Budget speech of the Office of the Premier delivered by the Premier of Limpopo Mr Chupu Stanly Mathabatha at the Limpopo Provincial Legislature, Lebowakgomo (Vote 1)
Deputy Speaker of Limpopo Provincial Legislature;
Members of the Executive Council;Chief Whip of the Ruling Party;
Chairpersons of various Portfolio Committees;
Esteemed Members of the House;
Distinguished guests;
Ladies and gentlemen;
In a week’s time, the nation will converge at the King Williams Town in the Eastern Cape to commemorate the 1960 Sharpeville Massacre and celebrate the Human Rights Day.
This year’ celebrations will take place under the theme, “The Year of OR Tambo: Unity in Action in Advancing Human Rights”
As part of these celebrations, President Jacob Zuma, will officially handover the memorial grave site of Steve Bantu Biko to the Biko family. What a befitting honour and tribute to that outstanding revolutionary who championed the course of freedom for black people and humanity in its entirety. May his Soul rest in peace!
The Human Rights Day also provides us with a unique platform to reflect on the progress made over the past 23 years of democracy in restoring the human dignity of the Black people in general and the Africans in particular.
Our freedom and democracy have obviously brought an important spotlight on the category of human rights, commonly called the socio-economic rights. These are the right to education, right to housing, right to decent standard of living and the right to basic healthcare.
As the custodian of the democratic constitution, the ANC government has and must continue to commit more resources towards programmes that seek to promote and ensure access to these important basic rights.In this regard, an efficient and effective management and utilization of the state at our disposal is a non-negotiable imperative.
We must, unapologetically, fight wastage and fight corruption in the use of public resources. Any wastage of public resources and corruption deny our people their inherent and constitutional rights.
Related to this, is the tendency to under-spent the allocated resources. As we have said during the State of the Province Address, we cannot tolerate under-expenditure whilst some of our people are still awaiting provision of basic services such as water, sanitation, electricity and proper road infrastructure.
Our people have fought for these rights, and no one must be allowed to ride roughshod over them. These rights are the cornerstone of our constitutional democracy and must therefore be protected at all times.
Madam Speaker;
In order to carry out its constitutional mandate, the Office of the Premier has three functional Programmes. These programmes are Administration, Institutional Support and Policy and Governance.
The main function of Programme 1, which is Administration, is to provide the necessary administrative support to the Premier, the Executive Council and the Director General in fulfilling their legislative mandate as well as the promotion of good governance.
In order to address the challenge of youth unemployment, shortage of skills and lack of experience amongst graduates, the Office of the Premier provides Internship opportunities for the youth in various fields of the Public Service.
In 2015/2016 financial year, the Office appointed 23 Graduate Interns. All of them will complete the programme by March 31st 2017. I have got no doubt that their 12 month-long exposure to the real working environment has positioned them to compete better in the job market.
In the next financial year, 2017/18, the Office of the Premier will appoint another group of 23 young people as Interns. They are starting on 1st of next month, April.
Madam Speaker;
In line with the Skills Development Act, the Office of the Premier continues to enhance the skills and competency of its employees by providing them with continuous in-service training. The Work Place Skills Programmes are being implemented profitably and they are mainly based on the needs identified through the regular skills audit initiatives. It is also worth mentioning that the Office has granted 67 new bursaries to employees in the 2017/2018 financial year. This is an increase of over 90% compared to the 39 employees who were granted such bursaries in the 2016/2017 financial year.
The total number of active bursaries granted is 106. We are confident that these bursaries will go a long way towards enabling the Office of the Premier to deliver on its constitutional and legislative mandates.
Madam Speaker;
In terms of employment equity imperative, the Office of the Premier has a total of 451 employees. 61 of these employees are at SMS level, that is, between level 13 and 16. Of these 61, 37 of them are males whilst 24 are females.
390 employees are between level 1 and 12. 170 of them are males whilst 220 are females.
Despite an insignificant improvement at SMS level, overall, the Office of the Premier is doing well in terms of employment of women.
I have therefore instructed the Director General to ensure we reach our target at SMS level by the end of this year.
Madam Speaker and Honourable Members;
Programme 2 has been established to ensure that the Provincial Administration is able to deliver on its constitutional mandate. This Programme ensures that policies, processes and systems that enable the Provincial Administration to deliver are, indeed, in place.
As we have said during the State of the Province Address last month, we are in the process of developing a comprehensive Limpopo Youth Development Strategy for Limpopo. The Strategy will serve as a master blue-print on issues such as, youth health, education, social cohesion and the participation of young people in the mainstream economy of the country.
Our guiding philosophy is that young people must be assisted through policy and practical means to realise their full potential.
In the same spirit, the government will continue to support programmes and initiatives that are geared towards the socio- economic upliftment of women and persons living with disabilities. They too must play a meaningful role in the reconstruction and development of our country.
We must also announce that we have partnered with Institutions of Higher Learning to explore the possibility of promoting continuous professional development of SMS members. Underpinning this partnership is the production of a highly competent civil servant who is responsive and sensitive to the needs and aspirations of our people.
We also said during the same State of the Province Address that we are putting systems in place to ensure that the Provincial Government is able to efficiently and effectively discharge its responsibilities.
The recent appointment of the Director General for the provincial administration and HODs of Departments is a significant step in that direction.
The outstanding appointment of the HOD for the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture will be finalized by the end this month.
Equally important and worth mentioning in this House, is the fact that of the 5 HODs recently appointed, 3 are females.
Madam Speaker;
The Presidential and the Premier’s anti-corruption hotlines remain vital instruments in the continued efforts to fight against corruption and related social ills that afflict humanity today.
Limpopo has seen an increase in the number of cases reported through the Presidential Hotline. Nevertheless we are proud that by December last year, we had managed to resolve no less than 99.55% of all the cases in our provincial departments.
In the same period, we managed to resolve 99.72% of all cases from municipalities.
In terms of the Premier’s Hotline, we managed to resolve 96.63% of cases from provincial departments and 94.16% from municipalities.
Madam Speaker and honourable Members;
The focus of Programme 3, which is Policy and Governance, is to enable the Office of the Premier, to implement the mandate of integrated planning and coordination of the provincial government.
In this regard, attention is given to such critical areas as Inter- Governmental Relations, Provincial Policy Management, Special Programmes and Policy and Governance.
As a measure of improving accountability, decision-making and the effectiveness of government policies and programmes, the Office of the Premier has begun with process of evaluating the impact of some key programmes of government.
In this financial year we are focusing on:
- Child Foster Care Programme in Limpopo Province by the Department of Social Development
- Enterprise Development Programme by LEDET
- Supply Chain Management Procurement Strategy in the Provincial Treasury, and;
- National Youth Services (NYS) in Limpopo Province by the Department of Public Works, Roads & infrastructure.
Two programmes whose impact on the lives of our people will be evaluated in the next financial include:
- Overloading control measures on the road infrastructure network of Limpopo Province by the Department of Transport, and;
- Models of laundry services that are being implemented in the public health facilities /hospitals of Limpopo Province by the Department of Health
Madam Speaker;
The implementation of the Turn-Around Strategies for the Departments of Education and Health will be closely monitored to ensure that the challenges faced by these two departments are addressed. More importantly, we will ensure that the allocated resources are utilized for the intended purposes in an effective and efficient manner.
In the same vein, I directed the Director General and HOD for Provincial Treasury to closely monitor all the 13 Provincial Departments, 27 Municipalities and Public Entities in Limpopo to ensure that all the issues raised by oversight bodies, including the Auditor General and Provincial Treasury, are addressed.
Through the Premier's Inter-Governmental Forums, all municipalities will be assisted to ensure that, notwithstanding the financial limited resources, their service delivery mandates are realized.
Madam Speaker;
Limpopo remains a destination of choice for many potential investors from all over the world. The Province’s competitive advantage in mining, agriculture and tourism puts it in a vantage position to attract more foreign direct investment.
It is in this context that the relationship that the Province has established, and continues to establish with the neighboring SADC countries such as Namibia, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, should be enhanced. This will also add more impetus towards our economic regional integration efforts.
The same applies to the relationships we have with provinces in countries like Cuba, Brazil, India, China, France, Italy, Spain and Russia.
The Premier will, therefore, in this financial year and beyond, lead the process of strengthening the existing economic relations, exploring new and possible areas of cooperation, generating more investment, and above all, creating the requisite number of jobs during this radical phase of our transition.
Madam Speaker;
During the drafting of the Spatial Planning Land Use Management Act (SPLUMA), it emerged that there are distinct provincial matters that may be better regulated at provincial level through specific provincial laws.
It is in this context that the Province embarked on an initiative in 2016/17 to address Limpopo Province’s specific matters on SPLUMA. At this point, a Research report and Policy on SPLUMA in Limpopo Province has been concluded and approved by EXCO.
The policy emphasizes the need for an inclusive approach in land development processes that will guide the content of the Act. The Act will be finalised and introduced to all stakeholders in the financial year 2017/18.
Also worth mentioning is the fact that the Limpopo Spatial Development Framework was revised and adopted in May 2016. This will ensure that all urban and rural land use and development in the province are integrated and sustainable, in line with SPLUMA principles.
Madam Speaker;
We reported during the presentation of our 2016/17 budget vote that we were working on the finalization of the Limpopo Water Master Plan.
This Master Plan is finalized and we have since established a technical working committee for its implementation.
In the same vein, it is worth mentioning in this House that we have begun with the processes of developing the Limpopo Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan. This Plan, as I have said during the State of the Province Address, will outline the infrastructure development and delivery agenda of the Province. It will be finalized in the next financial year, 2017/18.
Madam Speaker;
In an effort to develop the capacity of the human resource in the provincial administration, we have revitalized the Limpopo Human Resource Development Forum. The other stakeholders that we have since brought on board include the regional departments and SETAs.
In this regard, I would like to specifically thank various SETAs that are working with us and contributing to skills development in the Province.
Madam Speaker and Honourable Members;
As at the end of February 2017, the Office of the Premier had spent 87% of its allocated budget of R379,766 million, compared to 86% spent on the final budget of R350, 606 million at the same time in the previous financial year.
The Office is allocated a budget of R395,789 million for the 2017/18 financial year. The Medium Term estimates are R414,480 million for 2018/19 financial year and R438,520 million for 2019/10 financial year.
It is, therefore, my honour and privilege to table before this esteemed House, the 2017/18 budget vote for the Office of the Premier for appropriation:
I Thank You
