during the Parliamentary Media Briefing week Governance and administration
cluster
7 February 2006
GOVERNANCE AND ADMINISTRATION CLUSTER
Introduction
The purpose of this briefing is to highlight the key decisions taken at the
January 2006 Cabinet Lekgotla and the pronouncements of the President in the
State of the Nation Address that will be taken forward by the Governance and
Administration (G&A) Cluster. These will be presented within the framework
of the G&A priorities for 2006.
Lekgotla presentation
The G&A Cluster presentation to the Lekgotla focused on two areas: the
capacity of the public service and a review of the first term of local
government. The Cluster conducted capacity assessments of various sectors, as
instructed by the July 2005 Cabinet Lekgotla. The sectors that were part of the
study were Health, Education, Justice and the Economic Sector. The capacity of
local government was reviewed in relation to the performance of local
government over the past five years and the lessons learnt during Project
Consolidate. Comprehensive recommendations were adopted in respect of both
areas.
G&A priorities
Subject to Cabinetâs final approval of the draft Programme of Action of the
Cluster, the G&A will retain the three broad priorities of 2005:
* Capability needs for the developmental state
* Macro-organisation of the state; and
* Planning, implementation and monitoring and evaluation.
Capability needs for the Developmental State
Sectoral capacity reviews
President Mbeki in his State of the Nation Address on Friday indicated that
âthe audit of a number of national departments has been completedâ. The Cluster
in collaboration with the departments of Health, Education, Justice and Trade
and Industry conducted assessments of key delivery programmes in those
departments. The President said that âgovernment will make the necessary
interventions to address the issues raised by these assessmentsâ. Some of the
key findings and interventions agreed to are listed below:
Crosscutting issues
The study found that:
* There was a need to focus on the remuneration and career paths of
professionals in the public service
* some departments spend 100% of their personnel budgets but have more than
20% vacancies, which suggests that they have many unfunded vacant posts on
their establishment, possibly as a result of under funding, but outdated
organograms may also play a role; and
* there has been slower growth in personnel budgets relative to total
budgets (the personnel share of the budget is decreasing) and, given capacity
challenges faced by government, a case may be made for this share to
increase.
Work on a policy on the remuneration, grading, career path and salary
progression of professionals will be developed and completed by August. Cabinet
decided that in future revisions to departmental organisational structures
could be made only after consultation with the Minister for the Public Service
and Administration. The Department of Public Service and Administration (dpsa)
will develop guidelines on organisational matters and departments will develop
staffing norms in accordance with the guidelines by December. We will review
the allocation of the budget afforded to compensation based on the public
service expenditure review by August 2006.
Health
In the Health sector the focus of the study was on hospital management, in
particular CEOs of hospitals. The study found that public hospitals are highly
stressed institutions due to staff shortages, unmanageable workloads and
management failures. The situation with nurses is particularly acute. Limited
devolution of decision-making power and organisational control has led to a
number of problems. Blurred lines of authority and responsibility in province,
district and hospital need to be addressed.
Wide-ranging recommendations were adopted to speed up the devolution of
decision-making to institutional level where capacity has been demonstrated. A
focus on hospital managers in the next six months includes a review of the
grading of posts and the development of a tailored training programme for CEOs.
The numbers of less-skilled staff will be increased to ensure that health
professionals do not do menial work but are able to focus on their healthcare
duties. An investigation into the re-establishment of nurses training colleges
will be completed by July.
Education
A quantitative analysis showed that Education departments in some provinces
were allocated more than 50% of the provincial budgets. In some provinces
facing challenges in relation to administrative efficiency, employment in
Administration is less than 5% of employment. Across the board there are too
few administrative support staff at district level in relation to Educators.
There is only one senior manager for every 1069 employees. The vacancy rate
among financial and human resource professionals is high.
Cabinet agreed that the Department of Education, with assistance from the
Indian Government, conduct an assessment of the role and responsibilities of
district/circuit offices and managers and that the establishment of a distinct
management echelon for principals be investigated by July. The Department will
also develop staffing norms to ensure appropriate ratios of teaching staff to
support staff and will take steps to ensure funds are available to give effect
to the norms by July. A further evaluation of skills gaps in management will be
undertaken and the implementation of the SMS performance management system will
be reviewed by July.
Justice
Quantitative findings showed that vacancies for judges and magistrates were
higher than average. The Department has a very high proportion of staff
employed on contract. Accountability of the courts emerged as a challenge, and
the need for improved co-ordination between the Justice System role-players. A
shortage of management skills was identified.
A task team on the harmonisation of salaries of legally qualified personnel
will submit proposals to the July Lekgotla. An assessment of the capacity
required to implement the Superior Courts Bill will be conducted. Similarly to
Education, an assessment of the implementation of the SMS performance
management system will be undertaken. A project of the Department of Justice
and Constitutional Development reviewing the Departmentâs capacity requirements
will be concluded by July. The high number of contract appointments will also
be scrutinised and a report will be submitted to the July Lekgotla.
Economic sector
The quantitative study found that vacancy rates in middle management and
among Trade and Industry Advisers were high. Skills shortages exist in key
policy areas. The Department of Trade and Industry (the dti) is structured in
such a way that there are 21 separate agencies reporting to it. The qualitative
review identified the need for greater alignment of objectives, outputs and
outcomes among these institutions. Co-ordination across the cluster and
alignment of planning across the spheres of government needs to be
strengthened.
The dti with support from the dpsa will complete a critical skills analysis
and strategy by March. The accountability structures in relation to the
entities reporting to the dti will be investigated and aligned with the G&A
Clusterâs work on public entities. The capacity to evaluate and improve
Environmental Impact Assessments will be reviewed by March 2006. The reflection
of national economic policies in Provincial Growth and Development Strategies
and Integrated Development Plans will be assessed by July 2006. The G&A
Cluster in consultation with the Economic Cluster will conduct an assessment of
the capacity of government to implement the Accelerated and Shared Growth
Initiative for South Africa (ASGI-SA) by July.
Public sector capacity development
The Cluster will focus, in the coming year, on addressing those factors that
are militating against successful skills formation and the elimination of
skills shortages in the public sector. The greatest of these is probably the
fact that training is very often of doubtful relevance, rarely focused on
carry-through impact, rarely accompanied by post-course support and
implementation; and often facilitated or taught by people who have a very
limited understanding of the public sector.
In support of Governmentâs efforts to address these challenges, South
African Management Development Institution (SAMDI) has recently commenced
implementation of a new approach to teaching and learning in the public sector,
aimed at improving internal effectiveness and external impact.
In addition, a comprehensive strategy to improve the quality,
cost-effectiveness and impact of training on improving service delivery,
comprising of the following six key components will be implemented in the
coming year:
* Firstly, increasing supply-side measures in the labour market to ensure a
better quality of entrant into public service
* Secondly, furthering equity and laying a base for future skills acquisition
by implementing an accelerated programme for the development of basic
skills
* Thirdly, supporting enhanced performance of existing public servants by
offering programmes ranging from junior managerial levels at one end of the
spectrum to world class personally-tailored development and support to the very
highest levels of Government
* Fourthly, the organisational and operational base for the delivery of these
programmes will be an evolving internationally benchmarked Public Sector
College geared to excellent support for the unfolding developmental state
* Fifthly, a new College will be combined with a partnering strategy with
expert associates both in South Africa and abroad; and
* Finally, SAMDI will, under the oversight of Cabinet and the direction of the
minister, evolve new financing modalities that ensure the sustainability of a
Public Sector Collegeâs contribution to the stateâs effectiveness and
efficiency.
The detailed proposals pertaining to the establishment of a Public Sector
College will be taken further through the establishment of a technical task
team, made up of representatives of a number of key education and training
stakeholders. The team will be constituted by mid-year, and will specifically
focus on ensuring that the new public sector training strategy effectively
complements existing initiatives in the field.
Monitoring and evaluation
As part of the governmentâs efforts to improve governance and performance in
the public sector, it will be implementing a Government Wide Monitoring and
Evaluation System. Our strategy for developing the system recognises its
emergent character and avoids a prescriptive approach. Instead, we will ensure
that every government entity adopts and implements a Monitoring and Evaluation
strategy appropriate to its work and overall strategy. We will use the
information generated by these programmes to help government structures improve
their performance and to ensure that strategic decision-making is evidence
based.
Three work streams have been adopted: the first looks at principles and
practices internationally and locally and will lead to the adoption of public
service regulations that stipulate what M&E programmes must address and how
this should be done. The second area will address reporting systems, formats
and information technology and will ensure that account is taken of various
related initiatives already under way in Government. The intention is to ensure
that departments are not burdened with a plethora of reporting requirements and
will factor these into its overall system architecture. The third strand will
address capacity building, in terms of training, structure and institutional
culture. SAMDI has been mandated by the Presidency to co-ordinate this work
stream, and is convening a reference group of experts to guide curriculum
development in this regard. Work has begun on developing training material, and
the first modules will be launched by July.
Mentorship Programmes
SAMDI has developed a new suite of mentorship training programmes, aimed at
ensuring that experienced senior officials are able to transfer their skills
quickly and effectively to new entrants to the public service. The Department
of Environmental Affairs and Tourism is the first Department to benefit from
these new programmes, with training commencing on Monday, 13 February 2006.
Municipal Finance Management Internship Programme
In terms of the focus on capacity building for local government officials in
order to increase service delivery, SAMDI has entered into a partnership with
the National Treasury to provide training against a Level six qualification in
the implementation of the Municipal Finance Management Act. This training is
focused on the interns who municipalities appoint in terms of the conditions
attached to receipt of the Finance Management Grant from Treasury. These
interns are seen as a critical leg in building sufficient strategic financial
management skills in the local government sphere. However, municipal official
will also be able to attend the programme. The training material is currently
being finalised by National Treasury, and we hope to begin training by August
at the latest.
Anti-corruption
Last year we committed to developing a national anti-corruption programme.
This was indeed done and implementation has commenced. As from April 2006, the
implementation of the three-year National Anti-corruption Programme, as was
agreed upon between the public, business and civil society sectors, will be
speeded up when the allocated budget becomes available. The projects of this
Programme will focus on ensuring implementation of the anti-corruption
legislation in all sectors, advocating the obligations, rights, protection and
sanctions of the anti-corruption legislation, ensuring ethical behaviour and
standards form an integral part of all dealings in all sectors, and on
providing all communities at all spheres sufficient platforms to engage on
issues of corruption.
Last yearâs second National Anti-corruption Summit provided an opportunity
to reflect on our national and broad anti-corruption gains, and this year the
dpsa is focusing on monitoring detailed implementation of the Public Service
Anti-corruption Strategy and appraising the impact of the national
anti-corruption framework. This appraisal will continue till the end of 2007.
The outcomes of the monitoring and appraisal will obviously lead to a policy
improvement.
This work, coupled with other projects, will inform the development of
revised set of norms and standards for the whole of the public sector as is
envisaged under our work towards a single public service. By 2008, we will have
a broad governance strategy for the whole of the public sector in place.
The revised guidelines on the implementation of minimum anti-corruption
capacity in departments at national and provincial levels have been issued last
month and will be supplemented by over 20 implementation training sessions
commencing in April 2007 and concluding by July 2007. This initiative will
establish a cadre of over 400 anti-corruption practitioners for these
departments.
At local government level, a local government anti-corruption strategy and
implementation plan have been developed by the dplg. For some time now, the 136
local authorities within Project Consolidate have received direct
anti-corruption assistance from the dplg through support to put appropriate
management policies and systems in place. This work will continue and be
broadened with the implementation of the local government anti-corruption
strategy.
Leading up to April next year, we will prepare to host Global Forum V on
Fighting Corruption and Safeguarding Integrity in April 2007. Global Forum is
the premier meeting of governments on fighting corruption and preparations will
include a regional anti-corruption conference to inform the Africa position for
Global Forum.
In December, we will attend the first meeting of the Conference of the
Parties of the United Nations (UN) Convention against Corruption when it
convenes in Jordan. At regional level South Africa will continue to provide
anti-corruption support to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and other
countries that have approached us to share our good practice and
experience.
Macro-organisation of the state
Single public service
The President in his State of the Nation Address said that âwe will continue
the work towards the creation of one public service covering all spheres of
government, fully conscious of the complexity of this matter and the need to
secure the agreement of all the relevant stakeholders.â
As part of the implementation for the Single Public Service work is
proceeding under the following three work streams: the integration of the front
office (points of service delivery); the integration of the back office
(information systems); and institutional integration covering harmonisation of
systems, conditions of service and norms within institutions and departments
across the three spheres of government that deliver services to the people.
Front office integration
The objective of this area is to present a single face of government which
covers the three spheres of government and selected Public Entities that
provide services directly to the people.
In this regard ground breaking work has already been done in the following
areas: the establishment of multi-purpose community centres; the Batho Pele
Gateway portal; the installation of public information terminals in selected
post offices; and, Community Development Workers. Work will also focus on the
identification of additional services to be delivered through a single window
as well as the identification of additional channels through which these
services will be delivered including the investigation into the establishment
of urban service centres.
Back office integration
Having released the initial e-Government Policy for consultation in 2001,
the dpsa continued with the implementation of the Batho Pele Gateway portal,
which was launched in 2004 and is accessible from https://www.gov.za. This represents the major part of
Phase one of e-Government implementation. Several important enhancements to the
policy will be completed in the course of this year. The migration to the
robust infrastructure is due for completion on 10 February 2006 with the
current English content. The information content of the portal will be expanded
to included provincial and local spheres of government. The Gateway information
content is being translated into all 11 official languages. By 30 March 2006
the current content will have been translated into Afrikaans, isiXhosa,
isiZulu, Setswana, Sesotho and Sepedi. The remaining languages will follow
thereafter.
By July 2006, government will adopt a comprehensive e-Government programme,
which covers a governance model, strategy, architecture, and implementation
plan for the single public service. The focus is on e-Government and
information and communications technology (ICT), which will create a platform
for services to be delivered through a single point of contact. The back office
integration will be informed by the identification of a basket of key services
that will be provided through the single window.
To further support the uptake of e-Government across the public sector,
government has committed to undertake a catalytic project for substantial
implementation in 2006. Intense consultations are taking place with
stakeholders at this stage before the final decision will be made by April
2006.
Institutional Integration
By November 2006, draft legislation to create an enabling environment for
the single public service will be developed. The draft legislation will be the
basis for further consultation within government.
The draft enabling legislation will focus on three broad areas: human
resource management and development; organisational and institutional matters;
ICT and e-Government across the public service.
Community development workers
The Community Development Workers programme is one of governmentâs
initiatives whose objective is to ensure that government services reach their
intended targets.
Community Development Workers play an important role in the creation of
linkages and improved co-ordination between the three spheres of government and
with all the community development stakeholders and organs of civil
society.
One of the critical linkages at a local level through which service delivery
needs to be improved is the ward committees. During the initial stages of the
implementation of the CDW programme, there were tensions as a result of a
misunderstanding of roles and relationship. These tensions were resolved though
workshops that involved CDWs and ward committees. Provincial units are also
rolling out workshops to introduce the CDWs in their communities, to their
fellow public servants in other government departments as well as to the
municipalities in which they are deployed.
Project Consolidate
The CDWs are trained and multi-skilled. Their training involved practical
project management, as well as exposure to direct work experiences. A number of
them were equipped with laptops to run a pilot e-Gateway project in Gauteng
during 2004/05. The pilot project has experienced some difficulties. In 2006
the pilot project will be extended to KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape.
KwaZulu-Natal has installed an information management system. Gauteng and
the Western Cape are in the process of installing theirs. Nationally,
discussions with SITA are underway to provide a national information management
system. Access to computers will be through MPCCs, Local Municipalities, Post
Offices and other locally based government offices.
Nationally, 3000 Community Development Workers have completed their
learnership. Four provinces (Eastern Cape, Northern Cape, Gauteng and Western
Cape) have already integrated these CDWs into the public service (total
690)
Building on the achievements made thus far, this year will be a year of
consolidation. It is our belief that the fundamental institutional framework is
in place. The broad objectives for this year are to:
* Community Development Workers are integrated within the broad government
initiatives of building a better life for all
* Community Development Workers are fully integrated within the broad public
participation programmes by improving co-ordination between their programmes
and those of the Ward committees.
* They play a critical role in achieving the objectives of Project
Consolidate.
* Community Development Workers play a critical role in initiating projects
that will work towards the realisation of the Local Economic Development
objectives at municipal level.
* There is integration of the Community Development Workers Programme with
the improvement of frontline staff development with the objective of achieving
the Batho Principles.
The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) was commissioned during 2005 to
conduct action research on the effectiveness of the CDW learnership training.
The research was conducted in four provinces, though the sample is
representative. The final report was completed in November 2005.
The key challenges identified are the definition of roles as well as the
responsibilities of the various stakeholders. Continuous endorsement at a
political level is also emphasised in the report to give the programme
continuous legitimacy. Marketing and communication of the programme is also
emphasised to make work easier for the CDWs.
The CDW programme is seen as part of a service delivery plan, as recommended
by the research report, and is embedded in the IDPs at municipal level.
Mentorship is provided for, as well as direct supervision at local levels. The
curriculum will be revisited on an ongoing basis.
Activities that are planned for this year include:
* The roundtable to review the programme implementation and its impact. Date
to be confirmed
* A community-based government workers conference to consolidate and enhance
coordination of all government and community developments initiatives. The
conference will be held on 22 May 2006.
* A publication of case studies based on the work the CDWs have done during
2005 will be produced by May 2006.
Home Affairs National Identification System (HANIS)
It is worth noting that elements of the HANIS projects have been
implemented. Amongst others, this includes the Automated Fingerprint
Identification System (AFIS) which is the integral component of HANIS. AFIS was
designed for the electronic storage and retrieval of fingerprints. In addition,
HANIS relied heavily on the electronic conversion of manual data known as the
Back Record Conversion. During 2005, the Department implemented a Back Record
Conversion Project, which entailed capturing, digitisation and storage of
manual fingerprint records onto the AFIS database. As at the end of December
2005 the number of stored fingerprint records on the AFIS database amounted to
11 097 101. The Back Record Conversion, which will be completed before the end
of the year will allow for online verification and identification data to the
benefit of both public and private institutions.
Mobile Units bringing services closer to the people
Home Affairs Department has distributed mobile units into all the Provinces
in a pursuit to brining services closer to the people. These Mobile Units seek
to give a concrete expression to the realisation of an age of hope in building
a national effort for faster and shared growth. The Mobile Units will create a
possibility for the citizens to access such services like application for birth
certificates, identity documents, marriage certificates, passports and other
documents provided for by Home Affairs. We are keenly aware that these
interventions are not adequate but these mobile units will help in giving
concrete resonance in building a better life for all.
Quota work permits
The Department of Home Affairs wishes to announce that the professional
categories and occupational classes in terms of which quota work permits may be
issued have been determined. The quotas will appear in the Gazette on Friday,
10 February 2006. Foreign nationals who meet the requirements for these permits
may apply at a foreign mission abroad or at an office of the Department of Home
Affairs in South Africa.
These quotas were determined in consultation with the Ministers of Trade and
Industry, and of Labour. These quotas are determined using the National
Critical Skills list â a flexible mechanism designed to assist in recruiting
certain skills into South Africa. This permit is designed to make it easier for
holders of certain skills or qualifications to come to South Africa.
It should be pointed out that the quota work permit is just one of a whole
âmenuâ of permits which allow foreigners to work and conduct business in South
Africa. Unlike other work permits, a quota work permit may be issued to an
applicant before he or she has secured employment. The holder is admitted to
South Africa so that he or she may seek employment in that specific category or
class. The permit does not guarantee the holder of the permit a job, merely the
opportunity to compete for work in South Africa on an equal footing with South
African citizens and permanent residents.
Permanent Residence
At the same time the Department will also publish regulations to determine
the yearly limits of available permanent residence permits for each for each
sector of industry, trade and commerce, in the category âresidence on other
groundsâ in terms of section 27(a) (ii) of the Immigration Act, 2002 as
amended. In order to qualify for such permits the applicant must have received
an offer of permanent employment. The job must have been advertised and no
suitably qualified South African or permanent resident was available to fill
it.
Batho Pele
Plans are underway to extend the roll out the Batho Pele Change Management
Engagement Programme that aims at improving service delivery in Free State and
KwaZulu-Natal. Cabinet has approved various measures to improve service
delivery including requirements that public service officials wear nametags
when on duty and that there must be proper signage at service delivery points.
The Department of Home Affairs has launched the name badges, and promoted
enhanced external communication with the public in improving service
delivery.
Two Batho Pele Learning Networks will be hosted by DPSA during 2006 in
various provinces. The purpose is to take Batho Pele to new levels through
dialogue and sharing best practices. The Service Delivery Watch (unannounced
visits), is a project whereby Ministers and other political office bearers
(Premiers, MECs and Municipal Mayors) make unannounced visits to various
service delivery points to assess the state of public services provision.
Previous observations made indicated that the queue management, name badges,
general conditions of buildings including proper signage and help desk staffing
arrangements need to be attended to.
Public Service Week (PSW) is one of the flagship programmes that take place
annually throughout the public service. PSW will be celebrated in November this
year and local government will be an integral part of the initiative. The
Khaedu Programme (a TshiVenda word meaning âchallengeâ) normally also forms
part of Public Service Week and aims at giving managers from national and
provincial departments the opportunity to experience first-hand the challenges
at the coalface of delivery. This would in turn enable them to draft policies
that are informed by realities on the ground. The Programme will be rolled out
to Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and Eastern Cape and also extended to
local government so as to complement Project Consolidate during this year.
âKnow your service rights and responsibilities campaignâ will be launched
soon. The purpose of this is to make citizens aware of their rights and service
standards they should expect in respect of service delivery as well as the ways
in which they may seek redress.
The Service Delivery Improvement Plans/Service Standards project is underway
and aims at the development and implementation of a regulatory framework that
would, amongst others, provide for the rollout of service standards and Service
Delivery Improvement Plans (SDIPs) in the Public Service. It will also provide
for the possible enforcement of departments to comply as a means to track and
improve service delivery. This project will be implemented in partnership with
the Premierâs Offices. This project and other Batho Pele initiatives such as
Project Khaedu and Public Service Week will be extended to local government in
line with the single public service initiative.
Planning and implementation
Local government
Introduction
This year marks the beginning of the second term of our Local Government
since the introduction of the new Local Government System in 2000. Over the
past five years, important lessons have been learned about the implementation
of the policy and legislative framework for local government. More recently,
Project Consolidate and Municipal Izimbizo Program have brought capacity,
accountability, governance and policy related issues into sharp focus.
Cabinet Lekgotla approved three strategic priorities to ensure that
challenges facing Local Government are eradicated. The three priorities are
to:
* Provide mainstreamed hands-on support to Local Government to improve
municipal governance, performance and accountability;
* Address the structure and governance arrangements of the State in order to
better strengthen, support and monitor Local Government; and
* Refine and strengthen the policy, regulatory and fiscal environment for Local
Government and give greater attention to the enforcement measures.
Five years of Local Government
A qualitative analysis of the past five years of local government indicates
that there has been steady progress in broadening access to basic services.
Governmentâs success in service delivery over the last 10 years was premised on
a commitment to massively increase its infrastructure base. Through the
Consolidated Municipal Infrastructure Programme (CMIP) and the Municipal
Infrastructure Grant alone, government invested over R10.3 billion in basic
municipal infrastructure since 2000.
Overall, there has also been an improvement in the delivery of Free Basic
Services in most provinces. For example in the Limpopo Province, all
municipalities are providing free basic water, while 21 out of the 26
municipalities are providing free basic electricity. In the Eastern Cape free
basic water is provided in all 39 municipalities, while 31 are providing free
basic electricity.
Over the MTEF period a steady increase in funding for basic services and
infrastructure is earmarked. For MIG, an incremental budgetary allocation is
earmarked as illustrated below.
Table: 1
2006/07: R7.4 billion
2007/08: R8.3 billion
2008/09: R9.3 billion
The rollout of basic services and infrastructure is however also
characterised by a number of challenges, some of which include: continued use
of the bucket sanitation system, poor water storage and treatment systems,
infrastructure backlogs in rural and informal settlements and lack of municipal
technical capacity to plan for and manage infrastructure investment and service
delivery.
The vital role that local economies have played in contributing to growth
within the national economy and GDP cannot be overlooked. The nine largest
cities account for 63% of the total GDP of the country. The relationship
between urbanization and economic growth trends can also be viewed as an
opportunity that municipalities can seize. Current data shows that of the 53
district and metropolitan municipal areas in the country, the economies of 13
grew consistently above the national average of 2,5% per annum over an eight
year period (1995-2003).
An assessment of the key challenges facing our municipalities indicates,
inter alias, that:
* A number of municipalities are still grappling with establishment
issues;
* Skills deficiencies continue to exist in municipalities, especially those in
rural areas;
* Accountability mechanisms for managers need refinement and greater
enforcement, and
* In some instances performance management systems are still to be
implemented.
Project Consolidate
In April 2005, government rolled out Project Consolidate as a practical,
appropriate and national programme with the intention to strategically
intervene and support 136 municipalities facing challenges. These
municipalities were identified after an intensive profiling exercise
highlighting areas such as capacity constraints, service delivery blockages and
challenges in good governance and community participation as needing immediate
hands-on support.
The roll out included the deployment of Service Delivery Facilitators to
identified municipalities. The aim of this initiative is to help municipalities
that are lagging behind to accelerate the pace of dealing with their own
backlogs. Furthermore, during 2005, Project Consolidate exposed a variety of
institutional challenges in the local government sphere.
As we move forward with Project Consolidate, in the next term of local
government there is a need to mainstream our hands-on support in five Key
Performance Areas, namely:
* Basic Service Delivery and Infrastructure;
* Institutional Development and Municipal Transformation;
* Municipal Financial Viability;
* Local Economic Development; and
* Good Governance and Public Participation.
The focus will be on all 283 municipalities to ensure that while we
capacitate those that are lagging behind; we do not neglect the rest.
Through Project Consolidate, government has already been able to make
positive impact in many parts of our country where hands-on support was
required.
These successes include, amongst others, the:
* Implementation of comprehensive recovery plan in Kannaland local municipality
in the Western Cape;
* Bucket system eradication in Klerksdorp, Ratlou, Greater Taung and Kagisano
local municipalities;
* Development and implementation of the financial recovery plan in Emfuleni
local municipality
The next five years of Local Government:
National and Provincial Government capacity to support municipalities
Our assessment of the last five years has indicated that both key national
and provincial government departments are either not capable or positioned to
provide structured and dedicated support to municipalities.
The recent Cabinet Lekgotla agreed that National and Provincial government
departments must prioritise support for municipalities through streamlining
their operations to focus on and provide appropriate resources and capacity to
the relevant provincial departments in order to support municipalities. They
must also reflect concrete support action to municipalities in their Strategic
and Business Plans.
Another priority is that dplg working with other government departments is
finalising a Local Government Competency Framework, which will see an
improvement of the regulatory environment regarding the appointment,
performance and evaluation of Municipal Managers and other senior managers.
The municipalities will also be given support to accelerate the filling of
vacant technical posts at municipal and senior management level.
The need to improve basic service delivery and infrastructure investment in
municipalities still remains a fundamental priority of this government.
National and Provincial government and key State Owned Enterprises will ensure
that key service delivery targets are achieved in the areas of water,
sanitation, the eradication of the bucket system and the provision of Free
Basic Services will also increase support.
National and provincial government will also in the short-term support
District and Metropolitan municipalities to prepare draft Integrated
Development Plans (IDPs). To assist the incoming municipal councils, government
support programmes will turn IDPs into more implementable development plans for
all three spheres of government to strategically respond to community
needs.
During the next five years, government will ensure that service delivery
targets are achieved. These are:
* Ensuring that all communities have access to clean water by 2010;
* Ensuring that all houses have access to electricity by 2012;
* Prioritising the eradication of the bucket system in during 2006 and
2007;
* Development of a national Municipal Infrastructure Investment Strategy that
will be a roadmap to achieving universal access;
* Prioritising technical hands-on support to less capacitated municipalities,
the realigned (previous cross-boundary) municipalities and the 21 rural and
urban nodes;
* Finalisation and implementation of the National Framework for LED (including
policy guidelines and strategies) in alignment with the ASGI-SA across rural
and urban municipalities in order to amongst other priorities improve the
market and public confidence in municipalities;
* Extending and mainstreaming project consolidate hands-on support to
municipalities; and
* Improving the capacity of Provincial Departments, particularly those
responsible for Local Government, to execute their provincial responsibilities
and roles and better support municipalities especially in relation to Project
Consolidate.
Public Participation
As part of the efforts to strengthen this system of local government, in the
next term, a conscious effort to capacitate ward committees the sphere closest
to the people, special efforts will be made in this regard.
Although a great amount of work has been done in establishing Ward
Committees for an enhanced Public participation and deepening social
mobilisation, it emerged during Municipal Izimbizo Programme that there is a
need for a targeted support towards Ward Committees to ensure that they
function better. Focus will also be on improving communication between councils
and communities.
It is, but not exclusively against this backdrop that Government will be
launching a Handbook for Ward Committees as well as a Ward Committee Resource
Book at Mogale City municipality in Gauteng on Friday, 10 February 2006.
In addition to these efforts, the dplg will roll out a Communication and
Social Mobilisation initiative to all Project Consolidate municipalities. This
programme includes improving the communication capacity of Ward Committees and
Community Development Workers (CDWs) with their communities.
These are just but a few of initiatives to ensure that capacity at all
levels of government are increased, and service delivery is accelerated.
While key service delivery milestones have been achieved, the first term of
democratic local government has been one of the most complex projects of state
transformation since 1994. The tasks of local government have proven to be more
complex and protracted than initially anticipated. Project Consolidate has
sharpened our understanding of the problems and challenges in the local
government sphere and has led us to the conclusion that we need to mainstream
hands on support to local government in general over the next five years.
Project Consolidate would have ceased to exist as a time bound measure directed
at particular municipalities.
Local Government Elections
The government has in terms of the Local Government Municipal Structures
Act, 1998 (Act No. 117 of 1998) declared that the local government elections
would be held on 1 March 2006. The Department of Home Affairs continues to
provide Identity Documents to equip South Africans with the right to vote.
Our staffs also continue working overtime in order to process and issue
identity document to their rightful owners. We have also noted that some of the
applicants who have applied for their documents have not yet come to
collect.
The Department of Home Affairs has also extended working hours including
opening up offices on Saturday to improve access and availability of services.
Home Affairs has also signed a memorandum of understanding with the South
African Post Office to assist with the distribution of Identity documents.
African Peer Review Mechanism
South Africa is coming to the end of the first step in implementing the
African Peer Review Mechanism. In the past few months the Peer Review Mechanism
has been introduced to the country and extensive consultations have been
undertaken. Our National Governing Council has overseen the national roll out,
including the appointment of Provincial Councils and their implementation of
extensive provincial processes. Ward Committees, Community Development Workers,
civil society organisations and community groups have all participated and made
valuable contributions.
The next step will be to draft a Country Self-assessment Report with a
Programme of Action and present it for consideration at the second consultative
conference to be held on 7 April. The final country self-assessment report will
be submitted to the APRM Secretariat by the end of April.
Enquiries:
Clayson Monyela
Cell: 082 806 7405
Issued by: Department of Public Service and Administration
7 February 2006
