Parliament, Wednesday, 08 March 2017 – The Portfolio Committee Public Service and Administration/Monitoring and Evaluation is concerned that the National School of Government (NSG) remains severely underfunded, undermining its ability to deliver on its mandate.
It is the Committee’s considered view that if the country is to achieve the goal of a professional, ethical and capable public service, as espoused in the National Development Plan, the NSG must be adequately resourced. “It is in our interests as a developmental state to capacitate the school and ensure that they have adequate funding to ensure that public servants do a good job and deliver quality services,” said Dr Makhosi Khoza, the Chairperson of the Committee.
“Given the state of the public service, we are uncertain about the impact of the R2,7 billion budget currently allocated to national departments. The Committee believes that a bigger portion of R2, 7 billion in national departments training budgets set aside for the 2016/2017 financial year must be re-allocated to the school. Proper monitoring systems are also necessary to ensure that the budget delivers maximum benefits,” she said.
“The R71 million currently allocated does a major disservice to the school,” Dr Khoza emphasised. The Committee has on its part committed to engage National Treasury to find a suitable funding model to leverage the potential of the school.
To empower the Committee’s engagement with National Treasury, the National School of Government will prepare a properly costed plan and value proposition, highlighting how the school proposes to design programmes that are responsive to developmental challenges facing the country.
While the Committee gears itself towards advocating for more funding, it has called for sustained impact assessment of training. Evaluation is necessary to assess the desirability and ensuring that programmes are fit for purpose. “To achieve this, collaboration between the NSG and specific departments is necessary. To this end, the Committee urges departments to share information with the school in order to ensure that qualitative programmes are delivered,” Dr Khoza suggested.
The development of the public service within the African context is also encouraged because South Africa’s development is dependent on Africa’s development, especially in a globalising world. “The Committee thus welcome efforts by the school to work with the African Union through the African Peer Review Mechanism to set up frameworks for capacity-building of African states,” Dr Khoza emphasised.
The Committee remains steadfast in its belief that for South Africa to address the challenges of poverty and inequality there remains a need for a skilled, productive and willing public servant committed to the public good and capable of delivering consistently high-quality services to all South Africans. The Committee thus consider a change in attitude among public servants as central in undoing the culture of laziness and will go a long way in achieving a professional and capable public service.
For its part, the Committee is committed to engaging with National Treasury to ensure that programmes are adequately funded and continuously monitoring the school to ensure that it optimally achieves its objectives, mainly because the Committee views the school as an essential cog in a functioning government.
ISSUED BY PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC SERVICE AND ADMINISTRATION/MONITORING AND EVALUATION, DR MAKHOSI KHOZA.
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