PREMIER'S SPEECH
Master of ceremonies
Ladies and gentlemen.
I would like to thank you for inviting us to your annual general meeting. Before 1994 most peace-loving South Africans fought hard to dislodge apartheid. With the collapse of the previous racist government, those very people who occupied the trenches were called upon to govern.
These required a different moral ethos and outlook. It meant more responsibility, more loyalty and a new form of patriotism. In his speech on he occasion of the budget vote on June 13 last year, President Mbeki said:
"The system of governance we are working to create is radically different from the one we inherited. It is focused away from repression, control and the management of people.
It is targeted at helping us to meet the provision laid down in the Constitution of 'improv(ing) the quality of life of all citizens and free(ing) the potential of each person.' Accordingly, ours must be a developmental state".
When this government assumed office seven years ago, it inherited a Public Service system in which there was no respect for organised labour.
There were also a number of other things that were wrong. That change, ladies and gentlemen, brought with it new challenges for the trade union movement.
Critical among these was how to balance your needs as public servants with the hopes and suffering of our unemployed. Remember that the central mission of the public service is the development of the country and provision of services to its people.
If this is not achieved, the public service will miss its rationale for existence. The partnerships that we have created in the Public Service must make a difference in the lives of all South Africans.
Partnerships that are inwardly focused cannot improve service delivery, they cannot eradicate poverty, and they cannot create employment.
It is also important for management and labour to recognise their inter-dependence in ensuring that the above mission is realised.
Something else. I believe I am correct in assuming that all of us gathered here today are in the employ of government and therefore involved in working for a better life for all our people – black and white.
If that is correct, Master of ceremonies, then allow me to point out that the ability of our government to take forward the process of accelerated transformation and service delivery depends on good governance.
Central to good governance are the principles of accountability, transparency and zero tolerance for corruption. But good governance is also about capacity and political will to detect bad and corrupt practices in our Provincial and national Government.
Our obligation and accountability to the public are at the centre of this ethic and promise. You will agree with me when I say a lot of negative sentiments exist about the conduct of some workers in the public sector.
The public service is accused of nepotism, racism, corruption and a lack of commitment to servicing the community. We all know how that perception, real or imagined. Was created. Unfortunately some of us perpertuate that bad image through our actions thus giving the public service a mad name.
There are still people who betray the people's trust. The effect of this is that such action discredits the tens of thousands of dedicated public sector workers who selflessly, every day, provide services to our people.
Most of us fought apartheid. Whereas our guiding principles in the trenches were the will and aspirations of the people, some public servants are today under a heavy obligation to weigh their discretionary powers against their effectiveness in serving the public with integrity.
Selfish pursuits have replaced human interdependence. Suspicion replaced mutual trust and greed soon overtook just sharing. Somehow we seem to be consumed by a devilish passion to place self above the people. Something is only right when it benefits me, seem to have replaced popular slogan of an injury to one is an injury to all.
The late Mother Theresa of Calcutta, may her soul rest in peace, once said: “The biggest disease today is not leprosy or tuberculosis, but rather the feeling of being unwanted, uncared for and deserted by everybody.
The greatest evil is the lack of love and charity, the terrible indifference towards one's neighbour who lives at the roadside assaulted by exploitation, corruption, poverty and disease.”
We cannot afford turning a blind eye to the perpetrators of evil stealing from the already poor. There is little doubt that the public attitudes towards the public service has changed a lot over the last couple of generations.
The public now is more demanding, they're more demanding of service, they're more demanding of explanation, they are more articulate, they are more persistent,
That requires of the public service an understanding that it is not good enough simply to deliver decisions, to deliver judgements, it is also necessary to explain the reason for it.
The public service must explain, justify and where necessary defend. The proper relationship is for the public service to give the fearless advice; to give it professionally, to give it cogently, and to give it accurately for it to be properly considered.
But once the politicians have taken a decision on a policy matter, but of course explaining why the decision have been taken, then the decision must be carried out by the public service without further questioning or hindrance.
Now in my experience, that has by and large been the approach that has been adopted by the public service.
Remember also that the ethical soundness of those standards and values is especially important because of the position of trust, power and privilege which public servants hold, and the resulting obligation not to breach that trust and not to misuse their power or abuse their privilege.
Their obligation to behave ethically flows too from the monopoly they have in the provision of many services.
Claimants of government benefits, for example, cannot obtain those benefits elsewhere if they are unhappy with the standard of service they are receiving.
This places an additional responsibility on public servants to be responsive to the needs of the public. Public servants have, in effect, to meet a more demanding challenge with a more far-reaching impact than is the case with most professions.
As public servants we must be committed to upholding the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa and the Batho Pele principles when serving the public.
We must treat every member of the public equally and with fairness, respect and dignity. Those who come to our offices have a right of access to information and service.
They are entitled to professional service of the highest standard. Service with patience and courtesy and done in a prompt, effective and transparent manner
Someone once said:
“When in a society the shameless triumph,
when the abuser is admired,
when principles end and only opportunism prevails,
when the insolent rule and the people tolerate it;
when every thing becomes corrupt
but the majority is quiet because their slice is waiting...
When so much "whens" unite,
perhaps it is time to hide oneself,
time to suspend the battle;
time to stop being a Quixote:
it is time to review our activities re-evaluate those around us,
and return to ourselves."
The time to do that is now. Jwale ke nako.
We wish the meeting success, confident that it will not disappoint the expectations of our people.
Thank You.