The Public Service Commission (PSC), as part of its mandate to ensure the maintenance of an effective and efficient public administration, has committed itself to coordinate the implementation of the National Framework Towards the Professionalisation of the Public Sector.

Last month , the cabinet approved the submission of the PSC Bill to parliament, a key milestone in ensuring the independence of the PSC. The Bill provides a legislative framework for the oversight role of the PSC in the implementation of professionalism and extends its mandate to municipalities and public entities.

The approval of the bill is in keeping with the priorities pronounced by President Cyril Ramaphosa during the state of the nation address. The bill, as a catalyst to the professionalisation process, will propel the urgency of building a capable, ethical and developmental state in line with the National Development Plan.

It was on this basis that the PSC long called for a fundamental paradigm shift in how the public service operates. There is a need to internalise and institutionalise the concept of service defined by the principle of ubuntu and constitutional values and ethos.

The adoption of the framework is a momentous achievement and may become the catalyst for much-needed change. However, its success will depend on a comprehensive action plan and commitment from all key stake holders. This will not be an easy feat as SA finds itself on the precipice of deep societal divisions, general malfeasance and without a moral compass to place it on a path envisaged by the Constitution.

It has been posited by a few scholars that SA has descended into a country that is being ruled and controlled by a political elite that is now only accountable to itself to the point where concepts such as ‘“mafia state” and “failed state” have become points of departure to describe the country.

Others have argued that the brazen level of clientelism in SA emerged because of the inefficiencies in institutional structures and the systemic weakness in the implementation of accountability mechanisms, but this may be an over simplification.

Rather, the cracks were there years before anyone took notice. In summation, the public sector, in its current form, is seen as not exhibiting the astuteness, agility, capacity or single mindedness to do its best for the country.

It is not a cohesive bureaucracy imbued with a common understanding of a development state, development orientation and transformative constitutionalism which places human rights and capability freedom at the centre of the agenda.

There are pertinent lessons to be drawn from the paradigm of developmental states, which can be utilised for the successful implementation of professionalisation.

These include, paradigm change and legislative and policy alignment the creation of purposeful leadership, the construction of a national goal that is accepted by all and advocated and mobilised throughout society and development of capability in bureaucracy.

It is through pursuing these interventions that SA will achieve the panacea to creating a capable, , developmental and professional public sector.

■ Fikeni is the chairperson of the Public Service Commission