Bobby, or “Blobby” to his friends, says that in a province where departments consistently blame capacity problems for poor service delivery, it is scandalous that almost the same amount is spent on catering as on staff development. In many departments more was spent on catering than on staff development.
Some departments spent more on catering than on staff development. For example, Local Government (catering R3,446 million; staff development R1,786 million), Social Development (catering R7, 017 million: staff development R3,638 million), Office of the Premier (catering R4, 942 million: staff development R1, 103 million) and Legislature (catering RR6, 889 million: staff development R1, 401 million).
The Department of Education spent a whopping (there’s a large hamburger in the UK called a ‘Whopper’) R39,44 million on catering and R40, 347 million on staff development.
All these figures illustrate that provincial departments have got their priorities wrong. This province requires a highly capacitated civil service that can deliver quality services. This is the only way we will create the right environment that is conducive to job creation and eradicating poverty and inequality.
