Pretoria - President Jacob Zuma is satisfied with the way government works but has ordered Director Generals (DGs) to tighten the screws on corruption.
The President met with a task team representing DGs of government departments in Cape Town on Tuesday and was pleased with the work done thus far.
The task team presented a comprehensive report on the work being done to solve the problems identified by Zuma in April.
"The DGs understand what we are trying to do, and that is important because they run the government departments that must get the work done," Zuma said.
However, the President said change was still needed, in order to improve the perceptions the general public had about public service.
"The experience of government for most people is a frustrating one and that should not be the case. People wait for long hours for services in hospitals, pension pay points, municipalities and other service points.
"Since we have highly skilled managers, budgets and other resources, what is the problem? Why is the public service not working in an efficient, effective and caring manner as it should?"
He also cautioned against the excessive use of consultants in government, saying it must come to an end.
"We appoint people on merit on the basis that they say they know the work they have applied for. As soon as they join the department, they employ consultants and government has to pay huge sums of money. This cannot be allowed to continue," Zuma said.
He also emphasised that the local government sphere should not be neglected in the government renewal exercise, as there was a lot of work that had to be done to improve the functioning of municipalities.
A multi-agency working group, including the SA Revenue Service, Financial Intelligence Centre, Auditor General, Special Investigating Unit, and SA Police Service were working on preventative, as well as enforcement measures, to deal with procurement-related corruption within government.
Government would also continue to work with labour to improve working conditions generally, and the shortage of staff in some sectors of the public service.
The next meeting would take place in January 2011 after the Cabinet Lekgotla.
