the Free State Legislature, Bloemfontein
17 March 2006
Honourable Speaker and Deputy Speaker,
Members of the Legislature,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Comrades and friends,
The presentation of this budget vote today in this esteemed house, is a
continuation of a logical journey, which started on 3 February 2006 when our
President Thabo Mbeki presented the State of the Nation Address. A week later
after the Presidential State of the Nation Address we addressed this House on
the key mandates for the 2006/07 financial year.
In doing so, we expressed a collective mandate of the people of the Free
State and accordingly we committed our government towards a programme intended
to mobilise our motive forces around âan age of hope, a national effort for
shared and accelerated growth.â
Our conviction that indeed we are on course arises out of the affirmation of
the broad confidence in our government by our people and the achievements and
progress we registered as outlined in our State of the Province Address.
Inspired by this positive spirit prevailing across the province, we are going
to increase our mobilisation efforts through a call to our people and all
sectors to use this opportunity to speed up progress towards a better life for
all.
This places an even greater responsibility on our Department to provide all
round leadership to the whole of government and our overall programme must
therefore reflect priorities which address the fundamental aspirations of our
people and attend to their most basic needs. Our programme for the new
financial year and beyond must and will be geared towards the attainment of the
following key objectives:
* A growing economy that benefits all
* Speeding up access to social services
* Batho-Pele: effective and speedy service delivery
* Safety and security for all
* Africaâs renewal and a better world
A recap of our activities over the last year will indicate that we have
mustered the mobilisation of capacities and strategies aimed at positioning our
province on a faster growth and development path.
Review of the current financial year: 2005/06
During the past financial year the Office of the Premier was faced with a
challenge of ensuring that the services of provincial departments and
municipalities are rendered in a focused and integrated manner and that they
are empowered in meeting the needs of the community.
As a Department we functioned in a demanding environment, where political
and policy changes had to be recognised and acted upon within limited time
frames. All activities of the Department were therefore aligned during the last
financial year to focus on our mandate of coordination and giving strategic
leadership to the whole of government in order to improve the implementation of
governmentâs programmes.
Our restructuring process within the Department had to address among others
the challenges of separating the functions of the Chief Financial Officer from
other support functions, establishment of a unit on the rights of children, HIV
and AIDS management, establishment of policy coordination, monitoring and
evaluation unit as well as the amalgamation of other functions.
The Department facilitated the development of the Free State Growth and
Development Strategy (FSGDS) as a broad development framework for the province
in pursuance of the 2014 vision. The strategy, which builds on the Free State
development plan, is a broadly consulted strategy with the overall goal of
aligning the integrated development plans at municipal level, provincial and
national policies and programmes and to guide development in terms of effective
and efficient management and governance to achieve growth and development.
Today as we speak the FSGDS is a living document incorporating a broad
development policy framework representing a watershed for the province. We are
convinced that the Department is becoming more strategically positioned to deal
effectively with co-ordination in the province. The Intergovernmental Framework
Act, which seeks to facilitate co-ordination in the implementation of policy
and legislation, requires greater involvement from the Premier and thus the
Office of the Premier in the work of municipalities.
Furthermore, the Premierâs Co-ordinating Council and the forum of the
Director-General with all municipal managers have succeeded in inculcating a
culture of integrated service delivery and cooperative governance at all levels
of government.
During the past year the Department succeeded in entrenching the cluster
system as a coordination mechanism into the provinceâs way of working to
improve integration and coordination of activities of provincial departments.
We intend to improve on this by involving representatives of national
departments based in the province in the clusters and to extend the system to
municipalities in the financial year 2006/07.
We have also extended our engagement with other non-governmental
organisations (NGOs) such as the United States Agency for International
Development (USAID) South Africa to ensure the co-ordination of their
activities across provincial departments. Our social partners have already
committed to a co-ordination mechanism in terms of which all their programmes
done in partnership with government will be aligned to reinforce existing
initiatives.
We have in the last year placed greater emphasis on our human capital and
the need for continuously building a breed of public servants with the
requisite passion and competencies necessary for the implementation of our
developmental strategies. In pursuit of this objective we have already started
with the reconfiguration of the Free State Training and Development Institute
(FSTDI) to reposition it at the nerve centre of the production of the necessary
intellectual capacity needed in government.
This reposition is done in collaboration with higher education institutions
and South African Management Development Institute (SAMDI).
We have held a Senior Management Conference (SMC) and an Imbizo, which
culminated in the declaration of commitment to service by senior managers of
the provincial and local government. The imbizo provided an opportunity for the
identification of opportunities available for the development of executive
leadership and senior management of the province through the signing of the
memorandum of understanding with the National Academy of Public Administration
based in Washington DC.
We will further strengthen this relationship through a visit scheduled for
end March 2006 whereby a delegation led by myself will address and participate
in the conference of the American Society for Public Administration.
Challenges for the new financial year: 2006/07
Mr Speaker, we present this budget vote at the conclusion of a successful
local government elections held on 1 March 2006.The freeness and fairness of
this elections were indeed a fitting tribute to the 10th anniversary of our
progressive and dynamic constitution. Once again our people from all walks of
life the old and young, the rich and poor, the rural and urban as well as black
and white seized with both their hands the dignity that comes with being free
and being able to elect your own representatives.
We take this opportunity to congratulate the Independent Electoral
Commission (IEC) and all who were involved in this important project. We do,
however, wish to reiterate our call to all organisations and institutions to
work very hard to entrench a culture of civic responsibility. Voter education
is a task not only relevant during election periods but it is an ongoing
responsibility that must reinforce our efforts of building a society that is
conscious, informed and mobilised to take full charge of its life.
We are confident that this third democratic local government election will
in many ways strengthen the popular participatory character of our democracy.
We call on all the newly elected leadership of municipalities to make time to
allow our people to talk while they listen, our council structures, which make
popular participation possible should be strengthened. Our responsibility is to
build our municipalities into real democratic organs of self-government.
Our responsibility now is to ensure that the confidence and trust of our
people in their government to deliver is not taken for granted by all assigned
to lead government at all levels. To this extent we will use both the Premierâs
Co-ordinating Council (PCC) as well as the technical PCC to become effective
monitoring and evaluation tools to ensure that there is continuous improvement
of our endeavours to:
* Improve the provision of basic service to communities
* Enhance local economic development
* Improve financial viability of municipalities especially as a result of
challenges brought about by the Municipal Finance Management Act
* Consolidate the transformation of municipalities
* Entrench the culture of good governance.
We will further put in place mechanisms that will ensure that we give
continuous attention to the implementation capacity of municipalities by inter
alia focusing on their project management, financial, engineering, local
economic development and public participation skills.
Mr Speaker and honourable members, we have re-evaluated our readiness to
fulfil the mandate of the Department of the Premier as stated in the
Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (section 125). We did this through
a comprehensive restructuring process which redefined the strategic programmes
in line with the changing role of being more focused on co-ordination and
giving strategic direction in the province. This process was informed through
various consultative interactions with stakeholders, which included the
Executive Council (Exco) meets the people campaign, the review of the FSGDS,
the African Peer Review Mechanism and various other important processes.
The end product of this exercise was the departmental strategic plan for
2006-2009.This assessments and re-evaluation exercise dictates that the office
of the Premier must coordinate and monitor the following key objectives:
1. Stimulate economic development
2. Develop and enhance the infrastructure for economic growth and social
development
3. Poverty alleviation through human and social development
4. Ensure a safe and secure environment for all the people of the
province
5. Promote effective and efficient government
These broad objectives are thoroughly unpacked into an implementable
programme of action through our departmental strategic plan which we submitted
before this house on Monday, 10 March 2006.
In order to ensure that the overall goals of the Department are realised we
have identified the following objectives for the office of the Premier:
1. That the Premier and the Executive Council (Exco) are effectively
supported to achieve the governmentâs goals and objectives
2. That departments in the Free State Provincial Government are strategically
guided and coordinated with regard to transverse corporate support
functions
3. That activities of departments and municipalities in the Free State
Provincial Government are integrated and aligned towards the achievement of the
goals and priorities of government
The identification of these goals follows the revision of our strategic plan
to be in line with the national directive, which standardises budget programmes
for all departments of the province. This is in line with the restructuring
process to enhance the strategic direction giving role and co-ordination of
integrated service delivery of the office of the Premier. This arrangement, Mr
Speaker, will drastically improve the alignment of the strategic goals and
programmes, goals and objectives, programmes and sub programmes as well as the
budget and the organisational structure.
Allow me at this point, Mr Speaker, to briefly touch on each of the three
objectives to briefly justify how the Department will utilise the R91 million,
which treasury has allocated to our department.
Programme 1: Administration
In line with the strategic objective of ensuring that the Premier and Exco
are effectively supported in achieving government goals and priorities this
programme has been structured to include key components responsible for the
variety of administrative mandates. These include: Premier support, Executive
Secretariat, Office of the Director-General, security advice and co-ordination,
internal audit and financial management services.
The Office of the Premier will for this new financial year assumes the main
responsibility of ensuring co-ordination and integration of the mandates and
functions in all departments and municipalities as outlined through the
injunctions of the State of the Province Address.
This programme will support the Excoâs outreach programmes such as the Exco
meets the people campaign and government izimbizo. In the new financial year we
will involve national departments, parastatals and willing partners from the
private sector. We will also give more attention to public servants in schools,
clinics, hospitals, police stations and community centres so that all of us
present a united front in dealing with our urgent mandate of strengthening
governmentâs contract with the people.
Speaker, we are confident that our realignment and restructuring process
have placed us in good stead and that we have built the required capacity as
well as an appreciation of the overall strategic objectives. A total amount of
R28,926 million or 32 percent of the total budget will be allocated to this
programme.
Programme 2: Corporate support
In executing this mandate the Office of the Premier will strategically guide
and co-ordinate departments in the Free State with regard to transversal
corporate support functions such as skills development, human resource and
labour relations matters, performance and development management, knowledge
management, service delivery improvement and information technology. As we
mentioned earlier our restructuring and realignment of this programme has
ensured that we separate the functions of the Chief Financial Officer from
other support functions and that we established a fully fledged internal audit
unit. Further more we have strengthened our co-ordination of legal services
whereby in terms of our new realignment, all legal services and support
functions in departments and municipalities will henceforth be coordinated from
within the Department.
We have take a number of important resolutions in this financial year
regarding the strategic repositioning and the consolidation of high impact and
massification programmes and projects such as the Expanded Public Works
Programme (EPWP), Project Consolidate, Integrated Sustainable Rural Development
Strategy (ISRDS) and the Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South
Africa (AsgiSA) projects. For this reason we will in the new financial year
appoint a Chief Director who will be responsible for alignment, integration and
coordination of these strategic programmes.
This programme (Corporate Support) is allocated 37 percent or R34.682
million of the departmental budget.
Programme 3: Policy and Governance
In terms of this programme, our Department will in this new financial year
consolidate its work regarding the alignment and integration of activities of
departments and municipalities towards the achievement of our goals as outlined
in the FSGDS.
Our key focus will include the review and continuous improvement of the
growth and development strategy, the co-ordination and monitoring of government
programmes through the cluster system at provincial and municipal levels, the
mainstreaming of special programmes and the continuous development and
improvement of transverse policies relating to gender, disability, rights of
children, youth development, HIV/AIDS as well as special projects of the
Premier.
We will also improve our coordination of intergovernmental relations by
insisting that our foreign affairs endeavours are co-ordinated and streamlined
to avoid duplication to ensure transfer of international experiences and to
ensure that all of our collective efforts place the entire province in a
strategically favourable position with regard to tourism and investment.
Already our province has been invited by the Common Wealth Secretariat to
profile our province in its yearbook which is accessed by 53 country portals
and millions of people across the globe.
We have allocated R28.248 million of the total budget to this programme
(Policy and Governance), which represents 31 percent of our total budget.
In terms of our transfer payment agreement with the Free State Youth
Commission, we have transferred a total amount of R9.252 million, which the
Commission will use for among other things:
* The creation of a single youth development agency
* The launch of the provincial Youth Fund as well as the home-based care
programme
* The facilitation of the Basha Youth Arts Festival and
* The 30th anniversary programmes of the 1976 Students Uprising.
Honourable Speaker and distinguished members, when we presented the State of
the Province on 10 February we pointed out that our main activities as
government during this second decade of freedom are largely going to be geared
towards halving unemployment and poverty. To this extent the whole of
government including municipalities will have to play an activist and
interventionist role in the economy so as to steer growth and development.
AsgiSA will unleash unlimited possibilities for economic growth for our
country and our province in particular. We have to build sufficient capacity to
drive and sustain the two major projects i.e. the bio-fuel and logistics hub,
identified for the province through the AsgiSA processes. This capacity must be
extended to municipalities where the actual implementation will take place.
My Department will play a leading role in the mobilisation and streamlining
of this capacity to ensure that the principal beneficiaries in terms of
Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) and preferential procurement are
supported.
Coupled with these two major projects we have also identified the small,
medium and micro enterprise (SMME) and agriculture sectors as potentially
viable for massification of jobs and opportunities and in this regard we are
working very hard through the Premierâs Economic Advisory Council (PEAC) to
prepare the rollout of programmes in this regard.
The PEAC was inaugurated on 26 November 2005 and continues providing
critical support and expert advice on this matters and the overall
implementation of the FSGDS.
Our major responsibility as government and the Department in particular is
to remove barriers to access towards these massive opportunities. The
investment, infrastructure and other conferences held over the last year will
go a long way in unlocking this opportunities and releasing the bottlenecks
towards full economic participation of all our people.
The totality of our work will be geared towards the attainment of the growth
and development objectives and in order to give effect to these objectives the
province has identified 11 areas that need to be coordinated, monitored and
addressed by 2014 and these are among others:
* To achieve an annual economic growth rate of six to seven percent, which
is at least equal to the national average
* To reduce unemployment from 38,9 percent to 20 percent
* To improve the functional literacy rate from 69,2 percent to 85 percent
* To provide shelter for all the people of the province
* To provide free basic service to all households
* To provide adequate infrastructure for economic growth and development.
The Office of the Premier will lead from the front and among the initiatives
we will undertake in this financial year, will be to strengthen our monitoring
and evaluation capacity regarding the attainment of these objectives. This we
shall do through our monitoring and evaluation tool which we have already
developed in partnership with the Central University of Technology.
This tool will enable us to annually update the Provincial Growth and
Development Strategy (PGDS) to place it in line with the planning cycle of
government. This tool will also enable us to hold information sessions with all
provincial departments and municipalities as well as obtaining on an annual
basis inputs from all our social partners.
One of the main goals for our Department in the coming financial year as
well as in the long term also includes meeting the requirements in respect of
integrated development and planning processes at municipalities. This process
will culminate in the adoption of a single development plan for the Free State
by the new financial year.
In order for our Department to respond adequately to these challenges we
have to build necessary strategic capacity to give attention to all of these
important responsibilities and ensure that our direction giving role and
leadership to the rest of government is done effectively.
Honourable Speaker, our resolve and determination to do well is inspired by
the unwavering support we continue to receive as government from the people of
the Free State. We once more take this opportunity to make a call to our people
to strengthen the peopleâs contract to end poverty and create jobs.
The preliminary report of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) confirms
what we already know as perceptions of our people regarding our performance as
the provincial government. We are humbled by the vote of confidence regarding
democracy and good political governance, economic governance and management,
corporate governance and socio economic development.
My Department will steer the rest of government to attend to the persistent
perceptions regarding the slow pace of service delivery. Whilst only 33 percent
of the people hold this view about our service delivery performance we have to
treat this as a positive indicator of an area, which required acceleration and
focused attention.
Honourable Speaker, we do acknowledge that as government we cannot achieve
our vision alone and as a result we will be presenting the inaugural Premierâs
Excellence Awards by April this year. Through these awards we hope to provide a
symbol of achievement and motivation to all individuals, institutions, the
private sector, state agencies, government departments and municipalities. The
awards will also be an opportunity for us as government to publicly say thank
you for outstanding contributions focusing on the development of the Free State
Province.
We will do our part by continuously increasing the tempo of our mobilisation
work to all our people and all our strategic partners to work with us as we
strive during this âage of hopeâ, to achieve the objective of creating a better
life for all.
Our vision of leading the Free State Province towards service excellence
remains our guiding inspiration. We are confident as we present this budget
vote before this House that as a Department we have the requisite
determination, talents and passion embodied through the selfless conduct of the
women and men who spend much of their time rendering dedicated service to the
Department, the provincial government and the people of the Free State.
Our values of patriotism, customer care, honesty, integrity, team spirit and
professionalism will guarantee that every day which passes brings us closer to
the strategic objective of realising the ideals of the Freedom Charter in our
life time.
Issued by: Office of the Premier, Free State Provincial Government
17 March 2006
Source: Free State Provincial Government (http://www.fs.gov.za/)
