Speech delivered at Gauteng Legislature in the State of the Province Debate
Madam Speaker,
Let me begin by narrating a story of a scientist carrying out an experiment on a frog. He brought a big frog into the laboratory; put it on the table and struck the table with his two hands to see how far the frog would jump. In the first attempt the frog jumped a good few centimetres.
He then cut off one of the back legs, struck the table and again checked how far the frog had jumped. The frog feebly jumped just a few centimetres. He then cut off the second rear leg, struck the table hard and observed. The frog did not move an inch.
The scientist concluded his experiment by saying that if you cut off both the hind legs of a frog, the frog becomes deaf! The lesson to learn from this is that sometimes a person can appear to be scientific in approaching a matter but actually comes to the wrong conclusions.
I believe this parable aptly captures the reported reactions of the opposition to the Premier’s speech. And I suspect this will happen in this debate too. They have listened to the Premier’s speech, taken copious notes, spurted out some revolutionary rhetoric, and yet they come to political conclusions about the developmental programme of the ANCled provincial government that are plainly wrong. They have not understood the essence of the Premier’s vision and message and the work of this administration.
Madam Speaker,
If a person unexpectedly bumps into the Premier and asks: “What does your government stand for?” I think the Premier instinctively will respond with four expressions: city-region and integrated planning; activism and Ntirhisano; accountability and integrity, “instruction to deliver”, using the title of Sir Michael Barber’s book on the transformation of the public service under Tony Blair.
Premier Makhura expressed these issues crisply in two important paragraphs in his speech on Monday: “A clean and competent bureaucracy driven by a high performance culture is necessary in a developmental state. There is evidence that through Ntirhisano, we are changing the way government works. Then ability of public officials to deliver on their plans and commitments is crucial in any thriving democracy because it enhances public confidence.
Through the open tender system and the promotion of integrity, we are creating an environment where clean governance will thrive. Gauteng will become a corruption-free province in our lifetime. It is important to ensure that public resources are directed to benefit all people. The State must never be captured by a few individuals or groups for their own selfish gain.
This approach is embedded in the National Development Plan (NDP). For instance, the NDP calls for improved “relations between national, provincial and local government… through a more proactive approach to managing the intergovernmental system and through consensus on the division of service delivery responsibilities”.
In Chapter 13 of the NDP, a call is made for the rendering of public service where citizens “feel loved, respected and cared for in public institutions (so that what they) contribute in our taxes, (they) get back through the high quality of our public services”.’
Madam Speaker, I wish to unpack the four operational concepts that characterise the ANC-led administration in Gauteng and demonstrate how they drive the governance agenda of the Office of the Premier.
Gauteng City-Region and Integrated Planning
The basic concept of the Gauteng city-region is that governance, planning and administration cannot be limited to the territorial extent of an individual city or province, but must take into account the critical flows of public infrastructure, information, finances, services, and the people and skills that make up the economic system of the region.
Presently, the Premier meets regularly with all Mayors through the Premier’s Co-ordinating Forum and the Extended Cabinet Lekgotla, and MECs meet with Members of the Mayoral Committees in their respective portfolios. Public servants across the three spheres of government do meet from time to time to co-ordinate and implement programmes.
Important as these engagements are, they are inadequate in dealing with the growing challenges in housing, education, health care, public transport and environment that face the provincial government, municipalities and our residents. What is evidently clear is that in a city-region such as ours with strong provincial administration, three metropolitan municipalities and two district municipalities there is a need for a more co-ordinated and integrated planning if we are to meet the ever-growing needs of our people due to rapid urbanisation and in-migration.
Purely from a good governance perspective it is imperative that we achieve a higher level of integrated planning and greater co-ordination when implementing government programmes in the Gauteng city-region. To give practical effect to this objective the provincial government is drafting policy and legislation to develop overarching political governance structures and a planning authority to facilitate city region-wide planning, monitoring and evaluation.
The aim is to establish institutional structures to better plan, co-ordinate and implement the programmes of the national, provincial and municipal spheres of government. As a first step in that direction, the Department of Roads and Transport will be hosting an international consultative conference on 9-11 March 2016, to discuss the concept of a transport authority for the Gauteng city-region.
Activism and Ntirhisano
Let us take a look at the second aspect of governance of this administration, namely, activism and Ntirhisano. The Ntirhisano programme of the current ANC-led government is unlike the conventional Imbizos of previous administrations. I don’t think the opposition has understood the power of the programme and the impact it is having on the lives of our people. As the Premier has said, “Ntirhisano is as much about improving the pace of service delivery as it is about breaking the mould of bureaucratic inertia in the state”.
It is about working together with communities in solving problems and making government officials and service providers more accountable. Practically what this means is that officials and political representatives across the spheres of government visit communities before any public event; establish what are the day-to-day problems and concerns of communities and residents; determine ways to overcome these challenges, and act swiftly to resolve the administrative blockages so that services or infrastructures projects can be more effectively delivered to communities.
The public engagements of the Premier, Mayors, MECs, Councillors and other public representatives – sometimes amounting to three per week across the racial and cultural divide – allow for direct, face-to-face engagement and interaction with mass constituencies. It is here that government as a whole listens, learns and understands.
It is here that we demonstrate our care for our people, and we truly act on their behalf. Personally, I have benefitted immensely from this approach as it involves provincial and local spheres of government, including relevant state-owned entities, which helps to cut through bureaucratic inertia and ineffectiveness, and get the job done.
The most rewarding part of the exercise is the concrete engagement with residents, to learn from them, to seek their advice on how to do things – not for them but with them – and to jointly celebrate whatever successes there may be on their doorstep. As the Premier has noted the net effect of this approach has been a significant reduction in spontaneous community protests and the narrowing of the trust deficit between government and the people.
Accountability and Integrity
Madam Speaker, his ANC-led administration is intensifying its efforts to tackle the curse of corruption. It has paid careful attention to the alleged cases of corruption reported on the Anti-Corruption Hotline, with 85 percent of cases being investigated and acted upon. It has also improved efforts to recover funds lost through theft and fraud.
A case in point is that we have recovered R500 000 from an attorney who had inflated invoices for services rendered. It will continue to push for thorough investigations into all reported cases of corruption so that we can focus our efforts on building integrity within our public institutions.
The Office of the Premier has established the Integrity Management Unit, which will support the drive for integrity within the public service. It is important to emphasise that the fight against corruption requires collaboration of all sectors of society, including the private sector and labour unions. It is not and cannot be the task of government alone.
In this regard, the government will be formalising the Provincial Anti-Corruption Forum to bring together a range of stakeholders to combat corruption within the public and private sectors. The open tender system is an important innovation of the ANC-led administration in Gauteng. As the Premier has indicated we are leading the country in ensuring that procurement decisions are taken above board and are done in an open and transparent manner.
Our new approach has attracted considerable public attention and widespread review, including by the National Treasury. The Open Tender Pilot Project undertaken by the Department of Roads and Transport and Provincial Treasury is now being rolled out in several major infrastructure projects cutting across a number of departments. Over time, these will be extended to major projects in all government departments, including municipalities, in Gauteng.
Instruction to deliver
The National Development Plan emphasises the need for strong leadership throughout society; a socially cohesive, active and united citizenry; and a capable state that integrates planning and ensures greater policy coherence across government. It identifies the critical interventions to build a professional public service and a state capable of playing a transformative and developmental role in realising the nation-wide vision for 2030. Premier Makhura has given a resounding instruction to deliver.
The ANC-led government has focussed on strengthening its professional and administrative capabilities to deliver on its political mandate. Senior managers across departments and entities have been put on terms – get on with the job; do it properly, and with integrity!
The Premier reiterated this instruction to deliver on Monday, when he declared: People of Gauteng, we know that you are intolerant of government failure and bureaucratic incompetence. We know that you want a government that honours its commitments. In this province, failure is not an option. Incompetence is not permissible and corruption is not acceptable.
Through administrative persistence our PERSAL clean-up operation is impacting positively with a clearer picture emerging of the actual staffing needs in departments. Seventy eight percent of our organisational structures have been approved by the Minister of Public Service and Administration and consultation is ongoing between relevant authorities to conclude on this matter.
Guided by yesterday’s Budget Speech of the Minister of Finance, the provincial government has decided to tread carefully when budgeting for compensation of employees. It is not planning to increase the workforce in the public service over the next three years, except in clearly identified priority posts critical for improved service delivery.
Vacant posts in departments will not be filled unless it is absolutely essential. In addition, the ANC-led provincial government is reviewing the composition and functions of its entities with a view to streamlining and rationalising these to maximise efficiency. And it is already implementing cost saving and austerity measures across all departments.
The Gauteng City Region Academy continues to play a pivotal role in upskilling our administrative staff complements. We have offered 1200 internships to graduates and 3300 learnerships to improve the skills of those entering the public service. We have capacitated 4500 officials through in-service training programmes and an additional 5310 public servants have been trained in frontline service delivery.
The ANC-led government is taking a lead in the modernisation of public services through the introduction of ICT in education, healthcare, community safety and driver testing centres. Barring a few exceptions over 90 percent of all supplier invoices received and processed are being paid within 30 days. And on the question of the prudent management of financial resources the ANC-led government in Gauteng has reached a critical threshold in that 19 departments and agencies have achieved clean audits in the 2014/15 financial year. By any standard these are the laudable achievements of this administration.
Madam Speaker, let me conclude by saying two things. Firstly, we must express our deep concern at the growing incidence of violent attacks to persons and damage to public infrastructure and property during student protests, labour strikes and community actions. We must condemn the killing of Councillor Dokolwane in Freedom Park and we express our sincere condolences to his family and friends.
We are all losers when government is trying hard to improve public infrastructure while others wilfully and with impunity damage such infrastructure without any consequence. The time has come for the law enforcement agencies and the criminal justice system to hold accountable the perpetrators of these criminal acts.
Lastly, the ANC government led by Premier Makhura has within 20 months transformed the governance model in our province. We are fast creating a workforce and inter-governmental machinery that is suitably skilled, representative, and answerable to all the residents of our province. It listens to its citizens, engages with communities, and partners with business, labour and civil society. It is accountable to our people and focused on service delivery.
As the ANC we are building a government that has systems and processes that support the unlocking of intelligence, capacity, innovation, expertise and ease of connecting with residents through the use of technology and face-to-face interaction.
Our roadmap seeks to create a governance model that places the needs of its residents first; that has an inherently high performance culture; that implements its programmes, and delivers on the political mandate of the electorate. In this regard we must thank the Premier and the Director-General and her staff for the sterling leadership they are providing to the Gauteng city-region.
