BuaNews (Tshwane)
Luyanda Makapela
11 June 2008
As South Africa is a developing nation, it needs a public service which is adequately skilled and driven by the principles of Batho-Pele, says President Thabo Mbeki.
Delivering the Presidency's Budget Vote in Parliament on Wednesday, Mr Mbeki said despite the challenges faced by government in providing services to the people, the state has over the past financial year improved the integration of monitoring and evaluation systems across national departments.
The ongoing work we do on the transformation of the state is aimed at ensuring that the country is able to effectively implement programmes that will better the human conditions in our country, even beyond our borders, the President said.
"We have intensified training programmes. The system to monitor the implementation of government's Programme of Action has been fully placed on an electric platform," the President said.
He said there was a need to strengthen high-ranking management at national level.
"In order to improve the executive management of national government, we have introduced an additional instrument aimed at assessing the functionality of department and Ministries," he added.
The President said by doing this the state will be able to deal with the poor, and at times, corrupt management of various aspects of service delivery.
This includes instances of inadequate maintenance of infrastructure, disregard for public property, insensitivity of handling citizens in government offices as well as health and other centres.
"These instances should not make us lose sight of the achievements of the past 14 years in many areas of the lives of South Africans, including the provision of infrastructure and services in the face of huge backlogs inherited from the past," Mr Mbeki said.
The President, however, thanked all the staff in his office for executing their duties with dedication and commitment.
"Together, as elected representatives of the people we should all say, in word and deed, beyond serving our people, we have no other ambition. And with all hands on deck, we know we shall overcome," said Mr Mbeki.
Recently, President Mbeki officially opened the 100th Thusong Service Centre in the country in the remote Inhlazuka area near Richmond, KwaZulu-Natal.
The Inhlazuka Thusong Service Centre will provide the local and surrounding community access to national and provincial government services, such as applying for an ID document.
Addressing the thousands of community members who had gathered, President Mbeki said the event marked yet another milestone in the overall transformation of the service delivery mechanism of government.
"The launch of the 100th Thusong Service Centre in this area affords us a rare moment to reflect on the achievements of government in extending vital services to our people," he said.
He was accompanied by the Minister in the Presidency, Essop Pahad, Premier Sibusiso Ndebele and the Mayor of the nearby town of Richmond, Ben Ngcobo.
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