What can you do for your country?

We have a great province – a diverse one made up of good, hard-working people with vibrant cities, towns, suburbs, townships and villages.

These elements are a recipe for success. But sometimes an essential ingredient is missing from some of us: Accountability.

Greater accountability in all spheres of life including being disciplined at work, keeping our streets clean and safe and being people centred (practising ubuntu) are all necessary for our province to reach its full potential.

What does this mean in practice? Among other things, it means instilling a culture where, as citizens, we exercise our constitutional rights while also take seriously citizen responsibilities such as protecting public assets and serving other deserving citizens in order to make our province and this country great.

It also means we should clearly understand the role of our provincial government, the role of families and of citizens.

It means we look at ourselves in the mirror and apply that famous call of US president John F Kennedy who, on his inauguration in 1960, said: “My fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”

Indeed, we benchmark many things these days – products, processes and so forth – but how often do we benchmark our own daily human interactions? Whether in government, business, society, the marketplace, at school or at home, people should be accountable for their actions and they should be held accountable. Trust and respect is earned through one’s actions.

For us parents, one of our main duties is to teach our children basic values. Values are the essential elements that determine the character of a human being.

It is necessary to instil important values in our children, to help them grow into responsible human beings with character, due respect and integrity

As parents we are the ones who make all the difference in moulding children into people who are friendly or hostile, sociable or aloof and competent or deviant.

The accountability of parents is paramount. Neglecting our parental role to bring up responsible children not only impacts on individuals but costs society as a whole.

For us in provincial government, ethics, respect, discipline and moral values are essential for achieving a clean, efficient and trustworthy government.

Civil servants must develop a culture that fosters the emergence, not only of a dedicated, efficient and ethical civil service, but also of one that emphasises management integrity.

To achieve this goal, it is necessary to have a work culture that incorporates honesty, trust, discipline, responsibility and transparency in serving citizens.

While we welcome the incorporation of the noble values of batho pele (people first) in the civil service, what is really important in the final analysis, is to ensure civil servants practise these values. Slogans, rhetorical statements and lip service will not help.

As civil servants, this means having the tools to hold ourselves responsible as public officials for delivery. It means having processes, decisions and information that are transparent so people can judge how resources are being used and whether they are getting the service they deserve.

It means ensuring an environment in which rights are respected and responsibilities are understood at a personal, organisational and societal level.

And it means equal application of the law, fair access to justice and that legitimate channels for resolving disputes are in place.

Fellow civil servants, let us discharge our duties with integrity and honesty. The inculcation of noble and ethical values accompanied by adherence to the oath of good governance are the most effective ways to take our province to new heights.

For the business community, organisational accountability in order to achieve higher performance begins at executive level. But it does not stop there.

It is not enough to have high expectations and demand the company delivers, or to develop a plan to achieve performance expectations without putting processes in place to develop competencies, define expectations, measure results, provide feedback and motivate performance.

For all of us in government, business, society, the marketplace, at school or at home, let us take heed of Kong Qui, better known as Confucius, the influential Chinese philosopher, teacher and political figure who said: “To put the world in order we must first put the nation in order. To put the nation in order we must first put the family in order. To put the family in order we must first cultivate our personal life. And to cultivate our personal life, we must set our hearts right.”

Phumulo Masualle is Premier of the Eastern Cape