Government’s Year of Delivery 2011/12

Creating decent work

Government declared 2011 as the Year of Job Creation. Despite the difficult economic climate, the effort to create jobs continued in the public and private sectors.

These include large-scale developments such as electricity plants, rail and road upgrades and water management that will sustain between 50 000 and 100 000 jobs in construction up to 2015.

Other initiatives that government put in place during 2011 included:

  • a R9-billion Jobs Fund to encourage new initiatives both inside and outside of government
  • stablishing more than 300 cooperatives under the Comprehensive Rural Development Programme
  • 521 831 work opportunities were created by the end of October 2011 through the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP)
  • job opportunities for more than 80 000 people under the Community Work Programme
  • 15 132 jobs created under the LandCare, Forestry Operations, Micro-Agricultural Financial Institutions of South Africa, Working for Fisheries and Comprehensive Agricultural Support programmes
  • a further 83 791 job opportunities created in all nine provinces across 63 municipalities between April and September 2011
  • 600 EPWP jobs through the Square Kilometre Array Project.

Compared to a year ago, employment increased by 343 000 (2,6%), according to the Labour Force Surveyfor July to September 2011 (Quarter 3).

2011 was also a year which gave effect to the ethos of “Working Together” with a number of ground-breaking accords that now commit government and various sectors to taking the country forward jointly. These include:

  • Deepening social dialogue and partnership within the ambit of the National Economic Development and Labour Council or Nedlac.
  • A historic Skills Accord [PDF], committing business and the State to enrol at least 30 000 artisan trainees over the next 12 months in training programmes.
  • A Green Economy Accord between government and economic sectors, paving the way for new economic activity and jobs linked to our efforts to make South Africa more responsive to the effects of climate change.
  • A Basic Education Accord [PDF] in terms of which government, business and labour will work together to improve learning and teaching in our country.
  • A Local Procurement Accord [PDF], committing the social partners to work together to increase local procurement. The procurement regulations giving effect to this accord came into effect on 7 December 2011.

Growing infrastructure

Infrastructure development remains at the heart of government’s plans to grow the country. Massive investments have been made by government in this area.

In 2010/11, the City of Johannesburg spent over R1,6 billion in implementing the Bus Rapid Transport System. Cape Town spent over R70 million and Nelson Mandela Bay approximately R300 million.

The Gautrain is improving the lives of hundreds of people with the route to Tshwane becoming operational in July 2011.

Nine regional bulk water systems were constructed in Limpopo, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape, benefiting 744 000 people.

The Department of Public Works completed several infrastructure projects, including:

  • the R220-million Marion Island Project
  • a forensic laboratory for the South African Police Service totalling R700 million
  • the Justice Appeal Court in Bloemfontein which cost R114 million and a R932-million correctional centre in Kimberley.

Improving the performance of the State

Government introduced performance monitoring and evaluation to keep track of progress and to identify and deal with areas where delivery is not taking place.

The President undertook five focused hands-on monitoring visits to provinces during 2011. They included:

  • three visits to the Eastern Cape (June and September), which focused on assessing education; service delivery particularly of water, electricity and roads; and the performance of the automotive sector, which is the economic engine of the province
  • a visit to Limpopo in July to assess the performance of the health sector
  • a visit to the Free State in October which focused on rural development.

Teams from the Performance Monitoring and Evaluation Department in The Presidency were sent to areas such as Balfour, Bekkersdal, Umzimkhulu and others to assess and promote service delivery. The President will continue with the hands-on visits.

Furthermore, The Presidency and the offices of the premiers are jointly implementing a programme of monitoring front-line service delivery. The results of this programme will be regularly presented to Cabinet.

All these measures are designed to improve the performance of the State and to encourage a culture of excellence among public servants.

14 million households were visited as part of the 10-year Census undertaken in 2011. The aim of the Census was to provide comprehensive information on the population dynamics at all levels of society with the main output being the size, nature, characteristics and geographic location of South Africa’s population.

Government also continued to improve the National Population Register to record population statistics accurately so that it can plan timeously to meet the needs of the country’s citizens.

The finalisation of applications for work, business and corporate permits was also prioritised. To this end, 7 054 permits were issued between April and June 2011. This is part of the effort to attract scarce skills into the country and boosting the economy, which will help with job creation.

In 2011, the Online Fingerprint Verification System was implemented, which saw the department signing a memorandum of understanding with the banking industry, through the South African Banking Risk Information Centre, to roll out the system in all participating banks. The implementation of this system will enable banks to verify details of their clients through the Home Affairs National Identification System.

Another achievement was the finalisation of the draft National Development Plan: Vision for 2030, which the National Planning Commission in The Presidency has released for public comment. The plan directly addresses key historic challenges, the elimination of poverty and the reduction of inequality.

Strengthening cooperative governance

Cooperation with provincial administrations improved considerably due to the regular meetings of the President, premiers and local government representatives in the President’s Coordinating Council.

The various tiers of government are working closely together to strengthen the performance of certain departments in the provincial administrations. Some examples of these efforts include:

  • a focused relationship with the Government of the Eastern Cape aimed at revitalising education
  • in Gauteng, work is underway with the Provincial Government to improve the administration of health
  • focusing on the governance of roads and transport in the Free State
  • working with the Limpopo Provincial Government to drastically improve the running of anumber of departments, including the provincial treasury.

Fighting crime and corruption

Official figures show that the most serious violent crimes are on the decline.

Achievements attained in 2011 included, among other things:

  • Serious crimes dropped by 5,75% in 2011/12 compared to the same period in 2010/11. There were 149 659 arrests.
  • Contact crimes decreased by 9,65% in 2011/12 compared to the same period in 2010/11. There were 54 919 arrests.
  • The detection rate for contact crime increased from 53,46% to 56,99% and for trio crimes (vehicle hijacking, house robbery and business robbery) from 14,77% to 16,2% in 2010/11.

Government continues to roll out victim support rooms (VSRs) to show empathy to victims of violent crime, especially in cases of sexual offences, child abuse and domestic violence. The number of VSRs increased from 806 to 900 across the country.

Government has taken firm steps to build anti-corruption capacity in the Public Service through the creation of anti-corruption instruments such as the:

  • Public Service Anti-Corruption Unit
  • Multi-Agency Working Group
  • National Anti-Corruption Hotline (NACH).

Since the inception of the NACH, a total of 1 499 officials were charged with misconduct for corrupt activities. The successful investigation of some of these cases resulted in the recovery of R110 million from perpetrators.

The Anti-Corruption Task Team is investigating 45 corruption-related priority cases against 151 accused persons and assets in excess of R600 million have been seized. More than R1 billion worth of assets obtained through illicit means have been forfeited to the State over the past two years.

More than 20 proclamations have been issued by the President, authorising the Special Investigating Unit to conduct investigations. Most of these focus on procurement-related irregularities, which is a priority for government.

In the culture of open and transparent governance, as well as in acknowledging the public interest in these matters, the President established the Commission of Inquiry into the Strategic Defence Procurement Packages, known commonly as the “Arms Deal” to bring about closure to this matter. In this spirit, President Zuma also released the Donen Report into the Iraq Oil for Food Programme.

Improving healthcare

Much progress has been made in various areas in the health sector, in particular the fight against HIV and AIDS.

In 2009, government announced ground-breaking measures to fight HIV and AIDS, relating to testing, treatment and support.

  • More than eight million people were screened for tuberculosis (TB) and between April 2010 and June 2011, more than 300 000 people were placed on preventive treatment to stop the activation of TB.
  • 13 million people agreed to be tested for HIV through the HIV Counselling and Testing Campaign, launched in 2010.
  • 2 948 public health facilities are now initiating patients on antiretroviral treatment (ART), compared to 495 in January 2010.
  • 1,6 million patients had been initiated on ART by September 2011.
  • All public health facilities in South Africa now offer services to pregnant women, including HIV testing.  A landmark achievement for our country is the 50% reduction  in  the transmission of HIV from mothers to children between 2008 and 2010.
  • The proportion of children whose mothers are HIV positive, and who were infected, decreased from 8% in 2008 to 3,5% in 2010.

In December 2011, government also launched the new National Strategic Plan (NSP) [PDF]to fight HIV, sexually transmitted infections and TB from 2012 to 2016.

The five goals of the NSP are to:

  • reduce new HIV infections by at least 50%, using combination prevention approaches
  • initiate at least 80% of eligible patients on ART with 70% alive and on treatment five years after initiation
  • reduce the number of new TB infections as well as deaths from TB by 50%
  • ensure an enabling and accessible legal framework that protects and promotes human rights to support implementation of the NSP
  • reduce self-reported stigma related to HIV and TB by at least 50%.

Rural development and land reform

One of the biggest success stories has been the revitalisation of small rural towns. Two pilot projects are underway at Prince Albert Hamlet, Witzenburg Municipality in the Western Cape; and in Dysselsdorp, in the Greater Oudtshoorn Municipality in the Eastern Cape. These are two examples of what can be achieved through working together as the three spheres of government and the community.

More than 540 117 hectares were acquired for land-reform purposes. In   an effort to resuscitate land-reform projects, the Recapitalisation and Development Programme was introduced. To date, 769 farms are being recapitalised by being provided with agricultural infrastructure, with 234 farmers receiving mentorship and training.

The complexities in the restitution programme cannot be underestimated. Approximately 700 claims were settled, benefiting more than 13 310 households. Financial compensation paid to beneficiaries totals more than R460 million.

Government launched the National Rural Youth Service Corps in Dysselsdorp, in the Greater Oudtshoorn Municipality. Over 7 000 young people from rural communities are participating in the programme, which includes training in disaster management, construction and information management.

Boosting education

Education remains a key priority for government and significant investment was made in the future of our young generation.

Some of the highlights include:

  • Reaching 8,6 million learners with the School Nutrition Programme.
  • Printing and delivering a total of 24 million Grade 1 – 6 (Book 1 and 2) Language and Mathematics workbooks to 18 854 public primary schools in nine provinces.
  • Providing around 2 700 learners with supplementary tuition in Mathematics, Physical Science and English during the 2010 academic year.
  • The number of registered Early Childhood Development (ECD) sites increased to more than 19 000, and the number of children benefiting from ECD services to more than 790 000.
  • The National Student Financial Aid Scheme of South Africa’s (NSFAS) turnaround strategy was put in place and resulted in a clean audit. In the 2010 academic year, 210 592 students were supported in Further Education and Training college and university programmes through the NSFAS. This amounted to R3,678 billion.

70,2% of the matriculants who sat for the 2011 National Senior Certificate examinations at South Africa’s state schools passed their exams – a 2,4% increase on the previous year’s pass rate of 67,8%.

Providing social support

The Child-Support Grant was extended to children aged 16 and 17, which increased the number of children benefiting from the grant to more than 10,5 million.

Social grants remain the cornerstone of the fight against poverty affecting children and older persons. These now reach more than 15 million individuals, compared to 2,7 million in 1994.

Human settlements

The Informal Settlements Upgrading Programme has provided services in 52 383 sites against a target of 27 054 sites.

The following were achieved in 2011:

  • 2 176 human settlement projects were approved
  • 341 316 houses were completed
  • 154 461 serviced sites were delivered
  • over 32 000 serviced sites were completed as part of the Informal Settlements Upgrading Programme
  • over 5 000 rental housing units were completed in 2011 as part of the drive towards accelerated delivery of housing opportunities.

From 2009 to June 2011, over 81 000 incremental housing loans were disbursed to the value of over R385 million by the Rural Housing Loan Fund. Thirty thousand of these loans were disbursed in the rural nodes to the value of R130 million.

Government has broadened universal access to basic services:

  • 64 453 electricity connections were achieved in 2011/12.
  • 449 082 people were supplied with basic water supply between April and December 2011.

Saving tomorrow today

The objective of a better life for the people of South Africa, the continent of Africa and the world at large was at the heart of our successful hosting of the COP17/CMP7 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Durban during 2011.

Aware of the fact that Africa is the continent most affected by the impacts of climate change, we were committed as South Africa to ensure that Durban delivered a fair and balanced outcome that would help secure the future of our planet.

The resulting Durban Platform outcome was a coup for our country and our continent and we look forward to maintaining the momentum that was initiated in Durban.

South Africa will continue holding the COP17/CMP7 Presidency for the year ending in November 2012, when the new incoming COP18/CMP8 President will take over.

As part of its “green” initiatives, government supports the project to install solar water heating systems in homes. Over 200 000 solar water heaters have been installed.

Building a better Africa and a better world

The African Agenda remained the key policy focus in 2011, with South Africa currently serving a two-year term on the African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council.

In August 2011, South Africa assumed the chairpersonship of the Southern African Development Community Organ on Politics, Defence and Security.

The world witnessed the birth of a brand new state, South Sudan, in which South Africa played a part. The country is currently involved in various peacekeeping operations.

A key challenge during 2011 was the situation around Libya. South Africa was principled and consistent in its efforts to help secure a resolution of the situation in that country, despite the unfortunate developments around the misuse of the United Nations’ (UN) Resolution of 1973 which was meant to protect civilians. We will continue to work within the AU towards a solution in Libya and to deal with challenges in the North African region.

South Africa participated in all deliberations in the various organs of the UN and specifically the Security Council (UNSC) as a non-permanent member for 2011 and 2012. During its tenure as UNSC President in January 2012, Resolution 2033 was adopted that provides for closer cooperation between the UN and the AU.

The New Partnership for Africa’s Development (Nepad) turned 10 years old in 2011. South Africa has played and will continue to play a leading role in developing Nepad and its various sectoral strategies, programmes and projects; mobilising African and international support for Nepad, especially domestic resource mobilisation; and supporting its structures and processes. South Africa also has a critical role in Nepad as chair of the Presidential Infrastructure Championship Initiative.

In support of advancing a robust regional and continental economic integration agenda, South Africa successfully hosted the second Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa)-East African Community (EAC)-Southern African Development Community (SADC) (Comesa-EAC-SADC) Tripartite Heads of State and Government Summit in Sandton on 12 June 2011, culminating in the official launch of free trade area negotiations. The regional integration will create a market of 26 countries with a combined population of nearly 600 million people and a total gross domestic product of approximately US$1 trillion by 2013.

The country hosted the fifth India, Brazil and South Africa (IBSA) Summit in October 2011. The IBSA trilateral development initiative aims to increase trade volumes between the three countries to $25 billion by 2015.

South Africa became a member of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) in 2011, an international grouping of some of the world’s leading emerging economies.

Developing sport

On the sporting front, the netball, rugby and cricket teams participated in world cup tournaments. They flew the rainbow flag with distinction even if they did not capture the ultimate honours.

Sport and Recreation South Africa hosted the National Sport and  Recreation Indaba from 21 to 22 November 2011 to maximise the potential benefits of sport and recreation and to improve sports development in the country in a seamless and well-coordinated system.

The newly launched Integrated School Sport Framework will give children early exposure to diverse healthy physical activity.

Working together we can do more!

Although challenges remain, each passing year, our country moves forward, towards a better life for all.

“Let us make a concerted effort to recognise and highlight what is good and great about our country in 2012, and play our part, to make South Africa succeed.”
– President Jacob Zuma, New Year’s message, 30 December 2011

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