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Launch of customer service charter
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Speeches and Media Releases
 Premier's Office

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EASTERN CAPE PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT

SPEECH BY THE PREMIER  M A STOFILE,

AT THE OFFICIAL LAUNCH OF THE CUSTOMER SERVICE CHARTER AND PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS PACKAGE AT THE FORT HARE HALL, BISHO BRANCH 3 SEPTEMBER 
1999



Todays events combine two critical elements of our governments programme to ensure a better life for our people.

On the one hand there is our Public Communications Package or PCP, which is aimed at ensuring that the people of our province have greater 
access to information about government and are able to influence its activities.

On the other hand there is our Customer Service Charter, which will ensure that when people do interact with government they receive the 
best quality service.

First, some details on the Public Communications Package.

Our objective with the PCP is clear: we are empowering our people by ensuring they are better informed - and, as a result, they will be 
able to participate more actively in shaping the future of our province. It is a fundamental intervention into ensuring we consolidate 
democracy in our province.

The Public Communications Package which we have presented today is driven by recognition of the fact that we, as government, have an 
obligation to ensure an open flow of information on issues which affect our people.

We have an obligation to inform all the people of the province about our programmes to speed up delivery and to provide what our President, 
Thabo Mbeki, refers to as a caring society - one which guarantees the dignity of every citizen.

Part of ensuring that dignity is to see to it that every citizen knows what government is doing and is able to influence those activities.

This is a marked difference from previous governments, which deliberately denied people access to information as part of their strategy of 
oppression.

Ours, as everyone knows, is a government with a deep-rooted commitment to transparency and accountability. We do not embark on secret 
projects. We do not have slush funds. We do not manipulate information to suit our own ends.

Ours is a government which has entrenched in the Constitution the right of access to information - a right which will be substantiated 
later this year when our national Parliament adopts the Open Democracy Act. The Act, when passed, will provide South Africans with the 
tools they require to facilitate public scrutiny of government. It will also protect whistleblowers within the public service who come 
across corrupt practices.

Ours is also a government which facilitates the free flow of information to the mass media. We have a clear media strategy and have 
appointed media liaison officers in every government department, and in my own office, as well as in the Legislature to ensure that the 
media - the eyes and ears of the public - have access to all the activities of government.

Granted, we do not always like what the media has to say and we may even question their motives at times. But we recognise their right to 
publish what they consider to be worthy of publication - provided they do so in accordance with the applicable codes of ethics.

It is also important to see the launch of our Public Communications Charter in the context of the broader information revolution which is 
sweeping across not just South Africa but our entire continent.

It is this information revolution which has enabled us to produce innovations such as our Provincial Government Website, which is on view 
for the first time today.

Ten years ago, who would have imagined seeing young South Africans working away at computer terminals in telecentres in rural parts of our 
country, dialling into the Internet to find the information they need to complete their school projects, or accessing our own Government 
website to find out what new development government is planning in their area?

As government, we must use the technology at our disposal, and the other forms of communication outlined in our Public Communication 
Programme, to build bridges of understanding between various communities, and to empower the people of Africa with information which can 
contribute to their sustainable development.

We must use it to build our understanding of the diverse strengths and weaknesses of our province, to share our common problems and to 
jointly find solutions.

As Africans, we have been among the greatest innovators on our planet. We need to draw again on that resourcefulness and creativity to 
provide new solutions to the challenges facing our continent - challenges which exploit the opportunities created by the information 
revolution.

The second important element of todays function is the launch of our Customer Service Charter, which enshrines our commitment to serving 
the needs of the people of our province.

It contains a commitment - which I will personally oversee - to being courteous and helpful and to have knowledgeable staff available to 
deal with your queries. This is not an empty commitment, or a public relations exercise. It marks a genuine commitment to being responsive 
to the public, to being service-oriented, and to putting the people first.

This commitment to putting people first is encapsulated in the broad programme, across the entire South African public service, called 
Batho Pele - or, in Xhosa, "Abantu kuqala".

Batho Pele was launched last year to transform the quality of service provided by government. It engenders customer orientation and holds 
public servants accountable for the services they provide. It is about consulting the users, setting service standards and getting the best 
possible value for money.

Our Customer Service Charter echoes these principles. From today onwards I can guarantee the following from the department known as the 
Office of the Premier:

* You will find staff courteous, respectful and helpful.
* You can expect staff to have the knowledge, authority and responsibility to deal with enquiries. If they cant, they will be able to 
refer you to the correct person for assistance.
* You will be put in touch with the right people with minimum delay.
* When waiting for service, you will be acknowledged politely and advised on how long you may have to wait.
* We will help you as soon as you arrive at a service point.
* We will respond to your requests within 20 working days.
* We will give you the most accurate and up-to-date information available.

We would like you to monitor our progress and give us feedback on this initiative. If you are treated badly by my office, or if you receive 
unsatisfactory service, it is critical that you let us know. Only through feedback can we monitor the quality of service we provide - and 
only through monitoring can we continue to improve.

Ladies and gentlemen, you will see the connection between these two initiatives - our Public Communications Programme and our Service 
Charter. Because it is one thing to make a public commitment to providing greater access to information: but it is another thing to back it 
up with a general improvement in our service standards. We will be bridging the gap between intentions and actual delivery.

The combined effect of todays activities, then, is to put in place a platform for the ever-increasing flow of information to the public 
and to ensure that these empowered members of the public have access to a public service which is geared towards serving their needs.

It is an ambitious project, we admit, and one which we have embarked upon after a great deal of thought and planning. It is a project which 
is going to put increasing demands on our public servants at a time when they are already dealing with massive change in the way the public 
service functions.

But it is a necessary oneone which the people of the Eastern Cape deserve.

I thank you.

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