A leading South African Provincial official has slammed the attitude of many Public Service applicants who “who see the work as a springboard to riches, rather than service”.
In a speech to mark Heritage Week, Treasurer of KwaZulu-Natal Province, Nomusa Dube-Ncube said she had departed from her original address to look into what exactly the Public Service working culture entailed and what it stood for.
Ms Dube-Ncube (pictured) said more often than not, people joined the Public Service under an assortment of pretexts, to better their lives; to create change; to make an impact; or at worse, to enrich themselves.
“Now how do we prevent a culture where the Public Service is seen as a springboard to riches, rather than service?” Ms Dube-Ncube asked.
However, she believed there were still officers with “a burning need to assist communities”.
“I should point out that we, the people in the Public Service, are a melting pot of cultures that have transformed the Public Service to what it is today,” Ms Dube-Ncube said.
The Treasurer said Public Service culture had been slow in adapting and embracing technological change.
“A glaring example is the extensive use of paper, which continues to be a hallmark of inefficiency, and helps adverse elements to encroach,” she said.
“As a result, Public Service culture comes across as a rigid, alienating, hostile and a moribund one because of the red tape and bureaucracy inherently embedded in the system,” Ms Dube-Ncube said.
Pietermaritzburg, 24 September 2021
