Provincial experiences in managing national policies on the transformation of the public service

This article deals with the North West experience of managing national transformation policies. It suggests that the absence of policy analysis skills and practice are major impediments to the implementation of policies. An improvement in policy analysis skills is essential if the government is to improve its performance. Stakeholder analysis, which clarifies a decision maker's strategic options, is another area which has received insufficient attention in the public sector in South Africa. Implementation problems in the North West Province include a lack of reliable data and information upon which to make decisions, which is in turn a consequence of an inadequate Management Information System. However, the problems of implementation cannot only be ascribed to poor management by provincial governments. National policies and directives are often imposed upon provinces without regard to their specific circumstances. Thus, for example, some heads of departments in the North West felt that the publication of the White Paper on the Transformation of Public Service was premature in that at most provinces lacked the capacity to implement its recommendations. A further problem relates to the fact that a number of policies have been initiated by national government with apparently little regard to the enormous financial obligations they impose upon provinces. For example, The Basic Conditions of Employment Act of 1997 imposes onerous overtime burdens upon provincial administrations. Copyright (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.