As the government moved on Friday to confirm the appointments of more than 2 000 public servants, Senator Dr Shantal Munro‐Knight insisted that the Public Service Appointments Bill reflects fairness, empowerment and long‐term commitment to building a secure and trusted civil service.
“People do not have to worry that they are going to be unfaired,” Senator Munro‐Knight said on the floor of the Senate as she described the legislation as transformative, arguing that it forms part of a long‐term effort to rebuild confidence within the public service.
She said the transformation process began with public service recognition awards, explaining: “That award is part of government’s overall public service transformation agenda.
Mr President; when we came into government, we found a public service that was demotivated and unrecognised, and reversing that situation requires a long‐term transformational agenda that we embarked upon, plank by plank, to rebuild confidence.”
Senator Munro‐Knight acknowledged that while shortcomings exist, the government recognised deeper structural issues.
“It’s important to recognise that even though we point to the faults within the public service, one of the things that the government recognised as well was that there are systemic challenges with how the public service operates that we need to be able to correct,” she said.She revealed that the reform process required a comprehensive legislative review, with teams assigned to assess how existing systems functioned and whether they were effective.
“We had one group that was tasked to look across the public service, look across at the legislation that managed the public service and then to see how we could, or what we needed to do in order.”
Another group examined performance management, incentives and discipline.
“How could we improve on the current system ofperformance review and management? We looked at the disciplinary conduct code that we had within government and said how could we make it easier?”
The assessment, she said, revealed cases where officers had been placed on leave for years without matters being resolved.
In response, director generals were introduced across the public service to allow permanent secretaries to focus on day‐to‐day operations while advancing the transformation agenda.
“If anybody recognises that transformation takes time, and when you are dealing with transformation of a public service that has existed, Mr President, based on a colonial system, that how we reshape that and reform that is not something that can be done easily or overnight. But the commitment of the government to make wrong things right and to right‐size.”
Senator Munro‐Knight noted that in 2020, more than 6 000 public officers were appointed, underscoring the importance of job security and tenure. She said the current batch of officers forms part of the same reform process.
“We want to make systemic changes that over time will become sustainable, which is why, as I said, we’re looking at changes even in the legislative framework. Looking even at the Public Service Act 2007 and seeing, again, how do we make sure that we have a public service that, again, is going to be able to be fit for purpose going forward,” the senator said. (LG)
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