The Executive Council has approved the Gauteng employment, growth and development strategy (GEGDS). The key objectives of the GEGDS are to create decent work and build a growing, inclusive, green and innovative economy.
The GEGDS has five strategic pillars, designed to ensure convergence between the economic and social strategies of government, underpinned by the environmental strategies regarding sustainable resource usage which collectively promote a developmental state.
The five pillars are:
* Transforming the provincial economy through improved efficiency
* Sustainable employment creation
* Increasing economic equity and ownership
* Investing in the people
* Sustainable communities and social cohesion.
These five pillars of the GEGDS will be implemented through seven key drivers namely: green economy and sustainable energy usage, green jobs, innovation and knowledge economy, infrastructure; skills development and capacity building and spatial planning.
The full details and various programmes and projects that we will be introducing as part of the implementation will be announced along with further details on the strategy by Economic Development MEC, Firoz Cachalia in due course.
The Executive Council received a report on the reconfiguration of the Gauteng Provincial Government. The reconfiguration of the government institutions was done to ensure that government is appropriately organised to achieve its strategic objectives with greater integration and alignment between different strategic focus areas.
The reconfiguration started with the merging and splitting of political portfolios and departments in May 2009, followed by redefinition of the mandates of all departments and formulation of detailed strategic plans.
The reconfiguration has laid a solid structural foundation and created a conducive environment for the government to deliver on its developmental mandate. The reconfigured Gauteng government will transform the Gauteng public service towards a more performance oriented, outcomes driven and people focussed culture.
All vacancies of heads of department with the exception of one department have now been filled and other key positions in the senior management echelon are being filled. The following appointments were made to the positions of heads of department in the past month:
* Khulu Radebe, Department of Economic Development
* Stuart Lumka, Department of Finance
* Mongezi Mnyani, Department of Local Government and Housing
* Benedicta Monama, Department of Roads and Transport
* A letter of appointment has also been issued to a candidate that could fill the head of department position in the Department of Infrastructure Development.
* Recently the Gauteng provincial government also announced the appointment of a new head of department in the Department of Health and Social Development.
The Executive Council considered a report on the review of the government agencies within the Department of Economic Department. Barkofield (Pty) Ltd was appointed by the Office of the Premier in 2009 to conduct a review and analysis of the agencies within the Gauteng provincial government with a particular focus on the agencies within the Department of Economic Development.
The findings of the review pointed out that while the agency model in itself has proven to be successful and is recommended globally as a best practice mechanism for economic development there were strategic, structural and human resources weaknesses across the agencies.
At a strategic level it was found that some of the agencies perform functions which are similar in nature while some are not properly aligned to the strategic objectives of the department.
In terms of structure it was found that there is a systemic duplication of functions across the agencies and the department which has resulted in larger structures than required.
On human resources, it was found that there was lack of sufficient core and critical skills with some agencies having been unable to fill vacancies in executive positions.
The review recommended the retention of the agency model with major changes to address the weaknesses and challenges indentified. These include rationalisation, integration, realignment and reengineering of the business operating model of the agencies.
The Executive Council has accepted the findings and recommendations and has decided to retain the agencies in the Department of Economic Development with major restructuring. The number of agencies will be reduced to three, namely the Growth and Employment Agency, the Tourism Promotion Agency and the Industry Regulation Agency.
Under this new model the Department of Economic Development will have the responsibility for strategy, policy and oversight and the agencies will provide implementation capacity.
Implementation of the new structures will take place in a carefully managed environment ensuring that government leverages the existing capabilities and competencies and target a simplified operational model to address the problems and weaknesses identified in the review process.
The Executive Council received an update report on Gauteng's readiness to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The report, which included a full briefing by the South African Police Service on security matters, gives us confidence to once again declare that Gauteng is ready for the world.
Our security institutions have done everything to ensure that all the people who will be in Gauteng during the world cup from heads of state to ordinary football fans are safe.
As we are left with less than a month before kick-off, the Gauteng
Gateway 2010 campaign will now be going into overdrive mode. We will go to all corners of the province and ensure that the people of Gauteng are ready to receive the visitors to our province with warm and loving hands.
The Executive Council extended warm congratulations to the newly elected Chairperson of the Gauteng ANC province, Mr Paul Mashatile and his Executive Committee.
The Executive Council looks forward to forging a healthy and strong working relationship with the chairperson and the entire ANC provincial leadership to ensure we all work together to deliver on our programme of action which is based on the electoral mandate.
