi-party, democratic and open society in accordance with the rule of law, so as to reflect the resolve of the nation to live in peace and harmony, to be free from fear and want and to seek a better life, thus earning its rightful place for South Africa in the family of nations. [Preamble to the Constitution (C) read with C 1 and C 198].