Day: July 8, 2024

The Public Service Commission (PSC) has applauded officials who refuse to accept bribes at the country’s ports of entry to South Africa.

‘The integrity of officers at South Africa’s ports of entry plays a significant role in combating and preventing bribery and corruption in rendering customs, transport, and immigration services to the public,’ said PSC Commissioner Anele Gxoyiya.

Addressing the media in Pretoria earlier today, Gxoyiya said this was demonstrated by officials from the South African Revenue Services (SARS) and the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) who refused to take bribes of R200 000 and R50 000 respectively, to allow a truck carrying 614 boxes of semi-manufactured tobacco worth over R6 million to enter the country.

He said the display of integrity by officials promotes a culture of accountability, transparency, and ethical conduct.

‘The PSC once more applauds the exemplary ethical behaviour displayed by the officials from SARS and the RTMC for refusing to take a bribe at the Bei
tbridge port of entry,’ said the Commissioner.

‘Bribery at the ports of entry manifest in various ways, including, but not limited to, facilitation payment, document falsification, preferential treatment and smuggling,’ Gxoyiya said, adding that corrupt officials may cooperate with criminal networks to smuggle illicit goods and even enable human trafficking in exchange of bribes.

‘In addition, the PSC would like to congratulate the Minister of Tourism Patricia de Lille and officials in her department who were instrumental in the recovery of the R35 million in irregular payments made through SA Tourism’s US and South Africa Offices, for services not rendered,’ Gxoyiya said.

He said the recovery of the funds demonstrated their commitment in fighting corruption and ensuring that funds allocated to the department are used appropriately in line with the Public Finance Management Act.

‘The PSC would like to encourage all public servants across the country to uphold the constitutional values and principles which
calls for professional ethics and accountability. These actions will contribute towards building a professional, ethical, and capable public service,’ he said.

Source: South African Government News Agency

Cold and wet weather is expected to continue in the Western Cape this week with a series of cold fronts still to make landfall over the coming days.

‘A series of cold fronts are still on track to make landfall, resulting in a week of wet and cold conditions. [Monday] will see the coldest daytime temperatures, and the next cold front with rain is expected to arrive on Tuesday.

‘Between 10 and 20mm of rain is expected over the western parts, and between 40 and 60mm can be expected over the southern western mountains,’ the Western Cape Local Government, Environmental Affairs and Development Planning department said.

The department added that the Provincial Disaster Management Centre (PDMC) is monitoring the situation.

‘[The South African Weather Service] confirmed its outlook for strong to gale force west to north-westerly winds for the south-west coast and emphasised the high danger of runaway wildfires in the Garden Route District. The Department of Water and Sanitation continues to monitor river and dam l
evels, which are expected to rise significantly in the coming week.

‘Eskom reported several outages over the past 48 hours caused by the severe weather. Cape Town, the West Coast and Overberg regions were hardest hit so far, and repair teams are attending to them as fast as possible,’ the department said.

READ | Western Cape prepares for inclement weather

Disruptive weather

The department’s MEC Anton Bredell said since the first cold front made landfall over the weekend, the PDMC has received reports of damage and disruptions due in several areas.

‘Widespread disruptions and damage, including loss of shelter in informal settlements, localised flooding, fallen trees, electricity outages, and road closures due to snow or flooding, were reported during our meeting [on Monday].

‘The City of Cape Town, Overberg, Cape Winelands and West Coast Districts were hardest hit by the severe weather. As always, our focus remains on the safety of our residents and the humanitarian support that they need,’ he said.

Sig
nificant rainfall has already been recorded in several towns in the Western Cape, including at Ceres, which received some 123mm and Elgin Grabouw which received 84mm of rainfall.

The provincial government and the national Department of Human Settlements are working together to assist those who have lost homes due to flooding.

Search and rescue operations are also ready for those communities cut off from main roads.

‘Wuppertal and other communities in the Cederberg area will be reached by specialised 4×4 teams once a needs assessment has been conducted, and we will be ready for similar requests as the week unfolds,’ Bredell said.

Source: South African Government News Agency

Public Service Commission (PSC) Commissioner Anele Gxoyiya says the transition from apartheid to a democratic dispensation necessitated a complete overhaul of the state bureaucracy.

‘Though tailored to the South African context, South Africa’s public administration reforms – notwithstanding their debatable strengths and weaknesses – followed international trends, from Traditional Public Administration (TPA) through to variants of New Public Management (NPM),’ Gxoyiya said.

Speaking in Pretoria earlier today, Gxoyiya said governments worldwide continuously reform to promote efficient public administration that is responsive to people’s needs and the countries’ social, economic and technical challenges.

‘Similarly, there is recognition that reforms vary from country to country, and in the case of South Africa, the transition from apartheid to a democratic dispensation necessitated a complete overhaul of the state bureaucracy,’ Gxoyiya said.

He said the need for reflection on the historical and current facto
rs that have shaped public service administration as it is known today became unavoidable at the tail end of 30 years of democratic governance in South Africa.

‘The PSC has consistently argued that the realisation of the fundamental rights in the Constitution and the peremptory adherence to the Constitutional Values and Principles (CVPs) are central to public administration reform.

‘Simply put, one way of evaluating the public administration reforms in South Africa is to examine the public services provided and citizen’s perception of their efficacy,’ he said.

Source: South African Government News Agency

Former Advisor to Coalition Governments in Ireland, Fergus Finlay, says trust and relationships are an important ingredient towards the success of coalition governments.

‘The key thing about coalitions is relationships, acceptance that you not going to get everything you want in a coalition, [and] acceptance that even if you don’t get everything you want, you are going to respect the bottom line,’ Finlay said.

Finlay made the remarks during a webinar held under the topic: ‘Making Coalitions and Governments of National Unity Work: The Role of Professional Bureaucracies.’

The webinar was hosted by the National School of Government (NSG).

It provided a platform to discuss the likely impact of the Government of National Unity (GNU) on the public administration and governance system, with lessons from countries abroad that have gone through power sharing arrangements, as well as in the country’s local government system where coalitions have also been in existence for a few years.

During Monday’s session, expe
rts from the country and abroad shared their insights and experiences on the impact of coalition arrangements on public sector institutions.

Sharing his experience on coalition governments, Finlay said relationships, trust and a written programme is essential, noting that detailed structure to get to the programme is imminent.

‘There is no guarantee in the end of success, unless there is trust and mutual respect,’ Finlay said.

Former Chief of Cabinet for various Belgian Ministers, including the Vice Prime Minister from the Belgium government–which is known for coalition governments– Jan Cornillie noted that the longest coalition negotiation in Belgium took 514 days.

Sharing lessons learned on coalition agreements, Cornillie underscored the importance of discussing coalitions before entering into government and the need to make compromises and institutionalise it because ‘pacification is in itself a key to coalition outcome.’

‘Limit the zone of possible agreements by introducing facts and constraints in
to the discussions (what is implementable), provide an overarching narrative in which governing parties can find themselves; make use of the nation’s centre(s) of excellence in policymaking, and provide access to chief advisors from all governing parties,’ Cornillie said.

Cornillie also emphasised that government is not completed by Ministers and Cabinet alone, but need a whole system, including advisors, the civil service, national expert bodies, and political advisors that trust each other.

Overcoming difficulties

Professor of Political Science at the University of Florence and Coordinator of Department of Public Policy and Governance, National School of Administration (SNA), in Italy, Professor Andrea Lippi, acknowledged that coalition governments are difficult.

Lippi said through coalition governments, Italy has seen transformation of the Cabinet with more relevant, not only legal supervision, but brokering and with more employees; and creeping professionalisation of civil servants towards a strategic
role of policy making.

He said Italy also experienced the relevant role of informal relationships, networking, governance among ministries, and multilevel governance with 20 regions and 7 000 more municipalities, as well as new relationships between representative bodies and bureaucrats and related new problems, including accountability, delegation of responsibilities, and bargaining.

‘We have observed the increasing relevance of soft power in place of (or beside) hard power; new stream of skills for a policy of training in favour of top civil servants; increasing the role of evidence-based policy making [including] policy evaluation, policy advice, open government and participatory procedures, and multi-level governance [amongst others].’

Professional public officers should be apolitical

Lesotho Institute of Public Administration and Management Administration Director-General, Nthabiseng Tlhomola, argued that the role of professional public officers is to serve the government of the day and as such, shou
ld be apolitical.

For the first time since 1966, the Lesotho general elections in 2012 produced a hung government, where no single political party could form government, and political parties were forced to engage in talks to join forces.

On the rise of GNU in Lesotho, Tlhomola said in general, the manifestos of the country’s political parties were similar – looking into infrastructure development, job creation and growing the economy.

‘We are now more than 10 years [into] a coalition government; we therefore have a story to tell,’ Tlhomola said.

Tlhomola noted that even though the oversight institutions are affected by government changes, the government makes sure that their role to ensure that government business operates as expected, continues.

Source: South African Government News Agency