Prof Dr Robert Rickards (Munich Business School), Colonel (Dr) Michael Reddy (South African Police Service), Prof Darrell Myrck (Unisa Department of Department of Public Administration and Management) and George Onatu (HOD: Town and Regional Planning: University of Johannesburg)
Globalisation has seen different countries learning from each other through collaborations and peer reviews. In this vein, the Department of Public Administration and Management’s visiting scholar seminar, held on 4 September 2012, focused on sharing experiences in public management.
George Onatu, Head of the Department of Town and Regional Planning at the University of Johannesburg, shared his experiences at informal settlements in South Africa. Presenting a paper entitled “Informal settlement and urban housing transformation in South Africa”, Onatu said that the United Nations Millennium Development Declaration of 2000 brought informal settlements, or “slums” as they are referred to internationally, squarely onto national and international agendas. He highlighted that this required that the lives of the people living in the informal settlements must be improved significantly.
“These informal settlements are mostly located in urban areas, enabling such households to access the economic opportunities, social and economic networks and basic amenities that are essential to their survival much easier,” he said. “Programmes to alleviate poverty and improve the lives of informal settlement dwellers could be effective if reliable figures are available regarding the number of residents in informal settlements, but this has remained a gap in South African human settlement policy.”
Colonel (Dr) Michael Reddy, of the South African Police Service, said that the South African Constitution places a mandate on the public service to function in a designated manner, which must be effective and responsive to the changing needs of its citizenry. “The public service, which is the delivery arm of government, has to rise constantly to the massive challenge of service delivery to ensure that government achieves its ideal of creating a better life for all in accordance with the peoples’ contract,” he said. “In ensuring compliance and monitoring, the government has put in place sound legislation, regulations, systems and procedures to ensure that it executes its mandate effectively and seamlessly.”
Speaking on new public management (NPM), Prof Dr Robert Rickards, of the Munich Business School, spoke of the experiences of Germany’s police forces. Presenting a paper entitled “New public management reforms in Germany’s police forces: ‘Lessons’ for South Africa’s police agencies”, he said that NPM’s theoretical origins can be traced back to a variety of theoretical perspectives on public administration with a long history. “Thus, it does not represent a paradigm change in administrative science.” He added that the special mix of features characteristic of NPM is new.
In conclusion, Rickards mentioned that the general lack of effectiveness and efficiency in the provision of public goods and services, which led to the NPM reforms in Germany, was clearly evident in the specific area of internal security. “Both external critics and police practitioners agreed that the NPM reforms were needed and appropriate.”
Rickards said that public management reform has provided significant opportunities to modernise the administration of Germany’s police forces. This was particularly during the transition to a more democratic society. “Police forces deserve and need unambiguous political guidance.” During this transition, which may last several generations, continuous “weed and seed” personnel policies may be necessary with regard to recruitment, training, and retention.
*Written by Trevor Khanyile
