Performance of state departments ‘declines’
THE performance of most government departments in the areas of human resources management, governance and accountability has declined during the past year, a damning report has revealed.
The results of the Management Performance Assessment Tool showed some improvement in strategic and financial management. However, not a single government department received an unblemished management record across all the areas that the report measures.
The report found that 80% of departments did not comply with service delivery improvement requirements and 64% had failed to put in place requirements to prevent fraud.
The Department of Science and Technology came out tops in the study. The worst performers were the departments of public works and women, children and persons with disabilities.
CAPE TOWN — Overall management performance of government departments in some critical areas had declined in 2012-13 compared with the previous year, and not a single one received an unblemished management record, according to a key government report published yesterday.
The unfavourable report comes despite the much-lauded performance agreements concluded between President Jacob Zuma and his Cabinet, and between ministers and their senior managers.
Minister in the Presidency for Performance, Monitoring and Evaluation Collins Chabane yesterday released the results of the Management Performance Assessment Tool (MPAT) which showed some improvement in strategic and financial management compared with last year.
There were, however, worse scores in the fields of human resource management, governance and accountability.
National and provincial departments were assessed according to four standards — a green block represented full management compliance, a yellow block adequate, an amber block relatively poor and a red block failure to meet the standard.
A graphic representation gave an alarming picture of the management situation in public administration, with a host of red and amber blocks in a variety of areas indicating the extent of poor management.
Managers were assessed in strategic planning, improvement mechanisms for service delivery, professional ethics, fraud prevention, human resource planning, the handling of disciplinary cases, cash flow, and unauthorised and irregular expenditure.
Even the best-run department, the Department of Science and Technology, earned three red blocks indicating a failure to achieve the set standard.
The department received a red block for improvement mechanisms for service delivery, indicating it did not have a service charter at all or service standards.
The Western Cape and Mpumalanga were the two best provincial performers while the North West and the Eastern Cape were the worst.
Top of the national departments was Science and Technology followed by Trade and Industry, Environmental Affairs and Treasury. The worst performers were Public Works and Women, Children and Persons with Disabilities. These two departments were part of a group of seven that had no green blocks at all, indicating that none of the categories’ required standards had been met.
“The experience of the two assessments has enabled us to understand the challenges which public administration is facing. Having understood the baseline information we are confident that we will soon overcome these challenges,” Mr Chabane said.
In response to questions at a news conference, Performance, Monitoring and Evaluation director-general Sean Phillips said the MPAT did not duplicate the work of the auditor-general and was in fact developed in co-operation with the auditor-general.
He said the tool was designed to improve performance and service delivery.
Mr Chabane said the most important thing about the report was “we now … know exactly where the problems are”.
Democratic Alliance public service spokesman Kobus Marais said MPAT showed that the public service was in dire straits.
“The report reveals the following damning results of national government departments:
Eighty percent were noncompliant with service-delivery improvement requirements;
Seventy-six percent were noncompliant in ensuring they had policies and systems for promoting professional ethics;
Sixty-four percent were noncompliant with the legal requirements for fraud prevention;
Seventy-four percent were noncompliant with the Department of Public Service and Administration directive that their organisational structure should reflect funded posts only;
Eighty-eight percent were noncompliant with human resource planning; and
Sixty percent did not have processes in place for detecting and preventing unauthorised expenditure, addressing audit findings and communicating findings to responsible officials,” Mr Marais said.