Imperatives for Good Governance: A Case Study of the Implementation Batho Pele Principles at Durban Home Affairs Regional Level
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© Kamla-Raj 2014 J Soc Sci, 38(1): 9-21 (2014)
Imperatives for Good Governance:
A Case Study of the Implementation Batho Pele Principles
at Durban Home Affairs Regional Level
T. L. Ngidi1 and N. Dorasamy2
1
Department of Public Management and Economics, Durban University of Technology
22 Aloe Avenue, Circle Park, Wyebank 3610, South Africa
Mobile: 074 4964 544/ 083 605 8053, Office: 031-7071361/ 031-7113971
E-mail: ngiditl@webmail.co.za
2
Department of Public Management and Economics, Durban University of Technology
P.O.Box 1334, Durban 4000, South Africa
Mobile: 0722678704, Office: 031-3736862, E-mail: nirmala@dut.ac.za
KEYWORDS Ethics. Accountability. Corruption. Service Delivery. Attitudes
ABSTRACT Good governance, the rule of law and systems of accountability are essential elements in guaranteeing
that resources are equitably shared. These resources are to be used efficiently, effectively and economically. Prior
1994, quality service was only reserved for whites. Given this legacy, the transformation of the South African
Government had to be initiated. The endeavours by the African National Congress (ANC) to deal with the ills of
the past gave birth to the White Paper on the Transformation of Public Service Delivery (1997). This initiative
is underpinned by these principles: consultation, service standards, access, courtesy, information, openness and
transparency, redress and value for money. This paper seeks to investigate the importance of good governance.
The paper adopted an interpretive qualitative, quantitative methodology. The data suggests that while initiatives
are in place to ensure good governance, challenges still exist. Recommendations focus on enhanced procedures
relating to Batho Pele to improve good governance.
INTRODUCTION then encourages customers’ relations on a two-
person or dyadic basis, but discourages the
The image of a government depends upon growth of wider forms of trust and reciprocity
the conduct of its employees and the percep- (Callaghy 1984; Jackson and Rosberg 1982; Jo-
tions of its citizenry regarding the acceptable seph 1987 as quoted by Venter 2011:6). Second-
standards of services offered by the depart- ly, it is the denial and often widespread abuse of
ments. It is, therefore of crucial importance that fundamental human rights by errant rulers. Hu-
government departments act justly and fairly to man rights abuses cause many citizens to with-
one and all, not only paying lip service to trans- draw from politics, or evade rather than engage
parency and openness. political authorities.
Good governance is an elusive commodity.
Bratton and Rothchild (1992) as quoted by Ven- Observations
ter (2011:1) state that governance is the practice
of good government and it remains, essentially Prior 1994, the South African citizenry has
a fragile process that depends on “the restraint been reluctant to speak out for fear of being
of the ruler” and “the tolerance of the ruled”. jailed or maltreated and instead, has increasing-
The concept of governance refers in a generic ly opted “to vote with their feet” in order to
sense to the task of running a government (Bar- escape repressive political control. This can be
kan 1992 as quoted by Venter 2011:6). Crisis on seen from the decisions/instructions from board-
the African continent has been identified as one rooms, where foot soldiers (policy implement-
of governance (World Bank 1989 as quoted by ers/ workers) decided (asivume konke, kepha
Venter 2011:6). singenzi nokukodwa) to agree with all decisions
According to Hyden, 1992 as quoted by Ven- imposed upon them and end up not implement-
ter (2011:6), there are four major shortcomings ing any of its undertakings. Thirdly, the promi-
that are the causes of bad governance. Firstly, it nence and prevalence of an unelected and un-
is the extensive personalisation of power which accountable government which manifests itself10 T. L. NGIDI AND N. DORASAMY
in reluctance to decentralise or delegate author- 1997. Batho Pele, “People first”, is an initiative
ity and a tendency to curb any independent that intends to transform the public service at all
political activity outside an institutional network levels. The democratic South Africa inherited a
controlled by the ruling party-state. Fourthly, a public service that was not people-friendly and
situation in which the apparatus or resources of lacked the skills and attitudes to meet the devel-
the state primarily become the means for elite to opmental challenges facing the country. In the
acquire wealth, rather than serve as a corrective struggle to transform the public service, there
mechanism to promote social justice and sus- was a need to ensure that citizens are served
tainable economic development, consequently properly, that all employees work to their full
this led to widespread and even endemic cor- capacity and to treat state resources with re-
ruption. spect (South Africa, White Paper on Transform-
There are three conditions that depict good ing Public Service Delivery 1997). The govern-
governance and, by implication, effective prob- ment regional offices are the real delivery arms
lem-solving. Firstly, citizen influence and over- of government as they are directly in contact
sight (the means by which citizens can partici- with government services beneficiaries and it is
pate in the political process and thereby express where corruption takes place.
their preferences about public policy; how well
these preferences are aggregated for effective Corruption and Its Effects
policy- making; and what means exist for hold-
ing the leadership accountable for their deci- “Corruption is the enemy of development
sions and actions (Hyden 1992 as quoted by and of good governance” (Patil 2011 as quoted
Venter 2011:7). Secondly, responsive and re- by Venter 2011:1).
sponsible leadership: the attitudes of political Fraud and Corruption are interchangeable
leaders towards their call of duty as public trust- terms and therefore their effects on government
ees. This directly speaks to openness of public and beneficiaries are more or less the same. Fraud
policy-making or the readiness to share infor- is a crime of deceiving people in order to get
mation with citizens and adherence to the rule of money, while corruption is dishonest or immoral
law. Thirdly and extremely crucial, is social reci- behaviour, by people in official positions.
procity or inter-group tolerance: how far groups The political cost of corruption is that it un-
demonstrate tolerance of one another in the pur- dermines democracy, weakens the developmen-
suit of politics and, how far voluntary associa- tal state and undermines responsibility, account-
tions are capable of transcending the bound- ability and legitimacy. Corruption engenders
aries of kinship, ethnicity or race. perverse political dependencies, negates oppor-
Ultimately, good governance requires politi- tunities to improve the general well being of the
cal reform and renewal, and a concerted attack citizenry and fosters a climate of mistrust, par-
on corruption. This can be done only by ticularly of public officials. Corruption erodes
strengthening the transparency and account- the “common good” and the “People’s Con-
ability of representative bodies, by free elections tract”. In eroding the “People’s Contract”, cor-
in a multiparty system, by encouraging public ruption alienates citizens from the very officials
debates, by nurturing press freedom, by devel- they have elected and also alienates people from
oping civil society organisations and by main- each other. Corruption distorts and undermines
taining the rule of law and an independent judi- the value systems of all societies. It also over-
ciary. Omoworare (2010), states that for a few rides any sense of the common good (Fraser-
states, good governance is conspicuously ab- Mokeleti 2008: 46).
sent with visible poverty, dilapidated infrastruc- Corruption impedes a state’s ability to use
ture, reckless abandonment of the education, its available resources to progressively achieve
health, transport, agriculture, industrial and other the full realisation of socio-economic rights as
sectors with a direct bearing on the life of the resources are instead diverted into pockets of
people. public officials, or development aid is misman-
Since the advent of democracy in 1994, sev- aged, misused or misappropriated. Corruption
eral policies relating to service delivery have been is costly; the state loses revenue from abuse of
formulated and implemented. One such crucial taxes, customs levies, licensing fees and traffic
policy is the Batho Pele White Paper gazetted in fines. It also leads to high spending due to cor-IMPERATIVES FOR GOOD GOVERNANCE 11
rupt loadings and fronting on state contracts. able development. It breaches the contract be-
According to Mbanjwa (2011: 1-4), the most com- tween citizens and public officials, and this has
mon cases of alleged corruption relate to fraud grave consequences for any government. More-
and bribery, mismanagement of government over, it is a recipe for the collapse of governance
funds, abuse of government resources and pro- and is a cause of continued failure.
curement irregularities. The distortion of policy Given that the Department of Home Affairs
and resource allocations increases inefficiency. is the arm of government that is needed by ev-
Corruption also impacts on investment and erybody who naturally enters, lives and exits
growth, especially in countries where there is South Africa through various processes, fraud
need of foreign productive capital. Foreign in- and corruption are quite pervasive in these de-
vestors, especially those likely to make long- partmental regional offices. Mbanjwa (2011:1-4)
tem contributions to development, are discour- states that the Public Service Commission re-
aged, although some investors looking to make ported that the majority of cases lodged against
fast profits through questionable schemes may the DHA involved the bribing of officials to ob-
try their luck. Furthermore, corruption in aid pro- tain fraudulent identity documents, passports,
grammes means less for those most in need and marriage certificates and the sale of identity doc-
may compromise future funding. uments to illegal immigrants. Of the 3 554 cases
Corruption is costly, not only for the general reported to the hotline since 2004, the largest
public but mainly for the poor as resources are number involved the DHA, with 781 reported
diverted away from them. Service delivery and but only 142 resolved (Mbanjwa 2011:1-4).
related policy is distorted if allocation and prior- The Public Service Commission expressed
itisation are determined by bribes. It means a concern that lack of action on reported cases of
few benefits at the expense of many which rein- corruption by senior managers and directors-
forces existing socio-economic inequality and generals is a “trend” which compromises the
makes the poor even more vulnerable. Structur- integrity of the hotline and weakens the public’s
al inequality leads to many being denied access confidence in government’s commitment towards
to education, information, and therefore to fighting fraud and corruption (Mbanjwa 2011: 1-
knowledge about their rights that could enable 4). Fraud and corruption are rife in the Depart-
them to challenge abuse of power. ment of Home Affairs and this is evidenced by
Good governance is a fundamental right in a the arrest of six officials and a marriage officer
democracy and it implies transparency and ac- (Padayachee 2011:6). Padayachee stated that
countability. Good governance entails “an ad- these arrests are part of an ongoing investiga-
ministration that is sensitive and responsive to tion aimed at rooting out corruption in the De-
the needs of the people and effective in coping partment of Home Affairs. The officials arrested
with emerging challenges in society by framing were suspected of facilitating “convenience
and implementing appropriate laws and mea- marriages” between South Africans and foreign
sures. It includes strict rules of accountability. nationals (Padayachee 2011: 3). The Public Ser-
Corruption exists in both democratic and non- vice Commission (2007), as quoted by Dorasamy
democratic states, but it develops “into an auto- (2009:58) states that concerns regarding service
matic by-product of the latter system and the delivery can be attributed to the performance of
chances for corrupt practices to be exposed, pro- public officials. Dorasamy (2009:58) argues that
tested against and punished become much di- sustained efforts to improve standards while
minished under it”. Mbanjwa (2011: 1-4) states expanding services have failed in many of the
that the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) and government departments because of person-to-
the Department of Correctional Services in the post mismatch, lack of skills and a lack of perfor-
Republic of South Africa are the most corrupt mance standards. She further argues that these
departments as per reports based on calls by contributory factors can be linked to egoistic
anonymous whistle blowers to the National Anti- leaders who assumed positions without giving
Corruption Hotline between 2004 and 2010. Dem- consideration to performance based on account-
ocratic governance is thus a necessary require- ability and responsibility (Dorasamy 2009:59).
ment to fight corruption. The then Minister of Public Service and Ad-
Corruption undermines the rule of law, dem- ministration, Fraser- Moleketi (2008:46) states
ocratic governance, accountability and sustain- that corruption violates the laws of the country.12 T. L. NGIDI AND N. DORASAMY
She further states that it flouts international con- Unethical behaviour in the South African
ventions and treaties and undermines democratic public service is characterised by the following:
values and ethos (Fraser- Moleketi 2008:46). the lack of responsiveness to the needs of cli-
Chinua Achebe and many other writers, as quot- ents; tardiness in the discharge of duties; man-
ed by Fraser-Moleketi (2008:46) point to the sig- ifestations of inefficiency and ineffectiveness,
nificance of fighting corruption because it and corruption (Mafunisa 2008:5). According to
erodes the social fabric of society like under- Mafunisa (2008:9), unethical behaviour often
mining communities, perpetuating poverty, ine- starts at the top of public service leadership,
quality and underdevelopment. As a country, where public service values are not personified
people must be resolute and steadfast in the and promoted. He attributes this largely to lack
fight against corruption in all spheres of society of accountability for promoting quality public
Fraser-Moleketi (2008:46) stated the follow- service. It can be argued that by placing greater
ing important premises relating to corruption as accountability on adhering to rules and proce-
outlined in the Africa Forum on Anti Corruption dures instead of a similar focus on quality pub-
held in March 2007: the first premise is that while lic services, effectiveness and efficiency in the
corruption manifests itself in the relationship South African public service has been negative-
between individuals and institutions, corruption, ly affected.
as a practice, is rooted in the operation of market
forces, the pursuit of individual prosperity and The White Paper on the Transformation
gain as opposed to the common good. This pos- of Public Service Delivery
sessive individualism has undermined the goals
and objectives of national and community level The White Paper on the Transformation of
development. Public Service Delivery (South Africa 1997:9)
The second premise is that corruption is fun- highlights the transformation priorities of gov-
damentally undemocratic; it undermines the le- ernment, which amongst other things speak of
gitimacy and credibility of democratically elect- putting people first and is coined ‘Batho Pele’ in
ed governments and of responsible and account- SeSotho. This White Paper includes transform-
able civil servants. The third premise is that cor-
ruption is about the interface of political and ing service delivery to meet the basic needs,
economic elites at a global, national and region- while redressing past imbalances. Transforma-
al scale; The fourth premise is that the inten- tion has to ensure change in institutions or peo-
tional preoccupation in the global corruption ple. Furthermore, it is difficult to talk about trans-
discourse with bribe takers and bribe givers and formative institutions without talking about
particularly with bribe takers is disingenuous, transformative leaders as these are intertwined.
ideologically loaded, and simplistic and certain- Burns (1978) as quoted by Bhengu (2009: 5),
ly serves other agendas that are not linked to defines transformation as, “a process of influ-
developmental goals. This discourse needs to encing major changes in the attitudes of em-
be challenged precisely because it overlooks the ployees, so that the goals of the organisation
complexity of the social forces, systems, pro- and the vision of the leader are realised”.
cesses and structures which underpin acts of The White Paper (Batho Pele) states that
corruption; putting the principles into practice describes
The fifth premise is that corruption is a di- what the three spheres government in the Re-
rect impediment to Africa’s development. The public of South Africa as well as the wider pub-
sixth premise is that corruption distorts and un- lic sector will be required to do when introduc-
dermines the value systems of all societies and ing their service delivery improvement pro-
their peoples and possessive individualism and grammes. Van der Waldt (2004: 88) states that
overrides any sense of the common good; and Batho Pele principles are simple but ambitious.
the seventh premise is that an anti-corruption They are also sufficiently flexible to allow a de-
strategy must be articulated by leaders in the partment to implement them according to local
political, economic and civil society spheres and conditions and circumstances. Eight principles
must engage all sectors of society on the basis for transforming public service delivery- Batho
of a core set of leadership practices and values. Pele principles- have been identified and forma-
The anti-corruption strategy must articulate an lised in the White Paper on Transformation of
alternative ethos and value system. Public Service Delivery of 1997. Batho Pele prin-IMPERATIVES FOR GOOD GOVERNANCE 13
ciples are in every sense part and parcel of the (2007: 125), case studies are useful in applying
public sector human resource management (Er- solutions to current problems based on past
asmus et al. 2005: 68). problem-solving experiences. He further states
According to the President of the Republic that they are also useful in understanding cer-
of South Africa, J G Zuma (2009), by working tain phenomena and generating further theories
together, we can ensure that South Africans for empirical testing (Sekaran 2007: 125).
obtain the services they are entitled to. He urged The Department of Home Affairs Durban re-
political parties and civil society to partner with gional office was used as a case study. Imple-
the ruling party, with the common goal of im- mentation of Batho Pele principles in govern-
proving service delivery to the public. Glynn et ment departments is bound to differ with each
al. (1996: 246) state that effectiveness refers to regional office. This means that the findings of a
the extent to which an activity or programme study of this nature may not necessarily apply
achieves its intended objectives. The exclusive to all regional offices in a generalised manner.
focus is outputs, outcomes and impacts. Ac- Therefore, a case study approach is most ap-
cording to Epstein (1992: 166), effectiveness is propriate as it strives to portray ‘what it is like’
the degree to which goods and services meet to be in a particular situation, to catch the close
the needs and desires of the community, client up reality and ‘thick description’ of participants’
or consumers served. Members of society are experiences of thoughts (Geertz 1973). It also
not the only customers. National and provincial reinforces the use of multiple sources of data
departments have various internal customers which, in turn, facilitates the validation of data
such as staff within their own organisations, as (Denscombe 2003: 38).
well as other departments and institutions to Quantitative research aims to determine how
whom they provide a service (Du Toit et al. 2002: one thing affects another in a population, by
307). quantifying the relationship between variables
According to Mapisa- Nqakula (2009), cen- (Altinay and Paraskevas 2008: 75). The study
tral to the vision of the government departments used questionnaires distributed to staff at the
are their customers, their needs, preferences and, DHA Durban regional office to identify and anal-
most importantly, the obligation to serve cus- yse the various factors impacting on effective
tomers in a convenient and efficient way. The and efficient public service delivery.
twin objective for the improvement of the ser- According to Cooper and Schindler (2008:
vice systems is to ensure that departments serve 162), qualitative research is designed to tell the
their customers efficiently, and to create an iden- researcher how (process) and why (meaning)
tification regime that is sanitised, credible and things happen as they do. It aims to achieve an
secured (Nqakula 2009: 4). in-depth understanding of a situation. Penzhorn
Batho Pele principles have the major role in (2002: 244) stated that the qualitative approach
ensuring effective public service delivery and involves investigating individuals and phenom-
illustrating how the actions of public officials ena in their natural settings to gain a better un-
could be regulated. These principles require that derstanding of the area under research. The
customers: be consulted; receive services that study interviewed customers and some employ-
comply with set standards; access services; be ees at the regional office to determine their per-
treated with courtesy; get information about ception of customer service.
services; be informed of all the costs (transpar-
ency); get their problems addressed immediate- Data Collection Method
ly and receive an apology where due (redress)
and receive value for money. The data collection methods used in this
study were questionnaires combined with inter-
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY views. These served as primary data collection
methods. Leedy (1993: 117) stated that primary
For the purpose of this study, a case study data is the information closest to the source of
using the mixed method was used. The study the ultimate truth underlying the phenomenon.
was qualitative and quantitative in nature, us- He further stated that primary data reflects truth
ing questionnaires, interviews, journals and gov- more faithfully than any other approach to truth.
ernment publications. According to Sekaran These served as primary data collection meth-14 T. L. NGIDI AND N. DORASAMY
ods. The main point here was that the data col- offices, thus violating and defeating the sole
lected was unique to the researcher and confi- purpose of the Batho Pele principles of treating
dentiality of the respondent was guaranteed. A citizens more like customers hencethe “ people
covering letter assured respondents of their an- first” approach. The study is drawn from a case
onymity. A consent form was attached to the study of the Department of Home Affairs Dur-
questionnaire. ban regional office. This is the office, where even
Questionnaires are data collection instru- foreigners get enabling documents to live and
ments that enable the researcher to pose ques- work in South Africa. It is imperative that quality
tions to participants in his or her research for service delivery is not compromised in the said
answers to the research questions. The ques- office, since it services densely populated areas
tionnaire gathered primary data. A field worker such as Durban Central, Durban North and Dur-
assisted in the distribution and collection of ban South, thereby making it the largest region-
questionnaires to and from the regional office al office in KwaZulu-Natal. This office serves
staff. Qualitative research for this study includ- approximately 1500 customers per day. It used
ed interviews. As with any summary informa- to have 65 employees but now it is operating
tion, a pattern may be apparent. This can only with about 50 employees because 10 employees
be satisfactorily explored by some kind of inter- absconded, were suspended, expelled or retired.
view technique (Gillham 2005: 166). Saunders et Furthermore, since the researcher is based in
al. (2003: 280) suggested that it is generally good Durban, accessibility to the regional office was
practice not to rely solely on questionnaire data not compromised.
but to use the questionnaire in conjunction with The Department of Home Affairs Durban
at least one other data collection instrument. Regional office is at the heart of the city, close to
Therefore, the interview was used as a tech- the railway station and the Durban International
nique for discourse or interaction between two Convention Centre and the central business dis-
or more people, in which verbal communication trict. The geographical location is an important
was used to achieve a certain purpose such as consideration in terms of the extensive area that
gathering or giving information or influencing the regional office is servicing, since it is the only
behaviour (Ziel and Antoinette 2003). In this regional office in Durban. This has implications
study the Department of Home Affairs Durban for human resource, material and physical capac-
regional office customers were interviewed. ity to provide effective and efficient service.
Open-ended interviews took the form of a con-
versation with the intention that the researcher FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
explores with the participants his or her views,
ideas, beliefs and attitudes about certain events Charting a New Direction for the Regional
or phenomena. Interviews were conducted with Office
customers and some members of management
at this Durban Home Affairs regional office in Leadership literature maintain that effective
order to establish their concerns regarding ser- organisational change begins with the adoption
vice delivery and to ascertain whether or not of and adherence to a new vision and mission
they are treated as the real customers in line (Calitz 2002; Clarke 2007 as quoted by Bhengu
with the Batho Pele principles. 2009). Change process in the regional govern-
Documentary analysis and informal obser- ment office started with the management invit-
vations were also used for triangulation purpos- ing both external and internal customers to par-
es. Document analysis comprised looking at dis- ticipate in decision making and to air their views
played charts, annual reports and newspaper on service provision. The regional manager had
articles. Informal observations were meant to a new vision for institutional change and this
assist in obtaining a sense of the pressure the was based on five pillars, namely effective, effi-
employees and customers face in their daily cient, economical, user friendly and quick ser-
interaction. vice. All these were responsive to all stakehold-
ers in the regional office.
Profiling the Case Study:
Regional Government Office The Impact of Effectiveness in an Organisation
There have been numerous reports on poor According to Robbins and Coulter (2005: 8),
service delivery by the regional government effectiveness means completing activities so thatIMPERATIVES FOR GOOD GOVERNANCE 15
organisational goals are attained, that is, doing sary (Collins 2009). This pillar has been beneficial
the right things. The right things, in this case, to both employees and customers. Availability of
refer to those work activities that will help the floor managers has impacted on service delivery
organisation reach its goals. It is concerned with because this has reduced loitering of customers
the means of getting things done; the attain- in the office not knowing where to go.
ment of organisational goals and can be judged
in terms of output and impact. Organisational Impact of a User Friendly System and
effectiveness is a measure of how appropriate Quick Service in an Institution
organisational goals are and how well an organ-
isation is achieving those goals (Robbins and Collins (2009) describes a user friendly sys-
Coulter 2005: 466). tem as one that is well designed and easy to use.
The Department of Home Affairs Durban re- The regional government office is now user
gional office to be effective in its dealing with friendly and produces quick service on certain
customers and stakeholders is now operating functions. This is evident by well displayed in-
during certain weekends and they close later formation charts, electronic queuing system, and
than other offices. This undertaking emanated ability to issue temporal identification docu-
from the outcry from both external customers ments, ability to issue birth and death certifi-
and internal customers. The internal customers cates within a day of occurrence of entering
could not bear pressure of long queues from (birth) and exiting natural processes (death) in
sunrise to sunset. This was aggravated by the South Africa.
fact that customers would rush to get services
from this office before going to their work plac- DISCUSSION
es, and late in the afternoon they would rush to
the offices to get service before the regional of- Implementation of Batho Pele Principles at
fice is closed. Another important factor that im- the Department of Home Affairs Durban
proved effectiveness in the regional office was Regional Office
separation of functions and sections. This meant
that each section would have their own supervi- According to the White Paper on Transform-
sor and its team. Further, the introduction of floor ing Public Delivery, (South Africa, 1997: 15), the
managers made service provision effective in Batho Pele policy framework consists of eight
the sense that customers are quickly directed to service delivery principles as follows:
the relevant section.
1. Consultation
The Impact of Efficiency in an Organisation
Citizens should be consulted about the level
Efficiency refers to getting the most output and quality of the public services they receive
from the least amount of inputs. An organisa- and, where possible, should be given a choice
tion is considered efficient when it is able to about the services that are offered. Matoti (2011:
produce the most goods and services using the 1) argues that, on the contrary, like many other
least amount of inputs. It is also termed doing public policies, the desired outcome of Batho
things right (Robbins and Coulter 2005: 7). It Pele principles has not been achieved. The first
relates to the degree to which outputs are principle recommends that the public be con-
achieved in terms of productivity and input. The sulted concerning all public service develop-
Department of Home Affairs Durban regional ments. Consultation is interlinked with all eight
office managed to be efficient despite, being principles. For example, the promotion of the
understaffed, and managed to provide efficient principles of access requires that consultation
service through restructuring of functions and takes place with citizens to better understand
sections. their needs and to ensure services can be acces-
sible to them. Consultation is critical in the deep-
Impact of Being Economic in an Organisation ening of good governance and democracy. The
implementation of the consultative principle
Economical means using the minimum should, therefore, transcend mere technical com-
amount of time, effort, or language that is neces- pliance and become an integral part of service16 T. L. NGIDI AND N. DORASAMY
delivery in the Public Service. If departments consultation process delayed the issuing of re-
want to put their customers first, they should ports by five solid weeks, the intended recipi-
listen and take account of their views (consulta- ents of reports suffered, because they could not
tion). access services that they were going to receive
According to the survey conducted around within three days. This would not have occurred
consultation principle, only 49.09% indicated if the consultation principle was not observed.
that consultative mechanisms were used for staff,
while 34.55% remained neutral. Majority of the 2. Service Standards
respondents (65.45%) agreed that survey forms
contributed to improved service delivery. It was Citizens should be told what level and qual-
also important to note that 52.73 % of respon- ity of public services they will receive so that
dents indicated that the public do complete sur- they are aware of what to expect;
vey forms, which provided important feedback The survey conducted around level and qual-
on standards of service at the regional govern- ity service, reveals that more than a third of the
ment office. respondents were uncertain or neutral for this
Although 70.91% of the respondents be- section. Apart from the first statement which
lieved that consultative mechanisms were effec- showed a high level of disagreement, most of the
tive in improving service delivery, only 52.73% other statements had low levels of disagreement.
indicated that it was used. 80% of the respon- Employees responded quite differently to the
dents indicated that a suggestion box was principle regarding service standards compared
available. to consultation. A higher percentage for each of
Barriers to consultation as cited by manage- the statements in this section (service standards)
ment include staff shortage, lack of appropriate remained neutral compared to the section on
monitoring, incapacity and budgetary con- consultation. Nicklaus (undated), as quoted by
straints. Budgetary constraints ranked high as a Michelli (2008: 256), is correct when he says that
barrier to consultation, language barrier and lit-
achievement is largely the product of steadily
eracy featured second. Surprisingly, poor par-
raising one’s level of aspiration and expectation.
ticipation emerged as a barrier. Consultation has
been described by the respondents as a time With regard to the regional government of-
consuming principle, but they agreed that if cor- fice having its own service standards, the same
rectly adhered to, it minimises conflicts among percentage (34.55%) of respondents agreed and
the employees and customers. disagreed. It can be argued that there is a lack of
Amongst the factors that make respondents consensus on the existence of service standards,
to be perceived as being not sensitive to needs which is a cause for concern.
of public are delays in the processing of en- With regard to the involvement of staff mem-
abling documents over which they have no con- bers in the development and review of service
trol as they are processed at Head Office. It can standards, about 49.09% of the respondents
be argued that consultation causes unneces- were uncertain regarding involvement and 5.45%
sary delays in implementing or taking action. disagreed. This reveals that information is shared
Management is quick to come up with solutions by a few and possibly not all staff members are
in any given challenge to promote efficient and involved in this activity. This shows lack of con-
effective service delivery, but this is always hin- sultation and information sharing in this office.
dered by consultation which is time consuming Regarding performance indicators being
and which might end up being rejected. The “us linked to service standards, about 60% of the
and them” attitude always makes any decision respondents agreed, and about 30.91 % were
taken by management to be challenged. For ex- uncertain. This can have a negative bearing on
ample, the system that one government institu- service delivery in this office. Consistent staff
tion uses to issue reports in 2012 failed, the man- development is an imperative so that all staff
agement instead of writing an instructional cir- members are aware of the service standards and
cular, decided to go through the consultation the linkage to performance indicators. With re-
process only to discover that the decision they gard to service delivery / commitment charter,
had taken was rejected outright, because the about 36.36% of the respondents were uncer-
staff did not want to report manually and that tain whether the office had a service delivery orIMPERATIVES FOR GOOD GOVERNANCE 17
a commitment charter. This possibly may not to services, but due to corruption, people who
have been communicated. It can be suggested get quick access and receive favours over the
that gaps in staff awareness of such a charter rest of the customers are those who bribe offi-
did exist and this needs to be considered for cials in this office. Corruption then becomes a
attention. barrier to applying this principle
Survey conducted around the implementa-
tion of service delivery standards, shows that 4. Courtesy
while only 30% indicated that service delivery
standards are set well, twice the number of re- Citizens should be treated with courtesy and
spondents 60% believed that service delivery is consideration. This principle is adequately prac-
efficient. While the majority agreed that service tised in this office, where customers who are
delivery is efficient, the majority did not agree physically challenged, pregnant, and mothers
that service standards are set well. It can be ar- of new born babies are given first priority. The
gued that if service standards are set well, then challenge in applying this principle is when peo-
service delivery ought to be efficient. However, ple begin to share wheel chairs and babies. This
the responses do not reflect this. now makes employees to be perceived as incon-
In terms of the White Paper on Transform- siderate when they happen to notice the habit
ing Public Service Delivery (1997), the first step of sharing items that makes them get preferen-
should be to consult customers so as to identify tial treatment.
their needs, followed by the setting of service
standards based on the identified needs so that 5. Information
customers know what to expect from the depart-
ments (South Africa 1997: 15). An accepted stan- Citizens should be given full, accurate in-
dard of service is a necessity, so is equal access formation about the public services they are
to services (Matoti 2011: 1). Matoti (2011: 1) entitled to receive.
stated that the Department of Public Service and Survey conducted around provision of in-
Administration (DPSA) vowed to be transpar- formation indicates that there is a general pat-
ent in all its dealings. Matoti further argues that, tern of agreement with the statements in this
previously, ethics were primarily guaranteed by section regarding the cascading of information
section 32(a), 42(c and h) of the RSA Constitu- to staff and customers. On average, about two-
tion, 1996. Such provisions become mere words thirds of the respondents are happy with the
on paper when the promise is not delivered; and manner in which information is cascaded. Short-
a policy gap exists. Ahmad et al. (2004), as quot- er queues has been cited as the evidence that
ed by Matoti (2011: 1), stated that the success information provision is adequate because cus-
of service delivery depends on whether institu- tomers they don’t stand in wrong queues for
tions of service provision are accountable to hours, but with this automatic queuing system,
citizens. The public ought to exercise its lawful customers are directed to the relevant queues
right, as endorsed by the Constitution’s section with the assistant of floor managers.
41(c), 152(a b, e), and 195(e, f, g). Service stan- The presence of floor managers in this of-
dards also speak of a service commitment char- fice has improved service delivery, since they
ter, which is provided by the Head office as the are directly accessible to customers. As they
guide which demands that each office designs walk in to the regional office, customers are giv-
its own. The Service commitment charter is not a en an opportunity to declare the purpose of their
one man’s document but it is a collectively de- visits, and then they are directed to the relevant
signed document that communicates who is in section.
charge, how to deal with complaints and the re- Regarding long queues, the queuing system
sponse time. has made processing easier for both customers
and staff. When one enters the office, the floor
3. Access manager asks the purpose of the visit, and one
is then given a queuing ticket, with the number
All citizens should have access to the ser- that will appear on the information screens
vices to which they are entitled to; the location which then directs the customer to the next avail-
of the regional office provides adequate access able teller.18 T. L. NGIDI AND N. DORASAMY
Information sharing and access to latest cir- played. Over-crowding in this office has been
culars has a positive bearing on service delivery adequately addressed through the introduction
in the regional government office. The long of the electronic queuing system. The time one
queues cited as amongst the problems hinder- spends in this office is now reduced because of
ing service delivery at the regional government visibility of floor managers and cell phone en-
office in the literature review has been addressed. quiries. One respondent said in her last visit,
This is confirmed by customers interviewed and she spent almost 3 hours queuing to enquire
observations by the researcher. Accessibility about her identity book, but now she is able to
to information is imperative for staff to execute enquire about the stages of enabling document
their duties, while recognising that they need to processing from the comfort of her home.
be informed to address queries from customers. One respondent from Africa highlighted that
More so, well informed employees can contrib- there are big changes in the manner that the
ute to processing applications and queries more office is being managed, and he spoke of the
effectively and efficiently, thereby reducing the reduction in overcrowding and tighter controls
waiting time in queues. in accessing enabling documents. This suggests
The following paragraph relates to survey that the regional government office is now Batho
conducted around general comments regarding Pele compliant. However, major intervention still
information provided by the regional govern- needs to be considered to cater for the deaf and
ment office. blind people, as amongst the staff there is no
18.2% of respondents believed that informa- one who interprets sign language and Braille
tion provided to the public is adequate. The forms are not available. As a result for these
public has different mindsets about the regional people to receive and access service through
government office. The public perception will information principle, they have to be accompa-
always differ. The reason for different percep- nied by friends and family members.
tion emanates from bad past experiences, cur-
rent positive experiences and wide negative 6. Openness and Transparency
media publications. Usefulness of the informa-
tion system reflects that customers know about Citizens should be told how national and
the services offered by the regional government provincial departments are run, how much they
office in the case study. This has also been con- cost, and who is in charge; This is a very dicey
firmed by customers interviewed, they stated principle; it protects the accounting officer from
that even the posters displayed at this office, temptation and insults which may lead to expul-
often minimises the stay at the office. The intro- sion due to theft or mismanagement of resourc-
duction of cell phone enquiries, informs the cus- es. It protects only if correctly adhered to it. If it
tomer of the stages in the processing of enabling is not adhered to it becomes a territory of fraud
documents and marital status as inconvenience and corruption, thereby leading to poor service
and fraudulent marriages have occurred in this delivery. According to Maseko (2008: 16), pub-
office and whether one is still alive or not (Pa- lic servants have degenerated into think tanks
dayachee 2009: 4). The introduction of different for the vulnerable. Sometimes, they think that
forms of media coverage promotes the principle delivering a service is like a favour that they are
of access to information. Information must be doing for their communities. He suggested that
published in all languages, amongst the wall extensive consultation should be done in en-
charts and posters displayed there are English suring that public funds are effectively and effi-
and isiZulu publications. About 36.4 % of re- ciently utilised for the benefit of those who need
spondents stated that there is lack of staff train- government services. The White Paper on Trans-
ing and availability of modern technology. For forming Public Service Delivery, (South Africa
this office to be effective and deliver services 1997), states that openness and transparency
efficiently, Human Resource and Development are the hallmarks of a democratic government
has to take a lead in empowering personnel. and are fundamental to the public service trans-
About 20 % of respondents indicated that formation process. According to Crous (2004:
there is a big change in the offices. The offices 582), transparency in the public service helps
are now clean, information on the walls in the keep the public service clean, effective, and free
form of charts and information brochures is dis- from nepotism and corruption. Maseko (2008:IMPERATIVES FOR GOOD GOVERNANCE 19
16) believes that the gap between managers and livery of services falls short of the promised stan-
foot soldiers creates a void which impacts neg- dard. Respondents stated that to follow up on
atively on service delivery. redress cases take forever because calls are not
answered in Head Office timeously and yet they
7. Redress are dealing with continuous queues of people
eagerly waiting to be assisted. One respondent
If the promised standard of service is not reported that technological challenges as indi-
delivered, citizens should be offered an apolo- cated below impact negatively on effective and
gy, a full explanation and a speedy and effective efficient service delivery.
remedy; and when complaints are made , citi- “As I speak to you now, we are off-line and
zens should receive a sympathetic, positive re- customers have been waiting for the past 20
sponse; and apology. minutes. Some are in the queues for temporary
Survey conducted around redress measures identity documents, which can be processed at
depicts that the average level of disagreement this office but if technology is giving us prob-
for this section was 14%. An agreement level is lems, how can we then be expected to deliver at
slightly more than half regarding complaint our utmost best?”
mechanisms. The levels of uncertainty (neutral- The respondent suggested that the Head
ity) were about a third. It seemed that staff mem- office must provide and devise strategies to deal
bers’ uncertainty about whether the complaints with frequent off-line situations, bearing in mind
mechanisms and procedures were effectively and that customers travel from far and wide to the
efficiently implemented showed a lack of infor- department. Redress is a difficult principle to
mation to staff regarding redress. apply as it involves all levels in the hierarchy in
Regarding the regional government’s com- any given department or institution.
plaint management system, about a third of re- Respondents in management reported that
spondents were uncertain whether this office they have undergone specialised training and
had a complaint management system. This indi- some have been in the department for quite some
cates that information sharing in this office is time. In relation to Batho Pele principles, they
inadequate. It also reveals that only a few em- do understand the concepts, but somehow it
ployees knew of this system and it is likely to be becomes difficult for them to adhere to them,
employees in management. About 57 % of re- due to centralisation of functions. With regard
spondents were uncertain about the effective- to the principle of redress, they stated that while
ness and efficiency of handling complaints and they are able to apologise on behalf of the de-
mechanisms and implementing policies and pro- partment, they are not able to quick fix the prob-
cedures. This also highlight, that “foot soldiers” lem or errors in enabling documents. They are
are not given information. Maseko (2008: 16) not even able to tell customers the turnaround
suggested that leadership and management time as these are referred to the Head Office in
should always strive to increase interaction with Pretoria.
stakeholders. He further stated that staff mem-
bers in government departments do not even 8. Value for Money
know the vision, mission and strategic objec-
tives of their departments, but they are expected Public services should be provided econom-
to deliver. ically and efficiently in order to give citizens the
Survey conducted around suggestions to best possible value for money. Public servants
improve service delivery depicts that two- thirds never or hardly think why they are paid a salary
(66.7%) of the respondents indicated that em- or why they are given appointment letters when
ployees’ concerns should be investigated. If given the position that they occupy in govern-
employees’ concerns are not addressed, this can ment. Some think they are appointed to improve
negatively impact on their performance and can their lifestyles (Maseko 2008: 17).
possibly hinder effective and efficient service According to Maseko (2008: 17), public ser-
delivery. vants need to ensure that they strengthen the
The White Paper speaks of how customers organisational culture specifically, and to up-
should be treated and development of the re- hold set standards by ensuring that budgets are
dress mechanism in cases where the actual de- spent as per strategic plan. He highlighted that20 T. L. NGIDI AND N. DORASAMY
the Public Finance Management Act 1 of 1999 is daily duties. An effective monitoring and evalu-
explicit in terms of expenditure patterns (do not ating tool must be used to ensure the effective-
spend a cent if you do not have a plan). ness of Batho Pele principles application in the
The foremost challenge that makes govern- government regional office.
ment departments seem to be dysfunctional is There should be greater awareness of the
the fact that employees tend to forget their core presence of service standards within the region-
duties and focus on scrutinising each and every al government office, so that all employees are
decision that the top management takes. educated on its value and relevance for public
service delivery. This can be achieved through
CONCLUSION displays, workshops and development
programmes.
The Department of Home Affairs has long A Service Charter should be developed to
been considered as one of the weakest arms of give details about the type, quality and quantity
government. At the same time, its mandate makes of services to be provided by the Department.
it an essential component of a full service pack- The Charter will also give details regarding loca-
age for bonafide citizenry and international vis- tion of service access points and contact details
itors. Based on tireless endeavours by various of responsible staff. Information about the Com-
Department Ministers, governed by the Public plaint Management Systems utilised in the De-
Service Act 103 of 1994 and various pieces of partment and responsible staff should also be
legislation since 1994, the department has made reflected on the Charter.
tremendous progress regarding service deliv- Communication with staff regarding the im-
ery. The findings of this study reflect that while portant levels of service delivery is necessary
employees in the office of study do understand to ensure that all staff and not just a few are
the concept of Batho Pele, the benefits of the aware of procedures and processes guiding ef-
comprehensive application of all the principles fective and efficient service delivery.
still needs to be realised if service delivery is to Feedback mechanisms should be regulated
be enhanced. The regional government office to inform staff on challenges facing service de-
has made an improvement on service delivery, livery, so that staff can be part of the process to
but there are still factors that require consider- improve services at the Department and what
ation to eradicate the gaps in effective and effi- specific initiatives are institutionalised to address
cient service provision. this.
Mechanisms to monitor levels of service,
RECOMMENDATIONS apart from survey forms need to be considered.
A multi-dimensional approach to determine ef-
The office of study is the only regional of- fective and efficient service delivery will pro-
fice in an urban area. Out of 65 employees, only vide vital information such as whether people’s
40 are on duty, due to the fact that the rest are needs are responded to within reasonable time.
unavailable as a result of expulsion, abscond- For example, an analysis of the number of cus-
ment and suspension. This has a negative im- tomers that are attended to within a specific time,
pact on service delivery. To enhance an effec- using the electronic queuing system, can pro-
tive and efficient service delivery in this office, vide important information to set targets to in-
additional staff (casuals and interns) needs to crease the rate of processing queries.
be employed until staff problems have been There is a need for training and development
resolved. of staff, which is important not only for career
The implementation of Batho Pele principles development, but also for motivation of staff in
should be incorporated in the performance con- respect of service delivery initiatives. There is a
tract of all the employees of the Department. need to consider staff complaints as this pro-
The job description of the employees should vides valuable input that can turnaround per-
reflect the standards so that implementation is formance in the department. Since staff are also
guaranteed as the job description informs the customers and are often directly involved with
performance contract. Every employee of the the public, their complaints often constitute pri-
Department should be assessed and evaluated mary data which should not be ignored for any
on the implementation of the principles in their service delivery improvement initiatives.IMPERATIVES FOR GOOD GOVERNANCE 21
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