LUCKY MATHEBULA | Restoring a back-to-basics public administration system

The administrative order of South Africa is deteriorating before our eyes to the point of disintegration. The decline of a strong state and the concomitant erosion of the public and civil service ethic associated with competitive nations continue unabated.

Repeated auditor-general (AG) reports paint stirrings of a crisis, fragile and, in some instances, failed state conditions in municipalities — indicating potential fissures in the system that could put the democratic order at risk. The cabinet-approved professionalisation framework may have revitalised the centrality of a capable state in any endeavour to put the country on a growth and development path. It has equally deepened the crisis of where-the-tyre-hits the road issues of the public service and senior management service ideation.  

Meanwhile, the shifting priorities of the public service reform politics and increasingly competitive elections-intensive political order have created a political term-focused planning paradigm, which has compromised the public service as the permanent mind of the state. The capable state or functioning administrative order emerging from this is impossible to predict.

Looking ahead, it is easy to imagine a public administration system and path hostile to the essence of being “the public service”. The inward-orientated professionalisation policy framework that has defined how to service the public has to create a relationship with the quality of service to public issues.  

In this policy review, we can envision a more co-operative public administration system where state organs work together and adhere to flexible rules that preserve the core elements of a public administration system. This vision fosters a sense of unity and commitment, suggesting a more functional public administration and management system is within reach.  

The truth is the public sector influences the most crucial aspects of our daily lives: the appearance of our surroundings, our transportation, health and wellbeing, cultural experiences and our education and competence development. While working in private sector environments comes with a high degree of managerial discretion, being a public sector manager means understanding your actions are subject to public scrutiny. 

Establishing a back-to-basics public administration system is more accessible than avoiding it over the years. Drawing on recent efforts on the professionalisation framework, the amendments of the Public Service Act, the policy review of the Public Service Commission and the establishment of the head of administration as a subcomponent of the executive authority of the state, a proposition for a framework to guide a back-to-basics approach could be made.

As a key figure in the framework the head of administration would oversee and co-ordinate administrative functions in the public service.  

For the framework to work, it must presuppose a natural agreement on core management and administrative processes. It should be about making the system reliant on entry level public service employees or those at the point of citizens’ contact with the government. The professionalisation framework, which includes training, certification and ongoing professional development, should be about the base of the public service hierarchy. In that way, the investment will be loaded at the beginning.

The content of professionalisation should be about the cumulative mundane skills, knowledge and attributes required where it matters for citizens. Basics such as report writing, preparation of a memorandum for executive decision, filling and archiving, basic office administration, human contact etiquette, office environment hygiene, public service protocol and ability to standardise unique actions into scalable operating procedures.  

With the disruptions technology has made in conventional public administration, where most processes at the public touchpoints are a function of algorithms, it is clear many of those we call human members of the public service are no longer adequate to address the many forces governing government to citizen relations. This underscores the need for continuous adaptation and learning in the public service.  

A future administration order must tolerate greater diversity in national institutional arrangements and practices set up to make public service delivery a competitive sovereign experience for citizens. Those with the greatest touchpoints to society, specially where norms and mores of public service are transmitted, should enjoy the most significant focus of the professionalisation framework.

The world’s greatest human custodial institutions, basic education facilities and schools should be targeted to the best professionalisation framework as the impact is scalable and exponential. Hospitals and mass service institutions of the state should be pockets of excellence as a demonstration of the capability and professional character of the state.  

The latest AG report is the most authentic indicator of public service dysfunctions where households meet the state and its active agent, the government. It is the water that does not come out of the tap, the electricity switch that does not release energy, the sanitation system that does not move sewage to where it should be, the waste and dirt lying on street corners, the potholes in the street off our gates and many other municipal services that define how in crisis, fragile or failing a state South Africa is in the eyes of those experiencing it.  

The South African Association of Public Administration and Management (SAAPAM) will conduct a 30-year review of how the discipline and practice of public administration (its “Tintswalo”) have contributed to the state’s capability. Save for a successful and illustrious report card, SAAPAM will give accounts on its contributions to the body of knowledge in the field. The review will also interrogate how to deal with the “how to” matters of public administration.

These “how to” matters include effective resource allocation, performance evaluation and strategic planning. In discipline nomenclature, these are the auxiliary functions of public administration. In the performance of auxiliary functions, a capable state dealing with what is chronically in annual AG reports over 30 years should differentiate the SAAPAM of the next 30 years.

• Dr FM Lucky Mathebula is a public policy analyst, founder of The Thinc Foundation and a research associate at Tshwane University of Technology