The Governance and Administration Cluster, like others, is seized with working towards achieving government’s electoral mandate in terms of the creation of decent work, provision of quality health care, provision of quality education, building safer communities and rural development and land reform.
In terms of the outcomes based approach, this cluster is aligned to outcomes 9 and 12 (a) and (b): A Responsive, Accountable, Effective and Efficient Local Government System; An Efficient, Effective and Development Oriented Public Service; and An Empowered, Fair and Inclusive Citizenship respectively.
One of the most significant activities with which the cluster will be seized in the following months is preparations for Local Government Elections which will be held before the end of May 2011. We therefore urge all South Africans who have not yet applied for their IDs to do so since these documents are critical to be able to cast your votes. The cluster will work together with the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) to enable it to fulfill its constitutional mandate to hold free, fair and credible elections. We will also assist those in the rural communities who have been affected by recent floods and have lost their IDs to ensure they receive these enabling documents before the elections.
With a view to bringing services to the people, government has established Thusong Services Centres which promote citizen engagement and participation. These centres empower communities with information and knowledge on government’s plans and services. There are currently about 160 centres across the county at which more than 4 million South Africans have accessed government services since April 2010. The centres are complemented by mobile units of various departments and Community Development Workers (CDWs) which render services to the people. Communities no longer have to travel long distances to obtain identity documents, birth certificates, apply for pensions, UIF or foster care grants, as government is also ensuring that mobile units from these departments provide services in an integrated manner. Communities are also encouraged to access government through the various government call centres, websites as well as the presidential hotline.
Government currently engages with communities, stakeholders, various sectors and focus groups through public participation activities to reach out to with a view to enhancing communication between government and its citizens.
I will now just highlight a few priority areas in each department in the cluster. You will have received a briefing document which will include this information in more detail.
Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA)
The Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) adopted the Local Government Turnaround Strategy (LGTAS), following its approval by Cabinet in December 2009 which seeks to achieve a Responsive, Accountable, Effective and Efficient Local Government System by 2014. To this end, progress is being made with the development of a segmentation model for municipalities. This is closely linked to the conceptualisation of a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to assist municipalities that have low levels of capacity with infrastructure development.
The department, in collaboration with the Office of the Auditor General, launched Operation Clean Audit to help municipalities achieve clean audits on their annual financial statements, in addition to maintaining systems for sustaining quality financial statements and management information. This operation aims to assist all the municipalities and provincial departments achieve sustainable improvement in financial management and governance that will yield clean audit opinions by 2014.
The President in his State of the National Address allocated an amount of R800 million to areas affected by floods and other natural disasters in the country from December 2010 to date. The department’s National Disaster Management Centre has established a disaster relief fund, using the disaster account of the South African Red Cross towards which members of the public, private sector and other donors may contribute.
The Community Work Programme has contributed to the development of public assets in poor communities, provides income security for participants as well as work experience while promoting social and economic inclusion.
The department dealing with traditional affairs has been established and for the first time in the history of South Africa, the indigenous leaders have their own department and Executive Management and SMS positions have been filled.
Department of Public Service and Administration
A fully staffed and efficient public service is essential if government is to meet the needs of all South Africans and deliver on its electoral mandate. An analysis of job creation in the country has recently found that the public sector created the most jobs in 2010. To contribute to the creation of further employment in the country, departments will be supported to ensure all vacant, funded posts are filled within six months, as mandated by President Jacob Zuma and announced in his State of the Nation Address.
The department is leading various initiatives aimed at simplifying the recruitment process while positioning government as an employer of choice.
With a view to developing highly trained, noble professional cadres able to meet the needs of the country’s citizenry, the Public Administration Leadership and Management Academy (PALAMA) will strengthen its institutional capability and orientation of its training and development curriculum to produce such cadres.
Draft Principles of Public Administration and Financial Delegations have been developed to overcome weakness in the public service related to the lack of proper financial and human resource management.
The department, in the financial year 2010/11, launched the Special Anti-Corruption Unit whose mandate is to focus on the central management of high profile corruption and related disciplinary cases involving public servants. The unit has already begun to yield results as announced by President Zuma and has recovered R44 million from corrupt public servants. The appropriate disciplinary action has also been instituted against such officials.
Department of Arts and Culture
Government will, in the 2011/12 financial year government, led by the department, embark on a the Social Cohesion programme as part of the ongoing efforts towards building a South African nation that is non-racial, non-sexist, united, democratic and prosperous one.
The New Growth Path unveiled in 2010 identifies the cultural and creative industries as critical towards contributing to job creation, particularly in the following sectors: film, crafts, music, design, performing arts, books and publishing as well as technical services. As part of government efforts to create 5 million new jobs, the department will therefore develop a comprehensive proposal to support employment growth in the cultural industries.
Department of Performance Management and Evaluation
Through the Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME), performance agreements between the President and Ministers have been translated into detailed delivery agreements.
In order to develop efficient and effective management and operational practices in government, the department has developed modalities for assessing the quality of management and administrative practices and systems within departments. In this regard, preparations have been completed for the first round of progress reports on delivery agreements to be made public in March 2011.
Department of Home Affairs
The department is seized with cleaning up the country’s National Population Register to ensure its credibility, integrity and security. We are, in essence, working towards a single entry point into the country’s population register. An accurate and secure Population Register will be invaluable to government for planning purposes so that it can meet the needs of country’s citizenry in addition to ensuring the safety of South Africans since we will know who is in the country and why.
The National Population Registration (NPR) Campaign was launched in March 2010. The campaign aims to encourage parents to register their babies within 30 days of birth. If babies are registered promptly, within 30 days of birth, the department will also be better enabled to issue IDs to those who turn 16 years old. Since the launch of the NPR, we have seen improved statics in terms of the ID applications, registration of newborns and a welcome decrease in the number of IDs we are reissuing.
Through the assistance of Stakeholder Fora, established throughout the country, of a total of 899 618 births registered from April 2010 - January 2011, 793 567 were registered within a year, representing 88%. This exceeds the target of 70% we had set for new born children to be registered within one year of birth. The registration of births within 30 days stands at 52% (412 655) of 793 567 registered within a year.
The total number of Late Registration of Birth (LRB) applications processed for the period April 2010 - January 2011 amounts to 161 562 compared to 109 898 for 2009/2010.This represents an increase of 47%.
The total number of first issue applications increased from 834 353 between April 2009 – January 2010 to 1 094 308 in 2010/11. The total number of re-issue applications received from April – January 2010/11 is 1 193 159 compared to the same period in 2009/10 of 1 520 176 which represents a decline of 22% in the number of applications received.
The Department of Home Affairs, through its Movement Control System (MCS) and Advanced Passenger Processing (APP) System, is able to record accurate statistics of traveller movements through the country’s ports of entry on a daily basis.
In line with the New Growth Plan, the department will play a role in recruiting and facilitating the entry into South Africa of identified critical skills.
The department has also, for the first time, attempted to quantify the number of undocumented Zimbabwean nationals living in South Africa through the Zimbabwe Documentation Project. We will be meeting with both the Zimbabwean Ministers of Home Affairs on Monday and Tuesday, 21 and 22 in Pretoria to discuss these issues and the way forward.
The department, with a view to ensuring quality service delivery to all within the country’s borders as well as to achieve its constitutional mandates, undertook a legislative review process in the 2010/11 financial year. In this regard, amendments to the Citizenship as well as the Registration of Births and Deaths Acts has ascended into law following ratification by the President. Amendments to the Immigration and Refugee Acts are currently before Parliament.
Statistics South Africa (STATS SA)
Stats SA is currently preparing for the largest census ever conducted in South Africa, beginning on 9 and 10 October 2011. More than 120 000 enumerators from local communities will be deployed to reach every household in the country and Stats SA has already completed and unveiled the questionnaire for census 2011. We urge South Africans to participate in this important exercise since it will enable government to plan to meet the needs of its citizenry.
