THE ROLE AND MANDATE OF THE PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION (PSC) IN

STRENGTHENING THE OVERSIGHT ROLE OF PARLIAMENT

PRESENTATION TO THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SERVICE AND ADMINISTRATION/

PERFORMANCE MONITORING & EVALUATION

10 SEPTEMBER 2014

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OUTLINE OF PRESENTATION

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• Introduction• Vision and Mission of the PSC• Our Legislative Mandate • Structure of the PSC: Single PSC/Support Structure • Stakeholders• Strategic outcome goals underpinning the

work of the PSC• Key Performance Areas• How Parliament processes the PSC’s Products & Outputs• Issues requiring attention• Conclusion

INTRODUCTION• The PSC is established by the Constitution of the

Republic of South Africa, 1996, as one of the institutions to strengthen the oversight role of the legislatures over the Executive and Administrative branches of the state to facilitate transparent and effective policy formulation and implementation.

• In order to strengthen Parliament’s oversight role, the PSC interacts with the various Parliamentary Committees (PCs) to present its reports that PCs could utilise in exercising their oversight functions.

• Over the years the PSC has embarked on a process to establish and consolidate its working relations with the various PCs particularly this Committee.

• It is through this strong working relations that the PSC can support the PC to enable it to fully perform its oversight role.

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THE PSC VISION & MISSION

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OUR LEGISLATIVE MANDATE

OUR LEGISLATIVE MANDATE (2)

• In terms of section 196(4) of the Constitution, the powers and functions of the PSC are to-o promote Constitutional

Values and Principles in the Public Service

o investigate, monitor and evaluate the organisation and administration, and the personnel practices of the Public Service

o propose measures to ensure effective and efficient performance within the Public Service

Values and Principles

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OUR LEGISLATIVE MANDATE (3) o give directions aimed at ensuring that personnel procedures

(recruitment, transfer, promotions and dismissals) comply with the basic values and principles set out in section 195

o report on activities to the National Assembly and to Provincial Legislatures in respect of activities in Provinces

o either of own accord or on receipt of a complaint: investigate the application of personnel and public

administration practices and report to the relevant EA & Legislature

investigate grievances of employees in the Public Service and recommend remedies

monitor and investigate adherence to applicable procedures in the Public Service

advise National and Provincial Organs of State regarding personnel practices in the Public Service

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OUR LEGISLATIVE MANDATE (4) • The PSC is accountable to the National Assembly and interacts

with Parliament and the Provincial Legislatures regularly, reporting on its activities and the performance of its functions as required by sections 196(4)(e) and 196(6) of the Constitution.

• The PSC’s main objective is to provide effective technical oversight over the public service nationally and provincially.

• To this end, the PSC conducts evidence-based research, monitoring and evaluation involving the gathering and collation of qualitative and quantitative data on public administration for use by the Legislatures and the Executive.

• The PSC also conducts inspections at service delivery points as well as public hearings on topical issues.

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SINGLE PSC

PSC

14 Members

Commissioners recommended by the National Assembly

Commissioners

nominated by the Premiers on

recommendation by the Provincial

Legislatures

• Members of the PSC are appointed by the President.• The President designates one commissioner as chairperson and another as

deputy chairperson of the PSC.

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ORGANISATIONAL SUPPORT STRUCTURE

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STRATEGIC PARTNERS• Academia• NGO’s & CBO’s• Media• Religious Sector • Private Sector• International Org’s• Donor Community• Professional Bodies

DEPARTMENTS• National Depts• Provincial Depts

ORGANISED LABOUR• PSCBC• Employee Org’s

LEGISLATURE(S)•National Assembly•NCOP•Prov Legislatures•Committees

INSTITUTIONS SUPPORTING DEMOCRACY• Public Protector• Auditor General• Human Rights Commission• Commission on Gender Equality• Financial & Fiscal Commission• Independent Electoral Commission (IEC)

THE EXECUTIVE• President• Premiers• Cabinet• Executive Councils

PSC STAKEHOLDERSCONSULTATIVE FORUMS• IGF• MINMEC’s• Forum of SA DG’s

PSC

STRATEGIC OUTCOME GOALS UNDERPINNING THE WORK OF THE PSC

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STRATEGIC OUTCOME ORIENTED GOALS

• The strategic outcome-oriented goals are geared towards the

promotion of good governance for a successful Developmental

State and improved performance of Government in equitable

service delivery.

Strategic OutcomeGoal 1

Good governance in developmental public administration

Goal statementAccountability and ethics in public administration enhanced

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Strategic OutcomeGoal 2

Improved service delivery

Goal statementService delivery by government is improved and meets the standards of equity, effectiveness, efficiency and economy.

Strategic OutcomeGoal 3

Institutional development of the PSC

Goal statementAn independent, impartial, knowledge-based custodian and champion of excellence in successful developmental public administration.

STRATEGIC OUTCOME ORIENTED GOALS (2)

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PSC’S OUTPUTS

• These outputs are regarded as tools that the Portfolio Committees can utilise in performing their oversight function over national and provincial government (Administrative Branch).

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PROGRAMME STRUCTUREThe PSC’s programme structure is divided into 4 programmes; namely:

The programme provides the overall management of the PSC and centralised support services.

Prog: Admin

Promotes sound Public Service leadership, human resource management, labour relations and labour practices.

Prog: LMP

Establish a high standard of service delivery, monitoring and good governance in the Public Service.

Prog: M&E

Undertake public administration investigations, promote a high standard of professional ethical conduct amongst public servants and contribute to the prevention and combating of corruption.

Prog: IAC

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KEY PERFORMANCE AREASThe PSC has operationalised its mandate around the following six (6) key

performance areas:

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KEY PERFORMANCE AREAS (2)

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KEY PERFORMANCE AREAS (3)

HOW PARLIAMENT PROCESSES THE PSC’S OUTPUTS

WAYS PCs MAY UTILISE PSC OUTPUTS •Written submissions may be requested from departments.•Interactive meetings with departments to account for the progress made in implementing the recommendations. The PSC can make presentations on the report to assist the PCs•Parliamentary questions to obtain responses from departments.•In order to supplement the PSCs reports, information could be sourced through public hearings or inspections at departments.

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• The diagram below demonstrates how the PSC’s products are processed and how the Portfolio Committees (PCs) could use them in performing their oversight work.

• As a key stakeholder of the PSC, the PC can – contribute to the PSC’s vision of being a champion of public

administration excellence in democratic governance in South Africa

enable the PSC to play a more meaningful role in the creation of a professional public service

• Calling the Executive to account The practice adopted by the Portfolio Committee in 2011 of

calling the Executive to account for non-submission of HoD performance agreements proved very useful as most EAs complied immediately after being called to account.

This practice should be sustained and extended to other work of the PSC such as the financial disclosure framework, implementation of the recommendations of the PSC, etc.

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ISSUES REQUIRING ATTENTION

• Joint oversight visits to provinces Over the years the PSC was invited to be part of the PC’s

oversight visits to provinces. The PSC provides evidence-based information relating to the areas the oversight visits would focus on.

To this end, the PSC should be involved in planning of these oversight visits timeously so that its work programme could be aligned with that of the PC.

The PSC also conducts inspections to service delivery sites as part of its work programme and produces reports on findings and make recommendations that are forwarded to the Executive to address. The PC may be invited to be part of these inspections if the PC so wishes. Otherwise the recommendations emanating from these inspections will be presented to the PC once the reports on the inspections are finalised.

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ISSUES REQUIRING ATTENTION (2)

• Citizens Forums In 2005 the PSC together with the Portfolio

Committee on Public Service and Administration piloted the Citizens Forum as a public participation mechanism in the Eastern Cape and Mpumalanga.

The Citizens’ Forum was implemented in Msukaligwa municipality since 2012 and a member of this Committee accompanied the PSC to the initial Citizens Forum meeting.

The involvement of the PC when the PSC launches the implementation of the Citizens Forums should be encouraged.

Implementation of the decisions of the Citizen Forum hosted by the PSC at the Msukaligwa Municipality, 2013

ISSUES REQUIRING ATTENTION (3)

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ISSUES REQUIRING ATTENTION (4)• Alignment with the National Development Plan

– Chapter 13 of the NDP provides that consideration should be

given to the following:A strengthened role for the PSC to make it a robust

champion of a meritocratic public service by promoting and

monitoring key norms and standards. Consideration should

also be given to whether the PSC’s mandate should be

extended to include the primary responsibility for setting key

norms and standards, especially for recruitment processes.That the PSC should play a direct role in the recruitment of

the most senior posts. – In order for the PSC to play a direct role as envisaged in the

NDP, this would require amendments to legislation.

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ISSUES REQUIRING ATTENTION (5)• Implementation of Parliament Resolutions

– In November 2011, the National Assembly adopted as its

resolutions the following recommendations of the PC with

regards to the PSC:the PSC reports on the implementation of Section 195(1) by

the administration of all spheres of government, organs of

state and public enterprises in South Africa every year;the report of the PSC is contained in the annual report of the

entity that the PSC is reporting on every yearthe National Assembly seeks to locate the budget of the PSC

with Parliament’s budget votethe Speaker of the National Assembly should, in future, refer

the PSC’s reports to Committees for consideration and report

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ISSUES REQUIRING ATTENTION (6)• Implementation of Parliament Resolution

– The PSC has considered the resolution of Parliament but

due to resource constraints, it will only be able to

implement the resolution in an incremental manner. – The PSC is in a process of developing a roadmap to

progressively realise the resolution of Parliament. – In order for the PSC to fully implement the resolution, such

as the promotion of democratic values and principles in all

spheres of government, this would require legislative

amendments.

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CONCLUSION

• The PSC acknowledges the importance of positive working relations

with Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration/

Performance Monitoring & Evaluation.• Furthermore, the PSC believes that the strengthening of its

collaborative relationship with PCs would serve as a catalyst to

effective oversight over the Executive and the Administrative arms

of government.• Through its products and outputs, the PSC will enable the PCs to

perform its political oversight roles over the Executive. • Lastly, the PSC looks forward to fruitful engagements with the PCs

and to strengthening working relations with the Committees.

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PSC Website: PSC Website: www.psc.gov.zawww.psc.gov.zaNational Anti-Corruption Hotline for the Public Service: 0800 701 701National Anti-Corruption Hotline for the Public Service: 0800 701 701

Thank you

Enkosi

Thank you

Enkosi