Public Service and Administration Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi has rejected suggestions the government is seeking to create one public-service administration for all tiers of government.
”What the initiative seeks to do is to harmonise the conditions of service across government, so that government is able to work better,” she said on Tuesday.
It would promote access to services and assist in instilling an ethos of people-centred service.
It would also enable government to develop consistent service standards across the spheres of government.
Fraser-Moleketi emphasised that the Public Service Amendment Bill — approved by the National Assembly earlier this year — proposed to address various organisational and human-resource areas directly or indirectly hampering service delivery.
This applied only to the current public service, which included provincial and national government.
She also dismissed the notion that the initiative would enable the government to supervise appointments in all national departments and state agencies, all premiers’ offices, provincial departments, municipalities and municipal agencies, as well as all employees of these bodies.
”This is totally misleading. It reflects a misunderstanding of the structure and functioning of government in its current form as well as the proposals of the single public-service initiative.
”The management and supervision of employees in all government departments rests in that institution, be it a government department [provincial or national], government entity, or local or district council,” Fraser-Moleketi said. — Sapa