The National School of Government (NSG) is mandated with the responsibility of ensuring that public servants comply with the provisions of established legislation, regulations and systems, and can exercise proper discretion and innovation in solving routine and complex delivery problems. To this end, the NSG is tasked with ensuring that all public servants’ participate and complete education, training and development initiatives, as per relevant legislation and Cabinet directives. The NSG is furthermore expected to ensure service delivery impact by supporting institutional performance. At a practical level, the mandate incorporates: (i) providing education and training, (ii) support institutional development, (iii) fostering collaboration, (iv) offering qualifications, and (v) conducting training, examinations or tests (pre-requisites). The mandate extends to providing all offerings in the three spheres of government, state-owned entities and other organs of state.
The National School of Government (NSG) draws its mandate from the Constitution, and with particular reference to 195(1) (h), which stipulates that: “good human resource management and career-development practices, to maximise human potential, must be cultivated”. The applicability of this, and the other values and principles to the three spheres of government, organs of state and public enterprises indicates the requisite depth and the reach of the NSG in order to fulfil this constitutional mandate.
The NSG has to ensure that all of the basic values and principles are inculcated into the value system and performance of all public servants and representatives through education, training and development (ETD) initiatives. It does so through its curriculum design, development and delivery approach with the practical application of participatory, people-centred methodologies and indigenous techniques during the ETD initiatives, in building a caring ethos and citizen-centred service delivery focus amongst public servants. This approach consciously focuses on the application of the principles and values of the Constitution and the realisation of the public administrative justice to all whom we serve.