Marion Edmunds
THE government is trying to revive the Presidential Review Commission, created to help reform the ailing public sector but paralysed by its own problems, which culminated recently in the resignation of its chairman.
Professor Bax Nomvete, who by all accounts had a stormy relationship with the rest of the commission, has refused to comment on his resignation.
The remaining commission members last weekend met Dr Paseka Ncholo, the director general of public services and administration, in an attempt to shore up the commission and to rethink its mission.
The commission, which was due to present President Nelson Mandela with its recommendations for revamping the public service in August, will ask for another 12 months to finish the job.
Public Services and Administration Minister Zola Skweyiya, Ncholo and commission members reportedly want to replace Nomvete with Dr Vincent Maphai, a member of Deputy President Thabo Mbeki’s consultative committee.
The commission was created to shake up the public service, which has long been viewed as bloated, backward and inefficient.
But none of the R12-million committed by foreign donors to pay for its work has been spent.
The commission has been hampered instead by administrative hitches and in-fighting between its members.
Skweyiya, under pressure to show results, allegedly threatened to close the commission last November.
A member told the Mail & Guardian: “People remain seriously demoralised about the commission’s performance.” Prior to the weekend’s gathering, it had looked dead in the water, the member said.
In the past six months, the commission has held a two-day methodology workshop, a round-table discussion in November to establish a working relationship with its taskteams and a further workshop with members of the Commonwealth Secretariat. It has done more than 500 hours of work in 13 months.
The commission will have to co-ordinate its investigations with the new Public Service Commission, to be set up later this year, because it will be tackling the same task with similar terms of reference.