System Cluster briefing
5 March 2007
Representatives of the media houses present here today, when the Premier
delivered his State of the Province Address (SOPA) on 23 February he gave us
the line of March for the coming financial year. This cluster strives to
improve the quality of life of the people of Mpumalanga by ensuring that it
improves the organisation and capacity of government for efficient and
effective service delivery.
The main objectives of this cluster are the:
* accelerated capacity building
* branding of the province
* improving safety and security for communities
* international relations
* development of integrated human settlements
* supporting municipalities to achieve integrated service delivery and sound
financial governance.
High impact projects
High priority areas for this cluster will be the delivery of the following
high impact projects:
* sanitation in line with water blueprint
* integrated human settlement to achieve 2014 Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs)
* accelerated access to government services through Multi-Purpose Community
centre (MPCC) and Community Development Workers (CDWs)
* service delivery on farms
* marketing and branding
* reduction of crime by 7 to 10%.
The cluster takes a cue from 2005 local government election manifesto when
the African National Congress (ANC) pledged to make local government work for
all. We have already made achievements in some of the following areas:
Municipal transformation and organisational development
A total of 20 out of 21 municipal managers have already been appointed.
There are currently only 27 vacant posts of Section 57 managers, an improvement
from a total of 157 vacant posts as at July 2006. All municipal managers have
signed their performance agreements (PAs) and about 80% of the appointed
Section 57 managers have also signed their PAs in terms of the Performance
Management Regulations (PMR).
Basic service delivery
Our onslaught on accelerating service delivery is uncompromising. As the
Premier indicated in his State of the Province Address, we have eradicated
bucket toilets in the province. A total 18 617 households have benefited. We
have learnt a number of valuable lessons from this programme. These lessons
will be beneficial to us as we roll out other projects of this magnitude.
More than 474 000 households have access to free basic water and a total of
551 649 households have access to electricity.
Municipal financial viability and management
All 21 municipalities adopted their Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) and
2006/07 budgets in time before 30 June 2006. A number of 16 municipalities out
of 21 have submitted their 2005/06 annual financial statements in time.
We have deployed financial experts to Bushbuckridge and Nkomazi with
positive turnaround results on revenue generation.
Msukaligwa has been identified as a pilot for the rollout of the Municipal
Property Rates Act. Lessons learnt from the pilot shall be beneficial to other
municipalities that would only be able to roll out from the subsequent
financial years.
We are still faced with challenges of excessive accumulation of municipal
debtors, under performing municipal finance departments, e.g. strict credit
control measures and a number of qualified audit reports from the
Auditor-General's Office. In an effort to address these challenges credit
control and debt management system initiated from the Department of Provincial
and Local Government (DPLG) will be proposed to all under performing
municipalities, using Municipal Systems Improvement Grants (MSIG).
Deployment of technical expertise
We have sourced some engineering capacity from service providers and the
Development Bank of South Africa's (DBSA's) Siyenza Manje Project, who were
deployed to acute municipalities. The Department will also establish a
programme facilitation unit during 2007/08 to assist municipalities to expedite
their targets on Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) programme especially on
water and sanitation. Our MIG programme will use the labour intensive approach
as part of Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP). This will enable us to
create more job opportunities for our people.
We have deployed a number of technical engineers to our municipalities. We
have already seen some positive spin offs through these deployments especially
on the MIG spending patterns. Now, 90% of the currently committed projects in
MIG were developed through the assistance of external interventions.
Expenditure levels have been raised from 8% to the current 35% so far. This
progress would have been far better if more deployments had happened earlier.
Plans are in place to deploy assistance in all municipalities to strengthen
their Project Management Units (PMUs).
Multi-Purpose Community Centre (MPCC)
MPCCs are being renovated and that will be brought into use in the new
financial year. Staff will be recruited especially the centre manager and the
information technology (IT) specialist for these eight MPCCs. The cluster will
ensure that optimal operations are achieved in the current four MPCCs. These
MPCCs are Casteel, Leandra, Mpuluzi and Matsamo.
Disaster management centre
The Governance and Criminal Justice System cluster has the task of
establishing a disaster management centre. The province will commence with the
construction of the state of the art provincial disaster management centre. The
construction is earmarked to commence just before June 2007 and to be completed
early in 2009. It should be ready in time for the 2010 World Cup dry run.
Community Development Workers (CDWs)
Since the inception of the CDWs programme, the province has appointed 360
CDWs. Due to the re-demarcation of boundaries, the province transferred some
CDWs to Limpopo, some have resigned due to getting better job opportunities
whilst others have passed away, thus leaving the province with 327 CDWs. These
have been deployed to all municipalities in the province. We have begun a
process of recruiting an additional 40 CDWs from Bushbuckridge Local
Municipality and we will begin a process of filling the other vacant posts that
have been left by those who have left the programme.
Our CDWs are a very important cadre of our government. We must use them
effectively to assist us reach our communities effectively. As a province we
will begin to use them to assist us with monitoring our projects, verifying
information from our communities and also to address the obstacles that hinder
service delivery in our communities.
Flagship projects
The Governance and Criminal Justice Cluster also deals with two of the "big
five" flagship projects which are meant to improve service delivery and
development of the province to the highest level. As the Premier stated in the
State of Province Address, these flagship projects must be like development
sunbeams of the African Sun in our province. The following flagship projects
fall under this cluster:
1. Accelerated capacity building in government
In this regard the Premier talked about the accelerated capacity building
programme in government. This program seeks to capacitate the leadership and
management team of Mpumalanga provincial and local government in generic
management and leadership competencies to enhance service delivery. Through
this programme, we will among other tings, establish a permanent Mpumalanga
management centre for management development, ensure alignment between capacity
building project and performance management system and develop a recruitment,
retention and succession strategy for scarce and critical skills.
2. Water for all
This project will provide infrastructure to ensure all people have access to
the basic water. It will also progressively move people up the water services
ladder (basic levels to higher levels). This shall be achieved by first
targeting areas that have no accessibility of water to get the least supplies
of basic water by 2008. The project will further accelerate provision to reach
the higher level of service by 2010. There are 171 586 households in backlogs
that are affected. A collective approach shall apply with the district and
local municipalities implementing, assisted by the province and Department of
Water Affairs and Forestry (DWAF).
Housing projects implemented and plans to address challenges faced
From 1994 to date the province has completed 111 963 housing units. As on 31
March 2006, we had 3 593 incomplete houses of these we have completed 3 555 and
35 are outstanding. However, during the year we have identified an additional 4
332 units that are incomplete. We take note of the issues raised by the Premier
in the SOPA regarding the challenges of completing the incomplete housing
projects.
Our housing delivery has been unsatisfactory this financial year. From April
2006 to January 2007 we have only managed to deliver 4 984 units from a target
of 12 940 and we have only transferred 452 units from a target of 5 500.
As part of addressing challenges we have faced under the housing programme,
we will look at implementing the multi year planning system. This means that
for each financial year we will plan six months earlier; for the next
financial, we have also appointed project management consultants to assist the
Department with planning and project management.
The Department has also started a process to review the organogram in order
to deal with all the issues of capacity, in the Department.
The province is also looking at purchasing land and properties in some of
the eight municipalities that have been identified as economic development
areas. The modes of delivery in these areas will be social housing including
rental stock, up market housing and low cost housing in the areas closest to
the economic activity.
Progress on accreditation of municipalities on provision of housing
Emalahleni Municipality has been given level one accreditation, which allows
them to carry out housing functions. Level one accreditation entails
beneficiary subsidy administration which includes capturing of applications and
verification on system. The approval of the beneficiaries vests with the
province. The accreditation of municipalities will assist the Department in its
efforts to accelerate housing delivery.
The Department has received a business plan from Dr Moroka Municipality. The
other municipalities are still working on their business plans. They are all in
line for level one accreditation.
School safety programme
The cluster plans to intensify the school safety programme by increasing the
number of crime information boxes in schools. The intention is to reduce crime
not only to schools but to the community at large. This exercise will be done
in partnership with the Department of Education and South African Police
Service (SAPS) in ensuring that the school safety forums and the adopt-a-cop
programme are sustained in identified schools.
Security volunteers project (Masupatsela)
In an effort to decrease crime in our province the cluster had introduced
security volunteers to assist in fighting crime. A number of 105 youth
volunteers were trained through phase one of police reservists' training. These
volunteers are patrolling crime hotspots in conjunction with the police as a
pilot project to fight crime.
Domestic violence against women and children
The cluster will add more impetus in respect of mobilising the communities
against crime with more emphasis on crimes against women and children. This
cluster will eradicate the scourge where a husband sees no crime in bashing the
wife and where all the intoxicated and drunk sees the prey in children.
Afrika concept
SAPS have started with the restructuring process to strengthen capacity at
police station level. Area offices are phased out and a total of 704 personnel
from provincial and area levels have been deployed to the police stations to
enhance service delivery on the ground. The management of the stations has been
capacitated through this process and senior managers have been deployed
specifically at high crime police stations. This will actually assist in the
deployment of resources where they are mostly needed.
Provincial crime prevention framework
The ongoing implementation of the provincial crime prevention framework is
also a priority for the next financial year, which will see the Department
engaging municipalities with a view to introducing municipal safety plans as
part of the municipal planning processes. The intention is to align municipal
development strategies within a crime prevention framework, thereby ensuring
that development at local level takes into account crime prevention
principles.
Community policing forums (CPF)
Governance and criminal justice system cluster will continue fighting crime
through community participation. The tremendous assistance from the community
structures will never be undermined as our service will not win the battle
against crime without them. Training of the community policing forums in the
drive to fight crime in the communities remains key. The structures will work
hand in hand with the ward councillors to root out crime in our
communities.
International relations
To improve international relations the cluster will ensure that all current
Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) are regularly co-ordinated and monitored.
Currently we have got twinning agreements with the following provinces: Alberta
(Canada), Maputo (Mozambique), North Rhine Westphalia (Germany), Chongqing and
Chichuan (both in China). We are also working towards convening a provincial
international marketing fair in November 2007.
Contacts:
Simphiwe Kunene
Cell: 082 413 3931
Nosisa Sogayise
Cell: 083 960 1078
Mokope Taiwe
Cell: 082 802 8460
Issued by: Department of Finance, Mpumalanga Provincial Government
5 March 2007
