13 November 2006
By Thapelo Sakoana
The Public Service Act is to be amended to address issues that may be impeding the ability of government departments to deliver services to citizens.
Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi, the minister of Public Service and Administration, told members of Parliament in Cape Town last week that the current Act should be changed to address these difficulties.
"The changes required are based on 12 years' experience that has shown us that the arrangement of some organisational and human resource matters in the current PSA directly or indirectly impedes the delivery of services to citizens by national and provincial departments," she said during the debate on the Public Service Amendment Bill.
A matter of concern in the current act was the inadequate provision for the deployment of personnel in areas they were most needed, she said.
Another worrying factor, Fraser-Moleketi said, was that employees dismissed for misconduct - including corruption - were often reappointed to the public service afterwards.
"Employees suspected of transgressions sometimes resign and are appointed in other departments without disciplinary steps being instituted or continued for those transgressions.
"Some provisions in the Act have resulted in legal disputes, while others are obsolete, overly complex or conflict with other legislation," she said.
In this regard, the minister said the Bill sought to improve the organisational and human resource framework of the public service by addressing identified obstacles.
For example, the Bill will provide for the government to take disciplinary steps against employees for transgressions committed in their former departments.
Another key objective is to introduce anti-corruption measures to prohibit the re-employment of people in the public service who were dismissed for specific acts of misconduct - especially corruption.
"It is proposed that the prohibition on re-employment be for a stipulated period and for different periods be determined for different kinds of misconduct," said the minister.
Fraser-Moleketi said while some provisions in the Act had resulted in legal disputes, the Bill would address "a number of legal difficulties arising from the day-to-day application of the Act as well as arbitrations and court cases".
Other difficulties identified in the Act include the application of government functions through agencies outside the public service of which political heads have no control or influence.
"Another objective of the Bill is to introduce government agencies as a new institutional form to be accommodated within the public service to enable direct service delivery through a focused, ring-fenced separate entity under the direct control of a minister, premier or MEC," Fraser-Moleketi said.
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