President Cyril Ramaphosa says that the government aims to establish a citizen-centred public service delivery system that is seamless, adaptive and responsive.<\/p>\n
Writing in his weekly open letter to the public, the president said that public servants have been in the spotlight for the wrong reasons in recent years.<\/p>\n
This adaptive service delivery model, or District Development Model, he said, would bring development to where it is needed the most.<\/p>\n
“We have set ourselves the challenge of building a capable, ethical state. We remain firmly on course towards professionalising the public service and transforming it into a group of men and women who are able and committed to serving our people and their interests.<\/p>\n
“We call on public servants to be part of this process by identifying ways in which we can realise a public service focused on meeting the needs and advancing the interests of citizens,” Rampahosa said.<\/p>\n
“Our commitment to building a state that is ethical, capable and above all developmental necessitates that civil servants see themselves not merely as state functionaries but as development workers.”<\/p>\n
The president said that the vast majority of government workers are ‘exemplary civil servants’ and that those ill-suited for public service will be rooted out.<\/p>\n
How the new model will work\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n The district-based model, which Cogta minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma is spearheading, is seen as key in closing the \u2018disconnect\u2019 between government and a national and local level.<\/p>\n Dlamini-Zuma said that the model seeks to strengthen the local sphere of governance \u2013 moving away from silo planning, budgeting and implementation.<\/p>\n The minister said that the new model would provide a \u2018more tangible, common vision for development’ of the country.<\/p>\n \u201cBy adopting a long term view and interconnecting the local economies, we are able to re-imagine a better community, district and nation.\u201d<\/p>\n To assist at a local government level, Dlamini-Zuma said that the government plans to employ skilled people at \u2018district hubs\u2019 to avail shared skills that local municipalities lack.<\/p>\n \u201cThe hubs form part of the district\u2019s capacity and will link the localities to provinces and national departments,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The hubs will also house critical and scarce skills such as engineers, planners, ICT specialists and administrators, to the districts and local municipalities.<\/p>\n Dlamini-Zuma said that the district model would also see budget changes across government, ultimately unifying finances into a singular budget.<\/p>\n She said that the government would implement the model through the specialisation and reprioritisation of each department, state entity, and municipality\u2019s plans and budgets.<\/p>\n \u201cThe \u2018One Plan\u2019 which will inform the \u2018One Budget\u2019 is an intergovernmental strategic framework for investment and delivery in relation to the district and metropolitan spaces,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
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