Private representative business grouping Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA) CEO Busisiwe Mavuso has noted public announcements by President Cyril Ramaphosa last week that he would hold Ministers and Deputy Ministers to account if they had not addressed, met and executed the priority areas that had been set for them.

In her latest weekly newsletter, Mavuso points out that Ramaphosa said he would be meeting Ministers and Deputy Ministers over the next six months and would not “accept any excuses or explanations”.

“Such a clean-up at the top levels of government goes hand in hand with the work to professionalise the entire public service – an ambitious but very worthwhile project given the abysmal state of service delivery in large parts of the country.

“In December, the Department of Public Service and Administration released the ‘National Implementation Framework towards the Professionalisation of the Public Service’, which promotes a culture of merit-based recruitment and aims to improve public service delivery.

“Raising the calibre of leadership at the top is the right starting point to develop an efficient and professional public service that will enable the professionalisation to cascade down to all levels,” she says.

She also argues that if there is no accountability at the top levels of leadership, particularly for not fulfilling mandates, it will be impossible to raise the standards in the lower tiers of leadership.

Mavuso adds that it will be quick and simple to replace nonperforming Cabinet Ministers and other senior leaders, whereas professionalising the entire public service is a longer-term goal, particularly given the widespread dysfunctionality in many municipalities.

“The importance of doing so, however, cannot be overstated as the suboptimal levels of service cause tremendous damage to the economy.

“All the important reforms government and business are working on jointly – in terms of the recent compact between government and CEOs of major South African companies to address the severe challenges of energy, crime and logistics – will prove ineffective if there aren’t competent people and efficient departments along the entire value chain to implement the required changes and manage their future operations.

“The solutions for all those elements require contributions from local, provincial and national government departments,” Mavuso says.

She points out that while business is supporting these reforms and working with government to have them successfully implemented, the private business sector “can’t lose sight of the longer-term goal of professionalising the public service to develop it into one that is fit for purpose”.

Mavuso also highlights that she has recently written about how flawed the proposed National Health Insurance policy is, and that if the policy were “fit for purpose”, it would still end in failure if standards throughout the State health system are not improved.

She adds that one of the main reasons for the inadequate state of public health services is a lack of accountability for poor performance, as well as unethical procurement practices.

“This is similar for our State education system and municipal service delivery failures, among others,” she notes.

“The key is accountability and we encourage performance-based assessments. If leaders at the top are held accountable for not performing the functions and duties they’re supposed to, the galvanising effect at lower levels will be remarkable.

“Over the years, government has made numerous attempts to address the problem. It has launched white papers on Transformation of the Public Service, Local Government, Transforming Public Service Delivery, the National Development Plan, municipal staff regulations and guidelines, and the District Development Model, all of which aim to address inefficiencies and dysfunctionality in the public service. None have been seen through.”

She adds that business is “doing all it can” to ensure this attempt to professionalise the public service is implemented correctly.

BLSA is working with government in numerous areas to improve efficiencies in the public service, and in some cases is also pushing for improvements to plans that are already being implemented.

One important area Mavuso singles out is to roll out the minimum competencies framework that is under way.

This framework introduces minimum competencies for municipal officials, and BLSA is encouraging the extension of this to all organs of State and to ensure that CFO functions are included.

“Another is ongoing skills training, particularly to keep pace with evolving needs, such as the need for expertise within municipalities to implement a complex wheeling framework for private sector energy generation.

“Other areas of focus include alignment of accounting, procurement and governance systems to international best practice and private sector regulations and strong performance management procedures – not only with leaders being held accountable for failure but also where good performance is rewarded, possibly through bonuses.”

She adds that these measures align with the professionalisation framework’s goals of curbing systemic corruption in the public sector across all spheres of government, and where the recruitment of public servants is based on competence and ethical disposition, as opposed to unethical personal and political interests.

Mavuso also writes that service delivery is largely abysmal throughout the country, mainly because people appointed to their positions are not suitably qualified.

She states that the African National Congreess’ notorious cadre deployment programme has contributed significantly to the state the country is in today. The way to develop an efficient and professional civil service is to appoint people with integrity who are qualified for their roles.

“This is not a ‘nice to have’, it’s a Constitutional prerequisite that public administration must maintain a high level of professionalism.

“BLSA is a business organisation that believes in South Africa’s future and shares the values set out in the Constitution.

“BLSA is committed to playing its part in creating a South Africa of increasing prosperity for all. It does this by working with the government and civil society to deliver economic growth, transformation and inclusion,” she concludes.