Office of the Premier Departmental Budget Vote by Hon SH Ntombela, Premier of the Free State
Honourable Speaker of the Legislature Honourable Deputy Speaker
Honourable Members of the Legislature and the Executive Council Mayors, Speakers and Councillors of our Municipalities Modulasetulo wa Ntlo ya Marena le Marena kaofela
The Director-General and Heads of Department
Chairpersons of our Public Entities and Chief Executive Officers Leaders of the African National Congress and the Alliance
All our Special Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen
Honourable Speaker
We present this budget speech during one of the most significant months in the history of our country. We meet two days after the 29th commemoration of the brutal assassination of one of the leading revolutionaries of our time, Chris Hani, on the 10th of April 1993.
We are inspired by the wise words of the longest serving President of our movement, the ANC, President OR Tambo when he said, "The fight for freedom must go on until it is won; until our country is free and happy and peaceful as part of the community of man, we cannot rest."
As we will be commemorating the 29th anniversary of his death on the 24th of April, we are confident that this budget vote we are presenting today, signals a befitting tribute to the memory of this struggle icon.
Honourable Speaker
We are on the move to reconstruct and rebuild the Free State after the damage caused by COVID-19 to every aspect of our lives.
The urgency to create employment, defeat poverty and end inequality is now important than ever before. We need to grow the economy, improve the wellbeing of the people and deliver quality services.
Therefore, collaboration, cohesion and integration are not the options, but obligations for all of us for the Free State to succeed.
We are now more determined to rewrite the devastation of the COVID-19 chapter in our history, and get our province back on its feet again.
As we begin to do so, we need to overcome our challenges, build on our strengths and make the most of the opportunities available.
As different spheres of government, political organisations, the private sector, institutions of higher learning and social partners, we all share a dream of a prosperous Free State. It is our duty to make it happen.
To reach the greatest heights of our potential and achieve the objectives we have set for ourselves, the Office of the Premier as the Centre of the Provincial Government must hold.
It is the role of this Centre to determine the policy imperatives for the whole of government, provide strategic leadership, drive integrated coordination and ensure service delivery implementation.
These functions are anchored on integrated planning, analysis, research, alignment, monitoring and evaluation. To succeed, the Centre is shaping a capable, ethical and developmental state.
Honourable Speaker
There is no better way to create jobs, improve the quality of life, enable trade and attract investment than through infrastructure.
It is the role of the Office of the Premier to ensure that infrastructure is the “flywheel’ of our growth and development. This requires us to repurpose our functions and build the necessary capacity.
Our work with Infrastructure South Africa to help develop a viable project pipeline for implementation is underway. Currently, we are building the necessary project management capacity in government.
There is a dedicated Technical Advisory Panel from Infrastructure South Africa to help with the packaging of provincial infrastructure projects for ultimate funding and implementation.
Soon we will conclude a Memorandum of Understanding with the Development Bank of Southern Africa to create a project management unit in the Office of the Premier.
This will set in motion infrastructure planning coordination that ensures collective action based on a shared developmental agenda.
Honourable Speaker
The District Development Model will also guide infrastructure investment and projects delivery in the province. This will enhance integrated coordination and implementation of projects.
Working together with the Department of Cooperative Governance responsible for the Model, the Office of the Premier is overseeing the successful implementation of the District Development Model.
This responsibility includes enhancing our intergovernmental relations to drive integrated planning and coordination in line with the pillars of the Free State Growth and Development Strategy.
The past week’s Presidential Imbizo engagements with communities in our districts were a clear demonstration of this Model in action.
On Saturday, we watched with admiration when President Cyril Ramaphosa was spontaneously directing Ministers to respond and commit to resolving the issues raised by community members.
We are working with municipalities to enhance their capacity to effectively deliver services to the people.
Some communities in our townships have to travel over ten kilometers to access services. We will therefore bring services closer to communities by establishing Integrated Service Delivery Centres to provide healthcare, legal support, social and security services.
The Provincial Government has resolved to revoke Section 139 (5) a and c of the Constitution in Mangaung to enable national government to intervene in this Metro by invoking Section 139 (7).
We will continue to work with national government in enhancing service delivery in Mangaung. We have started during this Presidential Imbizo and we are not about to stop.
Integrated policy implementation across the three spheres of government will continue to be embedded through the Premier’s Coordinating Forum and the President Coordinating Council.
We will still use the Cluster System as a layer to link policy priorities and implementation between the three spheres of government.
Already, the thematic areas of clusters to ensure that priorities inform implementation were central in shaping planning and budgeting during our Lekgotla this year. This cluster planning approach will continue.
Leading the Forum of Heads of Department and participating in the Forum of South African Directors-General has been instrumental to ensure policy coherence and service delivery implementation.
Honourable Speaker
We are seeing the results of a social distance between government and the people as demonstrated by social protests, poor quality of services, and the challenges of unemployment, poverty and inequality.
These are the results of lack of integrated coordination, alignment of strategic priorities, integrated planning approaches and budgeting processes, including focused monitoring and evaluation.
In addressing service delivery challenges and growing the economy to bridge the divide between government and the people, the process to sign a Social Compact with social partners has started.
The Social Compact will deepen the partnership between government and communities. This will also specify the role each partner will play in ensuring the development of the Free State.
We restate our commitment to provide quality service delivery by establishing a Service Delivery Technical Team, which is comprised of civil and electrical engineers, quantity surveyors, town planners and ICT specialists in the Premier’s Office by July this year.
This will strengthen the capacity of municipalities to operate and maintain critical infrastructure essential for service delivery.
Honourable Speaker
The Community Development Workers will continue to be change agents and representatives of the voices of communities at ward level.
The Batho Pele principles are the most important values that power our democracy. We serve at the behest of the people.
In the 2021/22 financial year, we received four thousand, two hundred and thirty-five calls on our Presidential Hotline.
Of these calls, four thousand, one hundred and ninety-seven complaints were resolved. This is a demonstration of our commitment to resolve service delivery challenges.
Improving accountability, transparency and efficiency is also important in combating and exposing acts of corruption in government.
Not only does corruption deprive the people of their livelihoods, but also worsen unemployment, poverty and inequalities.
Implementation of our Fraud Prevention and Detection Plan will be intensified to instill professional and ethical conduct. Each year we ensure full compliance with financial disclosure in government.
Lifestyle audits are now compulsory for public servants. All those who visibly live beyond their means will have to account for their unexplained high standard of living.
Working with the Public Service Commission, we will also refer cases of officials conducting business with government to law enforcement agencies for appropriate action.
We reiterate our commitment to improve audit outcomes of the Office of the Premier to ensure sound financial management. All efforts will be made to prevent irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure.
We will work with the Office of the Auditor-General to achieve these objectives and diligently implement our Audit Action Plan.
We will continue to pay our suppliers within the stipulated 30 days to stimulate economic growth. Risks that hamper effective service delivery will be identified and measures put in place to mitigate them.
Honourable Speaker
No ethical and developmental state will be realised without the necessary capacity. We need skills to develop and grow the Free State.
The Office of the Premier will host a Senior Management Indaba in September to deliberate on this very important topic, which is the number one priority of government.
We are already taking bold steps in building the capacity of the Provincial Government. As indicated in the State of the Province Address, fifty of our officials are undergoing a Recognition of Prior Learning to obtain a National Diploma in Public Administration.
One hundred and forty-nine unemployed youth completed their Public Administration Learnership Programme. We were central in ensuring work placements for three hundred and fourteen youth.
The MERSETA programme worth forty-two million, one hundred thousand rands to offer six hundred and fifty leaners various skills is now in a procurement stage.
Two thousand N3 to N6 TVET Colleges graduates are benefitting from the NQF Level 5 Building Inspectorate Programme offered by LGSETA in collaboration with the Central University of Technology.
The Central University of Technology in partnership with the NHBRC is training six hundred and ninety-five students in the NQF Level 7.
Four hundred and eighty apprentices are enrolled in Trade Test Programme to register as artisans.
Of the seven hundred and fifty-three students studying locally, hundred and nineteen have completed their studies and hundred and eighty-one are awaiting their results. Three hundred and eleven students are studying internationally as we scale-down on the programme.
We have also allocated additional two hundred local bursaries this financial year.
It is our duty to ensure that all foreign qualified students are registered with the relevant boards and councils.
Recently, the court has directed that foreign qualified doctors can write the Health Professionals Council of South Africa’s board exam before they can undergo internship and community health service.
The South African Qualifications Authority has assessed foreign qualifications of our engineering students and were found to be equivalent to our local engineering qualifications.
We will enhance international cooperation with provinces in other countries. Focusing on Africa and the world, our interest will be on economic relations for the growth and development of the Free State.
In this age of knowledge economy, ICT is a catalyst for growth and development. In government, ICT enhances efficiency, transparency, accountability and innovation for improved service delivery.
To demonstrate our desire to provide a digitally led ecosystem, we will co-host the 2nd Provincial Fourth Industrial Revolution Summit later this year together with the Central University of Technology.
The theme of this Summit is, “Accelerating Economic Growth and Development of the Free State Through Innovative 4IR Technologies for Eradicating Poverty and Unemployment.”
The Summit, which follows a successful inaugural Summit held in 2019, will provide a platform for youth to develop 4IR-enabled solutions to deal with our challenges and present these to funders.
Following the successful launch of the Botshabelo Digital Hub, we will partner with MTN to launch an Intercontinental Hackathon and an Application Development Programme.
Measures to improve ICT infrastructure as a contributor to building our desired developmental state have started. These will strengthen ICT governance and help improve service delivery in government.
We will increase the capacity of our State Law Advisors to deal with the rising number of litigations against government.
Honourable Speaker
The lack of gender equity and women empowerment in our society is another factor that drives violence against women and children.
We condemn the recent brutal rape and murder of a school girl in Frankfort, and we are disappointed that the suspect was arrested and released without being charged.
I am also disturbed by the shocking rape and burning of a young woman in Clocolan and I am happy that the suspect has been arrested.
We will strongly drive the implementation and monitoring of the National Strategic Plan on Gender Based Violence and Femicide.
Our District Gender Coordinators will continue to ensure gender equality and women empowerment programmes are implemented.
Equally, we will increase awareness campaigns and emphasise the damaging effects of violence against women, children and members of the LGBTQI Plus community.
We are concerned about the low levels of gender-based violence cases that get to be prosecuted. We will increase our capacity to support women by working together with the police and the judiciary to expedite the resolution of gender-based violence related cases.
We will host an Indaba with religious leaders to discuss their contribution in the fight against gender-based violence, and see how this subject could feature prominently in their services.
We are committed to ensuring the protection of the rights of persons with disabilities. Ongoing work to create opportunities for persons with disabilities and integrate them in every aspect of life continues.
Improving the living conditions of people with disability will include the provision of necessary tools, creation of employment and business opportunities, and ensuring that public buildings are accessible.
We want to say it again that the future belongs to the youth. It is our responsibility to support their development, stimulate their creativity, nurture their skills, create opportunities and guide them through life.
Districts Youth Coordinators have been appointed to strengthen our advocacy and coordination of youth empowerment programmes.
The impact of COVID-19, the changing nature of work, the role of technology, and increasing economic hardships have had significant impact on the work place and employer-employee relationship.
Only healthy civil servants can care and serve. We will host an Employee Wellness Indaba to improve the wellbeing of employees.
We will continue to monitor progress on SOPA and Budget Votes injunctions to ensure that government fulfil its commitments.
Honourable Speaker
I now present the budget of the Office of the Premier as follows:
One hundred and ten million, and forty-three thousand rands has been allocated to Programme 1.
Programme 2 has been allocated three hundred and forty-seven million, eight hundred eleven thousand rands.
Seventy-six million, nine hundred and six thousand rands has been allocated to Programme 3.
Programme 4 has been allocated one hundred and fifty-four million, and twenty-two thousand rands.
Honourable Speaker
This budget reflects the economic challenges facing the country. We have to do more with less to meet the increasing needs of the people.
But even under these difficult economic conditions, a lot has been done. But we all do know that a lot more still needs to be done.
To do this, we need effective, dedicated and hardworking civil servants. We need systems that enhance effective performance. We also need to make sure each cent we use goes to service delivery.
Our deeds will be reflected in our actions and not only words.
Allow me to extend my gratitude to the Director-General, Ntate Kopung Ralikontsane and staff for their hard work.
I thank you
