The Gauteng Executive Council held its ordinary meeting on 11 November 2009 in Johannesburg. The meeting was chaired by Premier Nomvula Mokonyane and attended by all ten members of the Executive Council.
The Executive Council expressed grave concern about recent acts of abuse and neglect of children in some parts of Gauteng which unfortunately led to the loss of precious lives. The Executive Council expressed heartfelt condolences to the families of the children drowned in Soweto.
The Executive Council is of the view that some of the incidents and accidents could have been avoided if both parents and communities had taken necessary steps to ensure the safety of children. The government calls on parents and communities to take greater care of their children and protect them from harm and abuse.
The Executive Council has instructed the MECs for Health and Social Development and Community Safety to investigate the recent incidents and take appropriate action to safeguard the rights of the children. The departments were also asked to develop programmes to care for the children of Gauteng during the festive season when schools will be closed.
The Executive Council approved the revised Gauteng Strategic Plan on HIV and AIDS. The plan aims to drastically reduce new HIV infections in Gauteng to achieve a target of 50 percent reduction in new infections by 2011 as well as prevent death from AIDS by extending treatment, care and support to 80 percent of people with HIV. The plan also seeks to support normal development of children affected by AIDS.
The plan will focus on promoting increased safe sex behaviour for key population groups, reducing vulnerability and gender inequality, further reduction of HIV in babies by fully implementing the prevention of mother to child transmission policy and encouraging male circumcision for the youth. To achieve 80 percent antiretroviral treatment for people living with HIV, the plan will increase the number of specialised antiretroviral services and the percentage of local primary health care clinics which can follow up people who are well.
The Executive Council has also decided to revive the Gauteng AIDS Council to promote a multi-sectoral partnership approach to the fight against HIV and AIDS. The council will comprise members of the Executive Council involved in the AIDS programme and representatives of civil society organisations including labour among others, business, religious groups and arts and culture. The Premier will chair the council and will be assisted by the MEC for Health and Social Development.
The Executive Council received a report on Operation Badala and the general state of finances in the Gauteng Provincial Government. Operation Badala has made progress in terms of paying outstanding debts to service providers. The operation uncovered some systemic problems which led to departments being unable to properly monitor their financial commitments and manage cash flow. The systemic problems are being resolved and the Department of Finance is working with departments to deal with any other outstanding debts.
The outstanding debts could not be cleared at the end of September as initially promised due to cash flow problems. As the outstanding debts relate to goods and services that were procured during the financial year 2008 to 2009 financial year, departments have to find funds to service the debts from the current financial year’s allocations. This together with the current spending pressures means departments have to reprioritise some of their current programmes.
With regards to the general state of finances the Executive Council noted that some of the departments are still experiencing serious spending pressures and cash flow problems which may result in substantial overspending. The Department of Finance and all other departments were instructed to monitor spending more robustly. No department will be allowed to overspend or implement projects for which no budgetary allocations have been made. Heads of department will have to ensure that their departments have effective, efficient and transparent systems for financial and risk management and internal controls.
The Department of Finance will meet with departments to identify programmes that can be reprioritised and contracts that can be cancelled or rescheduled in line with an earlier Executive Council decision to reprioritise programmes and review all contracts within the Gauteng Provincial Government. The Finance Department will make recommendations to the Executive Council on which programmes should be reprioritised and which contracts should be terminated or rescheduled.
The Gauteng Economic Recovery Summit is currently underway and is a critical milestone in reasserting Gauteng’s centrality in securing South Africa’s future. The summit is discussing strategies to respond to the current economic decline as well as the creation of decent jobs and conditions for accelerated sustainable economic growth. Discussions at the summit will also lay the basis for the Gauteng employment, growth and development strategy, which will be finalised in January 2010.
Enquiries:
Thabo Masebe
Cell: 082 410 8087
Issued by: Office of the Premier, Gauteng Provincial Government
12 November 2009
