Department Celebrates Africa Public Service Day

Today, 21 June 2013, the Department of Cultural Affairs and Sport (DCAS) is celebrating Africa Public Service Day by paying tribute to all the many women and men whose responsibility it is to proudly serve the Western Cape.

Africa Public Service Day (23 June) is celebrated annually worldwide by governmental, public servants, public service institutions, academics and citizens of Africa. The theme for this year is African Public Service in the Age of Open Government: Giving Voice to Citizens and the sub-themes are:

• Strengthening citizen participation.
• Enhancing accountability, transparency and integrity.
• Enhancing access to information.

The daily DCAS activities are already giving meaningful effect to this theme. Through the upcoming Municipal Sport Summit on 22 -23 June 2013, DCAS ensures citizen participation in the development of sport strategies that will improve service delivery, address the needs of beneficiaries and strengthen stakeholder engagement.

The Consultative Workshop on Initiation on 30 May 2013 was an example of how DCAS strives to build public participation in important cultural activities, in this case by bringing stakeholders together to make traditional male initiation practices safer and healthier. 

Through its campaign to combat fraud and corruption, DCAS promotes accountability, transparency and integrity. The DCAS service charter further upholds accountability by outlining targets and communicating details of service sites and mechanisms for redress.

The DCAS external website, Annual Performance Plan, Annual Report and Citizen’s Report ensure that citizens have access to information about the running of our core business and its plans, budget, performance and key personnel. The quarterly Thusong Mobile Centres in the various regions provide another opportunity to promote the DCAS activities and allow communities to enquire about our services.

By reaching out to communities, DCAS makes the Western Cape Government values on African Public Service Day a part of the way we do business in the Western Cape, better together.