Public Service and Administration Minister Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi told reporters today that government had commenced with work to create one public service to cover all spheres of government.
The initiative was highlighted by President Thabo Mbeki during his State of the Nation Address last week when he said: "We will continue the work towards the creation of one public service covering all spheres of government, fully conscious of the complexity of this matter and the need to secure the agreement of all the relevant stakeholders."
Today, Ms Fraser-Moleketi said work to establish the single public service was being carried out under three work streams.
The streams included the integration of the front office (points of service delivery) and the back office (information systems).
Another stream involves the institutional integration covering the harmonisation of systems; conditions of service and norms within institutions and departments across all spheres of government that deliver services to the people.
Regarding integration at points of service delivery, she said the objective was to present a single face of government, which covered the three spheres of government and selected public entities that provided services directly to the people.
She said ground breaking work had already been done, including the establishment of multi-purpose community centres; the Batho Pele Gateway portal; the installation of public information terminals in selected post offices and Community Development Workers (CDWs) as work being done in that regard.
"Work will also focus on the identification of additional services to be delivered through a single window as well as the identification of additional channels through which these services will be delivered including the investigation into the establishment of urban service centres.
On the integration of information systems, the department of public service and administration continued with the implementation of the Batho Pele Gateway portal, which was launched in 2004 and is accessible from the government website on www.gov.za.
The information content of the portal will be expanded to include provincial and local spheres of government.
Also the Gateway information content is being translated into all eleven official languages and by 30 March the current content will have been translated into Afrikaans, isiXhosa, isiZulu, Setswana Sesotho and Sepedi with the remaining languages following thereafter.
Government will also adopt a comprehensive e-Government programme covering a governance model; strategy, architecture and implementation plan for the single public service by July this year.
"The focus is on e-Government and ICT, which will create a platform for services to be delivered through a single point of contact. The back office integration will be informed by the identification of a basket of key services that will be provided through the single window," said Ms Fraser-Moleketi.
By November this year, draft legislation to create an enabling environment for the single public service would be developed and that the draft legislation would be the basis for further consultation within government.
"The draft enabling legislation will focus on three broad areas [namely]: human resource management and development; organisational and institutional matters as well as ICT and e-Government across the public service," said the minister.
Autor: David Masango
Quelle: BuaNews Online, 07.02.2006
