The Public Finance Management Act as a reform measure to capacitate public officials

Abstract

The urgent need to develop South Africa's human resources in the public service has been conceptualized in many policy documents. The underlying objective of efforts to strengthen the human resources in the public sector, is the delivery of effective services to the people of South Africa. In line with the White Paper on the Transformation of the Public Service, 1995, the effective mobilization, development and utilization of human resources are stressed as important factors in the transformation of the public service because of their contribution to individual and institutional capacity to ensure effective governance. Financial resources are important in order to develop and sustain the skills of the public servants; however, there is a tendency to cut the budget for human resource development programmes. Alternative methods should be developed to obtain additional sources of income.