Madam Speaker
Hounorable members
Invited guests
It is a privilege for me to table to this House a Mid Term Performance Report, looking back at exactly halfway through our term of office since we were elected to office.
I wish to remind all members that this year has been a special year in which our ISILO is celebrating 40 years as the King in this province. This remains one of the most important developments, since ISILO is the monarch that has been longest on the throne, longer than King Mpande who reigned for 32 years until his ripe age of 86 years.
We are all aware of several activities that have been held to celebrate such an achievement, including prayer services, dinners and several public events organised by departments for ISILO to support their departmental programmes.
The last of the events will take place in December in the form of a gala dinner that will follow soon after Umkhosi Woselwa. It will also be part of the celebration of the finalisation and formal announcement from the investigative processes of the Nhlapho Commission into the disputes of kingship; which in the case of ISILO a confirmation will be formally presented announcing the closure on this matter. We consider ourselves privileged to serve under a distinguished monarch such as ours who represents a unique blend of culture and tradition as well as democracy. We take this opportunity to wish ISILO well on such an achievement.
BAYEDE!
The above celebration add to the flavour of celebrating diversity in our province, as it will be remembered that in 2010 we celebrated the 150 years of the arrival of indentured Indians. As part of the celebration, about eight sites were reserved for the installation of memorial stones for posterity. It is important that such celebrations are accepted as celebrating diversity and common nationhood.
Heritage and Freedom day celebrations have been used to showcase diversity and eliminated suspicions as we demonstrate that each community is unique but important in this tapestry of cultures. This approach endorses our belief in non-racialism, peace, freedom, democracy and must be strengthened.
As mentioned before a strong relationship has been established with South African Neighbors Development Agency and Refugee Council in the province to foster good community relations and fight xenophobia and the associated poverty and competition for resources.
More work has been done by the government to record the heritage of our struggle for liberation such as the work done on Mandela Capture site, the monuments in Donnybrook and Mahehle massacres, etc. Certainly the year 2012 promises to be very busy with the Centenary Celebration of 100 years of the birth of the African National Congress.
A decision has been taken to make the Centenary celebrations a uniting experience celebrating the history of our liberation struggle across many political parties and communities and various countries in the African Continent as resolutions from African Union and United Nation have indicated. I trust this House will find a way to debate and celebrate this very important landmark in the history of our country and continent. It should also be remembered that many freedom fighters in different countries in Africa belonged to the African National Congress which is more than just a South African political party. It is a people’s movement.
We have emerged from an exciting and yet challenging period. Last year, we were privileged to have been part of the spirit of friendship and sportsmanship, as a result of the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup. The spirit of unity and patriotism that abounded during the entire period needs to be recaptured and nurtured.
KwaZulu-Natal was creative in the manner we hosted foreign dignitaries and thus turning our province into the most vibrant venue of all World Cup venues, as we hosted many countries to base in the province and many matches to be played in our Moses Mabhida Stadium. This was the one time South Africans learnt to show love for one another, as our people all went out to fly our flag and cheered the football players on the pitch. We need to reactivate this good spirit amongst our people as it showed us how good people we all are.
Taking everything into account I believe this Executive has acquitted itself well in the execution of its responsibilities since election into office in 2009. I am satisfied with the manner in which members of the Executive team have conducted themselves and the effort they exerted in serving the people of this province with the best of their abilities.
We announced last week certain changes that had to be effected in the Executive, an act done in the interest of speedy service delivery, which is our primary responsibility.
We reiterate our gratitude to the former and current colleagues for their contribution to service delivery and the collegial spirit that has come to characterise this government leadership. It is this spirit that has strengthened us as a team, as we faced different situations that required us to take responsibility individually and collectively as one government.
For us, this positive spirit persisted despite the immensity of challenges that we were grappling with. One such challenge was the huge over-expenditure that required severe austerity measures to reverse; thus turning 45% the national over-expenditure projection into a surplus and positive cash balance.
Hence there was a recommendation by the national cabinet for all provinces to follow the model of austerity measures our province adopted to deal with the financial situation. This enabled government to focus on the priorities. The achievement of optimal cash positive situation required courage and unity of the leadership.
I salute my colleague for standing firm on this matter despite subterranean turbulences and malicious attacks sneaked into the media and columnists from anonymous sources. We have saved resources in order to effectively spend all finances on intended projects. This experience has left a legacy of focusing on value for money and good governance.
Considering the global experience of economic downturn and financial crises in countries such as Greece and Italy which have cost them huge civil instability and regime change – it is clear that our stance saved our province and the country from serious embarrassment.
An analysis of the matters that were indicated in the State of the Province address indicates that progress is being registered.
A significant effort has gone into fighting crime and corruption. A campaign known as Operation Hlasela or Building a United Front Against Crime (BUFAC) has mobilised many communities to work together as community safety forums and SAPS in focusing in high crime spots and in so doing improved the confidence of communities in creating safe neighbourhoods. In many instances the focus has gone to the rural and farming communities.
The ruling party, the African National Congress has taken a resolution to act firmly against corruption, knowing that this may not go down well on many individuals; hence the fight against corruption and fraud has been taken to a higher level.
We reported recently that over 1 024 officials were facing internal disciplinary action and prosecutions as a result of involvement in corruption.
Retired Judge President has been effective in expediting the hearings involving senior staff. Many officials and their private sector accomplices are attending court as a result of the internal investigations conducted.
This work is on going. This week a Summit on Leadership Integrity Management was hosted by the office of the Premier, attended by over 300 people amongst civil servants, mayors and municipal officials and civil society. The significance of the summit was the innovation of proactive and preventative approach in strengthening the individual conscience, peer support and focus on human values as the basis for civil service. Continuous lecturers will be given to civil servants on integrity management as part of our prevention strategy to reencoe positive attitudes. As the theme of the summit indicated, we encourage them “to do right – even no one is watching.”
Unembeza project has to be extended to increase awareness about cyber fraud. The point being that public service is about serving ordinary poor people more than self interest. Resolutions adopted indicated a strong determination to fight corruption with renewed vigour. These will be tabled at cabinet to strengthen the anti-corruption strategy. The message is clear, we shall continue to fight corruption at all cost.
A strong effort has gone to entrenching a human rights culture in the civil services with emphasis on courteous and efficient service in line with the principles of our Citizens Charter and Batho Pele. A toll free line is now operational in the office of the premier taking public complaints for investigations by the Ombudsman. This office also investigates all complaints around service delivery and allegations of impropriety. It has solved 31 of the first 101 cases referred to it.
A strong an efficient civil service remains vital for effective service delivery. A vigorous effort has been made to reduce vacancies from 33 000 (18%) in January to 18 000 (14%) currently.
Oversight over municipalities has been improved to reduce the need for provincial intervention by early diagnosis of municipalities in distress. The Premier’s Coordinating Forum has been useful in aligning service delivery plans, especially on water, energy, sanitation etc.
The provincial and municipal spheres collaborate more than in previous situations. There is a renewed focus on good governance, with closer scrutiny by provincial government on the skills profile of municipal managers and chief financial officers. The Auditor General has toured municipalities and reported renewed commitment to clean audit outcomes from Mayors that he met. In this regard the provincial outcomes have indicated strong leadership commitment to good governance.
The AG has even identified the province for pilot studies on performance information budgeting and planning—a new area of focus. This was a significant vote of confidence in the province. It has been hard work done to create this image of clean governance in the province.
The Provincial Planning Commission has been established and is hard at work designing our Provincial Growth and Development Strategy to be followed by the plan that will soon be unveiled; based on a twenty year vision 2030. Work done in this regard anticipates about 3 million people will move from rural areas towards towns and cities in the province.
All departmental plans in government have been coordinated. The plan will be publicized as soon as it is ready, and contains a number of large catalytic projects that will have a huge impact in job creation and economic growth. The Provincial Planning Commission participated and made valuable contributions in the national plans announced by Minister Manuel and are a part thereof.
Another unit has emerged out of this process to work at implementing their plans. It is referred to as the Brokering Unit and is processing about 30 small and medium projects.
Another new innovation for this term of office is the establishment of the Performance and Evaluations. In this province the Nerve Centre has been established as an ICT base upon which the monitoring is being monitored.
It is such an innovative system that it has become useful in many practical was, such as the recording profiles of household surveys and has capacity to monitor performance of Heads of departments based on the progress of projects under his /her supervision.
The system is capable of poverty modeling and analysis and tracking of household data including household interventions which are part of the Operation Sukuma sakhe.
One of the major innovations of this term of office has been the successful integration of the departmental programmes. This has taken us about two and a half years for departments to realise the inadequacy crated by the silo approach to departmental work. The strategy involves the creation of synergies amongst departments and the mobilisation of stakeholders in the process to maximise on service delivery.
This approach has focused on the inclusion of national departments in the planning processes of the provincial government and the deployment of all MECs as champions of rural development in all municipal district municipalities to support them in service delivery programs. Combined multi departmental teams have been deployed into districts to join hands with local councils.
This process allows for regular discussions about service delivery across all departments and levels of governments. This approach has laid a firm base for credible integrated development plans (IDP’s).
It also allows municipalities to leverage resources from different spheres of government and enhance service delivery. This model reflects integration of all spheres of government and all departments at a ward level. Here, a government facility is identified to house the integrated team of government officials in a ward.
In line with our theme of WAR ON POVERTY, these centres are called WAR ROOMS. Over 200 war rooms have been established and it is anticipated that 400 war rooms shall be in place by the end of the financial year. Statistically it was recorded that poverty is worst on 400 wards. The program will ultimately cover most of the wards –rural and urban.
Community leaders and stake holders have been mobilized to create a partnership in the war rooms. This means that elected councilors, traditional, religious and other leaders, NGO’s, sport bodies, senior citizens’ groups, members of youth and women groups, men’s forums, disabled people etc will all converge with ward committees, community development workers to be part of the regular consultative processes in the war room.
The benefit for the government officials is that they will understand the needs of community directly, while they are able to confer without having to refer the members of the public to a distance office or to a bureaucratic process. They will learn to adopt a responsive, respectful and caring attitude to the members of the public while the public holds government officials accountable and monitor their performance.
This is approach represent a significant shift in the mindset. It is a strategy from which a significant change in the social outcomes can be expected.
Integration involves a number of cadres such as community care givers and youth ambassadors that have to be managed and supervised by a inter-departmental team of officials.
The tasks of the care givers is to focus on the health and welfare aspect of people’s lives, dealing with health education, promotion, attention to minor ailments, referral to other facilities. These cadres must be trained to focus on the attainment of Millennium Development Goals. Such goals can only be attained if there are cadres who are focusing on them on a daily basis.
Their attention on issues of tuberculosis, food security, water, sanitation, teenage pregnancies, drug and substance abuse, care of disabled and orphans and senior citizens as they visit each household. They are to be allocated to 60 household per care giver and this allows them a visit per household monthly. Tracing all the defaulters and supporting patients on treatment for TB and HIV infection will direct the fight to the people who need attention.
On the other hand youth ambassadors will focus on engaging youth in sports, cultural and religious activities as a vehicle to deal with social ills. Their focus is on prevention using peer education and trend setting influence to emphasise on family planning, safe sex, healthy life style and alleviation of distress and fighting crime, substance abuse, suicidal tendencies etc. The rate of infection amongst the youth has to be reduced through this strategy.
The NGO’s have significant roles to play in this regard especially in creating awareness, advocacy, capacity building and monitoring government service delivery processes.
The Office of the Premier has regular consultations with the vulnerable groups such as Senior Citizens, the Disabled People and others and as their champion has adopted their programmes and monitors their implementation at all levels. These now have been integrated to Operation Sukuma Sakhe. An interesting inter generational dialogue programme is unfolding to utilise indigenous knowledge system to reinforce the youth ambassadors and mentor them with support of senior citizens to rebuild the fiber of society.
The fundamental issue in this regard is addressing fundamental imperatives of socio-economic developments which underlie all the social ills that have exacerbated all the challenges our communities face.
The most important issue is ensuring that communities are encouraged to be part of the solutions of the problems they face. It is by raising their consciousness and sharing with them the vision of a better life and a better tomorrow that we will be able to see the different. Through the strategy of Operation Sukuma Sakhe we are much nearer to the turning point.
Development programmes and service delivery can now be built and over-layed on the Operation Sukuma Sakhe platform as it offers a possibility to eliminate bureaucracy and allow ordinary communities to take charge of their lives and lead in the processes of development.
The Provincial Council on AIDS met yesterday to adopt the Provincial Strategy on Prevention of AIDS for year 2011 to 2016. The major focus is to reduce the rate of new HIV infections from 2,3% to 1%; reduce mother to child transmission to 1,4%, reduce maternal deaths to 200 per 100 000 and increase the TB cure rate from 67,2%; etc.
It is significant that whilst new TB infections have not declined, there are encouraging signs in the rate of spread of HIV infections, e.g. reduction in mother to child transmission reduced from 22% in 2005 to 2, 8% in 2010.
It is worth noting that more than 500 000 patients receive ARV treatment and waiting lists have been eliminated through roving initiation teams.
It is also important to observe that all District AIDS Councils and Local AIDS Councils are now in place and there are NGO’s deployed in all districts to do work in the wards. The participation of councilors in these programs is encouraging.
The importance of this development has already attracted the attention of various bodies such as the UNAIDS Executive Director Dr Michelle Sedibe visited our province to pay tribute for the progress that has been registered.
He further paid tribute to Isilo for his leadership in the area of Male Medical Circumcision which has exceeded 75 000 operations without any complications so far. A significant development was the formation of South African Business Coalition Against HIV and AIDS representing business effort and have been invited to be part of the AIDS Council.
Serious attention has to be given to the matter of orphan care since this province is estimated to carry over 30% of the orphans in the country. Sustainable solutions have to be found to offer them care and proper upbringing. We recently joined in partnership with Lungisisa Indlela Village , as announced early n the year to construct 16 hoes to house children.
The village will ultimately carry 1 000 children and will be supported by a section 21 company that will plough all profits for the benefit of the orphans and mostly widows that look after them. This will prove to be the most sustainable model for expansion to other parts of the province.
The province is giving the matter of child health and welfare serious attention. A lot of work is going to the promotion of early child development to ensure quality education.
Increasing the ‘No Fee Schools’ from 57% of all schools in 2006 to 76% is a reflection of this commitment, which will certainly yield good results in the future. Concern has arisen about the rising abuse of learners wherein 382 children were abused by the educators, of which 229 perpetrators were reported by the schools.
Other concerns refer to substance abuse, teenage pregnancies and violence in schools, all of which require collaborative work with communities to eradicate.
Job Creation efforts will continue to focus on the different sectors.
Agriculture continues to offer opportunities that must be taken advantage of. Last year apart from the ‘one home one garden’ approach, 200 tractors were distributed, resulting in 10 000 hectares of land being cultivated. This year a further 100 tractors have been procured and 20 000 hectares are targeted for ploughing.
More focus is needed both on crop and livestock production to elevate subsistence farming to a level where large volume are capable of sustaining market demands.
The recruitment additional 750 extension officers will certainly assist in recreating a culture of using land and focus on integrating this sector in the commercial markets. More energy is required to activate communities and mobilise them to take seriously the investment that government has made in the promotion of agrarian and land reform.
During the Cabinet tour of Dube Trade Port over a week ago, we were highly impressed with the developments in the Dube Trade Port. Having started operations from scratch it has rapidly picked up to generate wide interests amongst international cargo operators. Being a new facility it has still a long way to go to attain 100% capacity as will be expected. But it is no where near being a white elephant as alleged by pessimists who commented about it in the media recently. It is clear that new records are being set in the area of agri business and agri processing that positions our province for a strong future in agricultural exports. Ilembe District is also developing into a feeder hub to the Dube Trade Port and focus must now go to reactivating the whole of KwaZulu-Natal agriculture with the support of our Agri Businesses Development Agency and other agencies. Incidentally, the Dube Trade Port harbours 2 000sq meters of a solar panel roof making it one of the large sources of green energy - a strong pointer in the direction of a green economy.
The President has formed a Presidential Infrastructure Coordinating Commission which he chairs and thereby instilled a sense of urgency and business unusual in the infrastructure delivery processes. As Premier I was privileged to be invited to serve in the Management Team of the PICC.
This has improved our understanding on issues involved. As a result a similar committee will be instituted to focus on infrastructure delivery beyond the work done by the ‘crack team’ announced a few months ago While this team is doing good work, a strong political reinforcement will be important.
The Premier will chair the committee to consolidate all infrastructure work and ensure timeous spending. It will oversee Departments such as Public Works, Human Settlements and other departments to ensure speedy expenditure, value for money and job creation. These will also liase with State owned Enterprises which have are infrastructure budgets.
Recently Minister Malusi Gigaba, and Minister for Water and Environmental Affairs Edna Molewa visited the province to share the significant infrastructure projects and recommended strong coordination and collaboration.
The commitment to large projects on the construction of dams in Spring Grove Dam and Hazelmere Dam are a matter of record. Similarly the sale of old Durban Airport site has been discussed and agreed while the plans for dug out port and expansions and creation of Durban Johannesburg Corridor are on course to attract future investments and create jobs.
Significant work is being done to strengthen SMME’s and cooperatives, especially the creation of regional micro financing instruments. This approach will go a long way towards creating a strong small business sector that our province needs to create more jobs and growth.
The Office of the Premier and Treasury recently launched the campaign ‘Operation Pay on time’ to support SMME’ and emerging businesses. This time around action is guaranteed for officials who will be found to have infringed this provision. It is an important undertaking from government at all levels that has to be taken seriously.
Significant work is being done by the MEC for Economic Development and Tourism Mr Mike Mabuyakhulu to revamp Isithebe Business Centre with a view to attract investors. We await this development with a lot of interest as it has the potential to create more job opportunities.
COP 17 Summit is set to start next week. We are confident of the logistic and security preparations that have been done. We look forward to welcome the world to our shores and hope for the best outcome. It is clear that issues are difficult and complex but we hope Durban will not be remembered as the place where Kyoto Protocol was buried.
We have conducted many public shows to create awareness to our people. We are set to follow the opportunities generated by the new growth path in the green economy. We will intensify our awareness programmes encourage recycling and planting of one million trees in five years. Our summit on Climate change resolved amongst others that a Provincial Council on Climate Change be established. It would operate along the lines of the AIDS Council and consist of all stake holders to implement the resolutions of the summit.
The recent storm damage and lightening strike that has claimed several lives and destroyed property in this province in the last few days sends a grim reminder of the realities of future climate changes and their devastating impact. We need to act with hast and help our communities understand the implications.
I must thank you Madam Speaker and Honourable Members for the opportunity to table this report to this House.
Ends
Issued by the office of the Premier
Ndabezinhle Sibiya (Mr)
Spokesperson: Dr Zweli Mkhize - Premier of the Province of KwaZulu-Natal
Cell: 082 3754742
