Pretoria - As South Africa embarks on its mission to build a developmental state, Higher Education and Training Minister Blade Nzimande says a strong public service is needed to help in realising this goal.
"[Public service] needs to promote people's involvement ... their voice needs to be heard. The challenge we experienced in 1994 is that we had public servants who had experience in public service, but didn't understand the political direction we had to take. And after that, we had public servants who understood the political direction but had no experience in public service ... that has since changed," said Nzimande at the opening of the Annual International Conference of the School Public Management and Administration.
The two-day conference, which kicked-off on Thursday, is being held at the University of Pretoria. It is meant to serve as a platform to trash out issues pertaining to the improvement of public service.
Held under the theme, "Leadership, governance and public policy in the public sector", the conference is attended by academics from developed and under-developed countries, who are expected to deliver presentations on various issues, including efficiency of local government expenditure and democratising Africa's budgeting process for good governance and sustainable development.
Nzimande noted that while economic growth is necessary, it is not a sufficient solution to development.
"The issues of a developmental state are complex and require a highly skilled public service ... It needs to be people driven," said the minister.
He also stressed the need to for graduates to undertake post-graduate studies to help build a pool of academics from which the country could draw its required expertise to help achieve the goals of a developmental state.
"The department needs to revitalise the academic profession ... Research, analysis and debates are very important and academics have an important role to play," said Nzimande.
Vice Chancellor and Principal of the University of Pretoria Professor, Cheryl de La Rey, said the university has develop a 2025 plan to identify the university's future and specific steps needed for the university to grow.
"The university is growing and we do so in a very focused manner to respond better to the needs of our developing country. There is more we can do towards training of public service," de La Rey said.
