DA opposes draft Public Administration Management Bill which will introduce a Single Public Service

The Minister of Public Service and Administration introduced the draft Public Administration Management Bill - the legislation that will introduce a Single Public Service (SPS) - yesterday in Parliament. The Democratic Alliance (DA) is strongly opposed to this bill and will resist with every measure at its disposal its passage through Parliament; including taking the ANC government to the Constitutional Court if need be.

The introduction of this bill was discussed during a Public Service and Administration portfolio committee meeting this morning where a decision was taken that a workshop be held in early August, during which both the Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration and the Select Committee on Local Government and Administration would scrutinize the draft piece of legislation and decide on a way forward.

There are, however, two points with regards the draft bill which require clarification:

Firstly, the bill failed to appear in the ATC (Announcements, Tablings, and Committee Reports) published on or before 2 June 2008 - which was the deadline for bills to be introduced in Parliament in order to be passed before the end of the year. The Minister of Public Service and Administration has failed to adequately respond to DA queries about whether the draft bill did in fact meet this deadline.

Secondly, if the draft bill did meet the deadline, the DA believes that in its current form it remains highly problematic in four key areas:

• The draft bill seeks to create a uniform salary structure across all levels of government. At present, there is a dramatic difference in salary scales between national and local levels of government. Achieving pay parity will be a difficult and expensive exercise with taxpayers bearing the brunt of the cost;
• The bill also aims to create a single pension fund and medical aid for all levels of Government. This will adversely affect local government officials when it comes to their accrued and existing rights in respect of retirement fund benefits and arrangements, as well as their right of voluntary association in respect of membership and contributing to a medical scheme;
• A cost-benefit analysis of the SPS was only completed at the end of April 2008 - after the draft bill was gazetted for public comment. This means that the draft bill fails to properly take into account the cost of creating an SPS and whether it in fact will be a viable and cost-effective exercise
• The bill grants the Minister far-reaching powers when it comes to bargaining councils - which includes submitting proposed terms and conditions of employment in the relevant bargaining council in order to remove what are, in her opinion, unjustifiable disparities;
• The bill bestows widespread regulation-making functions to the Minister of Public Service and Administration at all levels of government. These powers would threaten the ability of municipal councils to determine and implement their own policies and practices when it comes to their employees, thus allowing the ANC government to enforce its own polices at provincial or local level.

The DA believes the introduction of a SPS will result in opposition political parties, who have been elected by voters to represent them at provincial or local level, being prohibited from introducing their own alternative policies and more effective models of service delivery.

The DA will be watching the upcoming legislative process closely over the next few months and will continue to call for a public administration that delivers services and is accountable, transparent, and loyal to legitimately-elected governments of the day at all levels.

Statement issued by Karel Minnie MP, Democratic Alliance spokesperson for Public Service & Administration, June 11 2008