Public Service and Administration Minister Senzo Mchunu on Monday emphasised the importance of building a value-driven public sector, while also cautioning against corruption.

The Minister was speaking at a public sector dialogue hosted by the Public Service Commission (PSC), in partnership with the South Africa – European Union (EU) Strategic Partnership’s Dialogue Facility and the University of South Africa.

He emphasised that a value-driven public sector would engender direct benefits for the private sector and members of the public. 

He indicated that a public sector that was ethical and moral inspired trust.

In this vein, he stressed that all public servants should act ethically, professionally and have integrity.

Mchunu noted that the department’s efforts to pursue a value-driven public sector in the country were guided by several documents and polices, with Section 195 of the Constitution being central to its efforts.

The Minister pointed out that representatives from the department had travelled across the country to interact with public servants to ensure they were upholding the required professionalism, ethics and morality.

He noted that people looked for these qualities in their leaders and in public servants.

Despite commending the progress made by the public sector in the country post democracy, Mchunu noted that a number of challenges, such as poverty, xenophobia and corruption, still remained.

Mchunu further called on public servants, as well as others in the country, to move away from corruption.

He cautioned that corruption could have severely detrimental effects on economies and countries, “eating away at the fabric of society and the hopes and aspirations of people”, and even having the ability to engender failed States.

Mchunu also indicated that, for further progress to be achieved in the public sector, there was a need for the department to host a meeting with the PSC twice a year. 

This would entail sharing a report of the issues that were referred to the PSC and the commission’s investigations in this regard, and analysing and tracking the outcomes to discern if they were implemented.