Moving from knowing to doing

As the Department of Public Service and Administration’s Batho Pele Handbook on Service Delivery points out, the main challenge facing the South African public service is to move from knowing to doing. The more cynically-minded might prefer to make reference to stopping the talk shops and seemingly-endless consultancy processes and actually taking action. But either way, it’s time that those charged with service delivery to government and citizen alike engaged in new ways of working that, as the Batho Pele guide puts it “encourage new attitudes and cultures that develop new skills and competencies.” While some point to the lack of reference to corruption in much of government’s statements and policies around egovernment as a glaring omission of what is truly a massive obstacle to effective delivery, it’s fair to say that, encouraged by success stories and good examples, many state departments and agencies are at least thinking along the right lines. And, as this section illustrates, many are putting the theory into practice.