…Minister says public service institutions across the 16 SADC member states must move beyond rhetoric and implement practical reforms that put citizens at the centre of service delivery
BY THEMBA ZWANE
EZULWINI – Government has challenged SADC member states to transform public service institutions into resilient, responsive, citizen-centric, innovative and incorruptible entities, warning that the stability and prosperity of the region depend largely on the strength of its public service.
Minister of Public Service Mabulala Maseko said public service institutions across the 16 SADC member states must move beyond rhetoric and implement practical reforms that put citizens at the centre of service delivery.
Maseko was speaking on Friday, August 28, during the official opening of the 3rd Annual General Meeting of the SADC Public Service Commissions Forum held at the Royal Villas Hotel and Conference Centre in Ezulwini.
The meeting is held under the theme: “Accelerating the Transformation of the SADC Region through Resilient, Responsive, Citizen Centric, Innovative and Incorruptible Public Service Institutions…from Rhetoric to Practical Actions.”
The Minister said the region could no longer afford public institutions characterised by failures, bottlenecks and inefficiencies, noting that citizens were becoming increasingly impatient with institutions established to provide essential public services.
“States prosper and fail on the strength of their public service,” Maseko said, emphasising the urgent need for public service institutions to be transformed to meet the expectations of citizens.
He said the existence of the SADC Public Service Commissions Forum provided an important opportunity for member states to rethink, reshape, refocus and transform their public service institutions for the benefit of present and future generations.
Maseko stressed that institutional transformation could not happen without transforming the people working within those institutions.
“Institutions are nothing but people, hence people are the ones that are supposed to transform if we are to transform institutions,” he said.
He commended the Forum for providing a regional platform through which Public Service Commissions could find a collective voice in strengthening and professionalising public service institutions.
According to Maseko, the Forum also provides an avenue for collaboration, partnerships, benchmarking, exchange programmes and collective resource mobilisation in pursuit of public service reforms across the region.
He said the transformation agenda should ultimately produce public servants who regard themselves as servants of the people and who discharge their responsibilities with honour, selflessness and integrity.
The Minister warned that failure to act decisively would amount to short-sightedness that could have consequences for future generations.
“We owe this to ourselves and the future generations of this wonderful SADC region,” he said, adding that posterity could judge current leaders harshly if they failed to build institutions capable of serving the region in the future.
Maseko further encouraged public service leaders to use the Forum as a platform to create institutions that are fit for purpose both in the present and in the future.
He said the transformation of public services should be driven by a single objective – creating a better legacy and a stable SADC for future generations.
Quoting former United States senator Margaret Chase Smith, the Minister said: “Public Service must be a complete dedication to the people and to the nation.”
The 3rd Annual General Meeting brings together Chairpersons and Commissioners of Public Service Commissions from SADC member states, alongside representatives from the SADC Secretariat, AUDA-NEPAD, the United Nations and other institutions.
Maseko said the Forum resonated strongly with Eswatini’s own public service transformation agenda, while providing an opportunity for countries across the region to collectively confront challenges affecting service delivery.
He also welcomed the delegates to Eswatini and encouraged them to experience some of the Kingdom’s major cultural and economic events taking place during the period of the AGM, including the annual Reed Dance and the International Trade Fair.
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