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Planning Minister Trevor Manuel recently decried poor service delivery in South Africa when he addressed senior government ministers at a conference.
In a Skills Portal article titled ‘Public servants must serve country better’ Nadine Kater, Head of ACCA SA, addresses the same topic.
Both discussions reflect the public’s growing frustration towards unprofessional civil servants and the public sector at large.
South African’s have become increasingly critical of poor service delivery and with the help of digital media now have more platforms to express this dissatisfaction. We have become a lot more demanding, and have raised our expectations about what is acceptable and what we deserve.
The minister touched on this growing tension when he said government could not continue to blame apartheid for its delivery failures. "For almost two decades, the public has been patient in the face of mediocre services. The time for change, for a ruthless focus on implementation, has come."
Getting to the heart of the matter Manuel said that, “humility towards the poor is the greatest attribute of a civil servant.”
These announcements have been warmly welcomed by the public as many agree that it is this ‘attitude’ of serving more than anything else that is sorely lacking in the public sector and government as a whole.
The fact that government is recognising and admitting its failures and trying to set a higher standard for service is definitely a positive step. The fact that South Africans are not content with the current state of service delivery is also something good.
However, perhaps we need to rethink this idea of ‘civil servant.’
Is it only those in official public service that have a responsibility towards the poor? Strange that the very people who so adamantly demand justice for those less fortunate are often the ones that neglect the poor in their own communities.They wave their fists at public servants and then turn around and treat the unemployed and homeless with contempt. Can we expect justice and equality when we are not willing to administer it in our own lives?
Yes we should want justice, even demand it from those in authority, but shouldn’t we have an even greater passion to treat those around us with fairness and dignity?
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