Batho Pele Change Management and Gateway: Department briefing

Meeting report

PUBLIC SERVICE AND ADMINISTRATION PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE
25 August 2004
BATHO PELE CHANGE MANAGEMENT AND GATEWAY: DEPARTMENT BRIEFING

Chairperson: Mr P Gomomo (ANC)

Documents handed out:
Department Director-General's presentation on Batho Pele change management
Department presentation on Batho Pele Gateway and Evolution to E-Government

SUMMARY
Director General, Professor R Levin, presented the Department's strategy on renewing and intensifying the Batho Pele campaign across Government. The presentation included an overview of the Department audit on Batho Pele, and the recommendations adopted by Cabinet. Mr R Barjaktarevic gave a presentation on the Batho Pele Gateway, its purpose, rollout strategy and future steps in the evolution to 'E-Government'.

MINUTES
Professor Levin said departments usually complied with the setting up of Batho Pele service standards. There were numerous forms of consultation in Government, but in many instances, the execution of the correct monitoring and evaluation standards had been a problem. Despite service delivery innovations in Limpopo, most provinces were still reliant on conventional approaches to service access. There was a need for a coherent integrated access strategy that recognised all new initiatives. There was also a need for 'service user relationship training' in response to the persistent public perception that Government officials were uncaring. Redress was still a problem, especially in the social service sectors. It was no longer sufficient to devise values and principles for Batho Pele - measures had to be taken to ensure these principles were executed. He grouped the Department's recommendations into four broad areas. The recommendations would not require significant extra financial investment as the initiatives should be budgeted for as part of the process of improving efficiency and effectiveness.

Mr Barjaktarevic said the Gateway presentation was related to the need for improvement and Batho Pele. 'The Gateway', or E-Government project, would integrate and modernise services by co-ordinating public services and information communication technology (ITC). Roll-out would occur in two phases.

Discussion
The Chairperson said the Gateway was important but that it would be difficult to implement in rural areas. Mr Barjaktarevic said rural leaders had been enthusiastic about the Gateway and needed to be viewed as meaningful stakeholders to guide the process of project adoption. He anticipated problems with the project's implementation but said South Africa would not be competitive as a nation if it did not progress to E-Government. It was important that the government was not reliant on ITC. Booklets and an integrated Call Centre would ensure that everyone had access to the benefits of the project.

Mr R Ntuli (DA) asked why departments were not communicating service standards to the public. Professor Levin said that the public had not understood Batho Pele principles initially and were not holding Departments accountable. There was a need to simultaneously enlighten the public and the departments that served them.

Mr N Gcwabaza (ANC) asked if there had been efforts to make the public aware of the hierarchical structures in various offices. Mr Levin said the Department had recommended various measures to improve service user/customer relations. These included a service delivery watch and customer satisfaction surveys.

Ms P Mashangoane (ANC) said that service delivery from Eskom was shocking. She asked if the Batho Pele principles would extend to the private sector. Professor Levin said that, as part of the Department's drive to develop a single public service system, they would look at the possibility of incorporating public entities under an overarching Public Sector Act. In January 2006, framework legislation pertaining to this issue would be presented to Government.

The meeting was adjourned