Zuma to check on service delivery

2010-09-26 22:15

Johannesburg - President Jacob Zuma intends criss-crossing the country to visit the worst and best-performing government facilities.

"We will visit the best and the worst hospitals, police stations, home affairs offices, social grant pay points and others," Zuma told reporters following the ANC's national general council (NGC) held in Durban.

The president's "hands-on" approach was expected to begin in November and last until the middle of 2011.

There would be a renewed focus on improving government performance, to enable the ANC to speed up service delivery.

"The renewal of the ANC will therefore run concurrently with the renewal of its governance. We will put more energy into changing the way government works. We have spent the past year and a few months speaking to various sectors of the public services to share our vision."

Ministers had signed performance agreements in April. They were currently negotiating delivery agreements with their partners at local and national government level.

"In the coming weeks I will be meeting the various ministers to obtain feedback on the conclusion of these service delivery agreements. This is important because we should now move more actively into the implementation stage."

National action plan

Early next month he intended meeting a task team representing directors general from national and provincial departments.

"Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe and I met the DGs and deputy directors general from all over the country on April 23 this year and outlined changes we want to see in the way they manage the public service on our behalf.

"There has been consulting and working on an implementable national action plan which they need to present to us at the meeting.

"We promised the branches of the ANC at the NGC that there will be faster service delivery. We also promise the South African people that they will see change. We cannot fail our people who entrusted their faith in the ANC and returned it to office with such an overwhelming majority."

Zuma said there could have been some misunderstanding about the NGC's role and purpose.

"The NGC helps the organisation to pro-actively identify weaknesses, bottle-necks and blockages that could hinder the faster implementation and the realisation of ANC policy.

"This NGC achieved these objectives. We have put organisational renewal at the centre of the organisation as the task that every ANC member must undertake."

- SAPA