《South Africa--The state of corruption and accountability》.pdf

5The state of the public service a z . c Vino Naidoo a . s s e r p c r s h . w w Introduction w m The transformation of the public service in South Africa is an all-encompassing o project corresponding to the complexities of wider political and socio-economic r f d change. Despite these complexities, there appear to be interrelated yet a discernible dimensions in the post-apartheid evolution of the public service, o l n which require comment. One dimension emphasises practical-administrative w o capacity for improving the processes of executing public policy. Another d dimension emphasises historical-political factors of culture change, which e e forces a consideration of the normative basis of transformation itself, and the r F influence of such factors on evaluating the effectiveness of measures to enhance practical administrative capacity. It often appears that, in urgently responding to severe socio-economic dispar- ities and deprivation, calls to strengthen practical-administrative capacity risk sterility in underplaying historical-political factors associated with wider public service transformation. This chapter follows from this observation, and debates the substance of practical administrative improvement in the public service, referred to in recent presidential ‘State of the Nation’ speeches, against the background of historical and political factors inherited from the pre-liberation period. Public service transformation and the apartheid environment Dynamism and flux have characterised the South African public service since