Our public service - what is going on?

There’s been considerable talk about public servants recently. Service delivery protests are ubiquitous. It is claimed that our public servants are the third highest paid "in the world" after the Germans and the French. Public service wage negotiations have deadlocked at 6.7% (at the time of writing). The single largest sector of public servants, the Education Department, seems utterly incapable of the simplest of jobs, delivering textbooks. 95% of our municipalities have received a qualified audit. Our public servants number approximately 1.3 million and growing, and government is talking of the strategic nationalisation of certain sectors of the economy to grow the control and influence of the State. Against this background our global public service competitiveness continues to deteriorate fast.

A sad ‘state’ of affairs indeed (pun intended)

Many will argue that the only way to stop this rot is to privatise, or at least create some competition. Recently, the Centre for Development Enterprise published a well-researched document on our education morass proposing precisely this, privatisation of schools (incidentally according to the SAIRR the growth of independent schools has been phenomenal, from 250 000 five years age to approx 450 000 to-day).

Experience on the ground supports this.

Recently I spent a few days in Ezemvelo KZN Parks at iMfolozi followed by a few days at Phongola River Company. We camped and self-catered. The facilities were pretty much the same, tents, braai’s, outdoor showers etc. Ezemvelo is run by public servants, Phongola River Company by a young entrepreneur.

Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife’s positioning statement is "You matter, we care"

Really?

Just to digress, but to make the same point, my "tyre pressure low" warning light came on just outside Stanger. I immediately pulled into the Shell Service Station to discover my front right tyre was almost flat. The petrol attendants could not have been more helpful – in no time at all the wheel was changed and on their advice I was on my way to Supa-Quick in Stanger to have my tyre repaired (it needed a mushroom plug inner repair, our own attempt to plug it having failed). Within 20 minutes of arriving at Supa Quick the tyre was repaired, the spare re-located to my under-carriage and we were back on track for an evening game drive at iMfolozi, with a service smile on our faces.

"Watch out for monkeys – they will raid your kitchen – and stand close to the braai at night otherwise the hyenas will steal your meat off the grid," we were warned as we checked in. I regretted not buying a strong water pistol which I could fill with the after-effects of a few game drive beers – I’m told this is the very best deterrent for marauding monkeys, baboons and hyenas as they hate the smell of human excrement on themselves and even more so the disdain with which they are treated by their pack or troop.

"The night drive is R275 per adult and R135 per child, you go on the 21 seater truck, your guide will be Bheki Njoko, be here at 17h50 and the excursion lasts two and a half hours" we were told. So, R820 poorer, we set off expectantly on the evening drive. The game viewing was not great, the guests were asked to man the spotlights, there were no introductions when we clambered aboard, there was no orientation, no interpretation, no discussion of rhino poaching, no asking the guests what their interests were and no explanation of animal behaviour at this time of year - nothing. The commentary from our guide was like a tape-recording – "Eh, blue wildebeest, carries her young for eight months, has a single birth, lives for thirty-three years" was repeated for every animal we saw. Towards the end of the drive we came across a breeding herd of elephant – but Bheki’s time was nearly up so after telling us what an elephant’s gestation period and life expectancy were he rapidly sped back to base camp watching his clock.

The accommodation is really basic, in disrepair and the cutlery and crockery provisions are old and Spartan, to say the least. Picnic spots are dirty. When we raised these issues at reception the response we received was mostly sullen and unhelpful. The cost of the three days, self catered, was R1,500 per night for the four of us.

Per chance I met a young game ranger who had the concession to take private drives around the park. Talking to her was like chalk and cheese compared to the Ezemvelo staff.

When I compare the service levels at the Shell One-Stop, Supa-Quick and the Phongola River Company with that of the Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife staff I, as a proud South African, worry that:

1. our international guests experience the KZN wildlife reserves as second rate. "You don’t get a second chance to make a first impression" rings in my ears as I witness sloppy service at every level
2. the staff, who I am sure are good people, are not receiving adequate training for the demanding task of dealing with new guests every day
3. the once proud tradition of KZN Wildlife parks is being undermined, not by reluctant staff, but by poor leadership and incompetent management.

I know that finance is probably an issue, but a friendly smile costs nothing.

The only way, in my view, to solve the deteriorating service delivery behaviours that characterise much of our civil service, such as the Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, is to privatise. Nothing like competition to sharpen the mind when service is the key distinguishing characteristic between success and failure. Supa Quick, Shell and the Phongola River Fishing Company learned that a while back.

The Phongola River Fishing Company run by Peter Calverley was a really good example of where service and a proper service ethic can make all the difference. Situated about 18Km down the Pongola River from Jozini dam, the camp site has capacity for 20 guests. It is basic – bucket showers, small two-man tents, portable toilets and a basic kitchen. The camp is run by Menzi Linda who has a service ethic par excellence. Besides being a master fisherman, a fly-tier of note and a great guide there is nothing that is too much trouble for Menzi. We had two superb days there – my children went canoeing and snorkelling and I caught a 4.2Kg tiger fish! The cost was the same. R1,500 per night.

The question remains. Why can’t our civil servants get it right? It is true that some government departments have made great strides, more recently the Department of Home Affairs is a good example. But why, as citizens, must we put up with blue light brigades, sullen service, complete indifference, gross inefficiency and downright incompetence?

If Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife can’t get their staff to deliver on a decent service ethic they should offer their camps to private operators who can, to people who care about value for money and repeat business.

I always thought that ‘civil servant’ meant a calling to be ‘civil’ and ‘serve’.

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