Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana has met with the Public Service Commission (PSC) leadership on Monday to discuss a range of issues.

The PSC delegation was led by the Commission’s chairperson, Professor Somadoda Fikeni.

The Public Service Commission has the key mandate of promoting constitutional values and principles of public administration in the public service, while also evaluating and investigating public administration practices.

Godongwana recognised the role played by an effective public service in supporting economic development, and added that consequence management should form part of the performance agreements of senior managers in the public service.

The Commission raised a number of issues in the area of building state capacity such as passing of the PSC Bill which aims to strengthen the independence of the PSC as well as expansion of the PSC’s oversight role to local government and state owned entities, the need to professionalise the public service, addressing inefficiencies that are costing the state hundreds of millions of rand, regulatory burden and red tape that can have a negative impact on economic activity, as well as the effectiveness and efficiency of government to deliver prompt and quality services.

The Commission also reiterated their willingness to partner with government to address the inefficiencies that are debilitating state coffers.

Minister Godongwana agreed that state capacity needed to be improved and that professionalising the public service would save the state millions of rand.

“The work you are doing is commendable and it will require a mobilisation of political support and I am happy to give you that support,” Godongwana said.

The Minister undertook to continue engagements with constitutional institutions supporting democracy such as the PSC and encouraged them to hold workshops to ensure that officials know how they operate so that they are assisted to do their work.

Source: South African Government News Agency