Programme director
Members of the Executive Council
Executive mayors and mayors
Director General
Auditor General
Office of the Public Service Commission
Heads of department
Members of the Senior Management Service
Municipal managers
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
It is a great pleasure for me to interface with your good selves, the members of the senior management echelon during this occasion of the convening of the first Senior Management Service (SMS) summit since the holding of 22 April general elections.
On Sunday morning, 10 August, we woke up to the sad news about the passing on of the MEC for Public Works, Comrade Pandelani ‘Sparks’ Ramagoma. This is indeed a sad moment for government, the people of our province and the country at large. We have lost one of the most dedicated champions of a better life for all at the time when we needed him most.
Comrade Sparks was a revolutionary, a fearless fighter, and a dedicated community worker. We will always remember him for the immense role that he played during the struggle against apartheid. He passed on in the course of duty, whilst travelling with his driver. As government, we lower our banner in mourning their untimely departure. Lets all observe a moment of silence in their honour May his soul rest in peace.
Programme director
Allow me, on behalf of the executive, to extend a hand of gratitude to all senior managers who ensured that the transition from the former administration to the current administration is seamless and turbulent free. You kept the administration intact during the transition and demonstrated a higher level of maturity and professionalism. On our arrival as the executive, we were provided with a comprehensive handover report detailing the activities of government and outlining the possible challenges lying ahead.
We are gathered here today not only to familiarise one another on what needs to be done to make the manifesto of the ruling party a reality, but also to reflect on the pronouncements made during the state of the province address and to agree on mechanisms to fast track the implementation of the programmes. Our people deserve better by yesterday. We are fortunate enough to be building on the successes of the past 15 years as reflected in the review report, which provides a rigorous account of which policies have worked successfully and which ones have not.
The special provincial priority projects for the next five years include the establishment of specialised schools in each district, which will focus on technical and agricultural skills, the roll-out of hospital revitalisation programmes, the upgrading of sewer systems, the development of information society through the rollout of the broadband infrastructure network and the creation of decent job opportunities.
As the leadership of government we take this summit seriously and see it, as an integral part of planning and monitoring and evaluation mechanisms. The people of this province have placed their hopes and dreams on our hands. We have no time for talk-shows and therefore regard this summit as important to advance the overwhelming mandate we received from the people. The people expect only the best from us. There is no time for procrastination! We have to revitalise a new culture of doing a job today, and finish it, today and not tomorrow!
As President Zuma has instructed, “there is no place for complacency, no place for cynicism, no place for laziness and no place for excuses; there must be no wastage, no rollovers, every cent must be spent wisely and fruitfully”.
Everything we do, must contribute in a direct and meaningful way to the improvement of the lives of our people”.
We have had successful elections on 22 April which defined the strategic objectives and targets of this government under the leadership of the ANC for the period 2009 to 2014. The ANC manifesto clearly outlines the priorities as:
* education
* health
* fighting crime and corruption
* rural development and food security and
* decent work and sustainable livelihoods.
These are the supreme priorities of the ANC led government in the next five years. These priorities can be classified as the electoral mandates. This electoral mandates have already been translated into ten Medium Term Strategic Framework (MTSF) priorities. At the level of the executive, we are reordering the provincial government to be aligned with the new national ministries and mandates. We have also replaced the old clusters with new ones which are: social cluster, economic cluster, security cluster, infrastructure cluster, and governance and administration cluster.
The provincial growth and development strategy (PGDS) is currently being reviewed in order to align with the new priorities of our government as reflected in the Medium Term Strategic Framework. In short, the MTSF 10 priorities are as follows:
* speeding up economic growth and transforming the economy to create decent work and sustainable livelihoods
* education
* health
* rural development, land reform, food security and agrarian change.
* fighting crime and corruption
* massive programme to build economic and social infrastructure
* build cohesive, caring and sustainable communities
* sustainable resource management and use
* pursuing African advancement and enhance international co-operation
* building a developmental state including improvement of public services and strengthening democratic institutions.
The basic thrust of MTSF 2009 to 2014 is to improve the conditions of life of South Africans and contribute to the building a better life for all. In the light of the new challenges arising from the global recession, the main focus in the current period is to minimise the impact of the economic downturn on the country’s productive capacity as well as the creation of jobs and poverty reduction measures. Fundamental to the attainment of all our objectives, is a growing economy, appropriately transformed, so that the benefits of growth are shared by all.
In this regard, the programmes we undertake should aim at reducing inequality and pushing back poverty. The central objective and mission is to set the country on a higher and sustainable growth trajectory by 2014, with an expanded and more diversified economic base, with unemployment and poverty having been halved and with greater equity and social cohesion. This includes universal access to electricity, water and sanitation in decent community settlements.
Strategic priorities and programmes of the MTSF in our province:
Priority 1: Speeding up economic growth and transforming the economy to create decent work and sustainable livelihoods
Programme director
As indicated in both our manifesto and the state of the province address, part of our assignment is the provision of decent work opportunities and sustainable livelihoods to fight poverty. Mining, tourism and agriculture remain the pillars of economic growth and development in our province. Out of these pillars, we have identified seven industrial clusters which must assist in the creation of jobs and the propelling of economic growth. These clusters are in the field of horticulture, forestry, coal, energy, logistics and petrochemicals, meat, platinum and tourism.
The heads of state owned enterprises and senior managers who are charged with the responsibility to provide leadership and oversight of the industrial clusters must lead them with the sole aim of ensuring that the required jobs are created. Similarly we expect accounting officers in all spheres of government in the province to ensure that 30 percent of our total procurement budget is used to procure goods from small, micro and medium enterprises. This goes for those who are charged with responsibility of managing the 2010 FIFA World Cup projects.
President Jacob Zuma has set the national job target for 2009 at 500 000. As the province we are working on creating 10 000 job opportunities by the end of December this year. We have disclosed that some of these jobs will come through the filling of vacancies after the rationalisation of SMS posts. We must use the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) to fight poverty and create decent work for our people. We are convinced that the launch of the national youth service programme by the new National Youth Development Agency will assist to enlist the majority of our young people into the world of work.
Part of the mandate of the National Youth Development Agency is to identify and monitor the progress of learners from their school days. The Agency must play a critical role in ensuring that leaders are encouraged to take science, mathematics and technology programmes.
Priority 2: Education
Programme director
We have committed ourselves to improve skills development and this can be possible if education starts at the earliest possible level. It is therefore expected of the senior managers charged with the responsibility to manage Early Childhood Development to ensure that the number of grade R learners is increased from 2649 to 110 000 by 2010.
The President of the country, Jacob Zuma continues to emphasise the importance of education in our society and also that quality basic education must be made compulsory to all learners. In the same spirit, we expect learners to learn, teachers to teach, principals to manage their schools and supervisors to supervise. No late arrival at schools, no leaving schools before knockoff time, no absenteeism and no coming to school drunk. In short, we are saying the culture of learning and teaching must prevail. We must ensure that education is used as a tool to strengthen our people’s skills and human resource base.
In addition to these, we must look after school property and manage the allocated funds in accordance with the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA). As ANC government we will continue to build state of the art schools in order to produce learners who are ready to enrol in the fields of science, mathematics and technology at the post matric level. We can only succeed through your commitment and that of our teachers. We are presently building eight state of the art schools, which must be ready for usage at the end of this year. These schools will have modern advanced equipments, such as computers centres, laboratories, libraries, nutrition and home economics centres.
We have set ourselves the target to revamp 188 dilapidated schools. We want to further upgrade 51 schools and reconstruct 102 schools, which have been damaged by storms. These projects are meant to create a good teaching and learning environments. Most importantly, the executive council took a decision to establish one special technical school in each of the five districts focusing on related subjects in mining, tourism, agriculture, information communication technology (ICT), and manufacturing.
This will ensure that the development of the required skills is nurtured from grade R to grade 12. We expect you to champion this course. We have committed ourselves to reduce the burden of illiteracy through the enrolment of more learners on the Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET) programme. This is line with the President’s target of 50 percent enrolment by 2014. The responsible managers must ensure that we add 45 new ABET centres and increase the number by 4 000 in 2010. We have invested resources to ensure that more teachers are retrained and equipped to teach mathematics and science in our schools. We believe this measure will impact positively in improving matric results and especially performance in mathematics and science.
Priority 3: Health
During our state of the province address, we have made a pledge to the people of South Africa that we will provide proper health care services to all. In fulfilling our pledge we expect, in this financial year to increase the number of clinics providing 24 hour service from the current 74 percent to 86 percent. We also want to improve and expand our programme on immunisation coverage from the current 83 percent to 90 percent in this financial year. We have also prioritised the revitalisation of our hospitals using the ‘big-bang’ approach. This will provide decent environment within which our people receive care.
We have long acknowledged the challenges of shortage of medical professionals. The current ratio of nurses and doctors per patient is far below the requirement. It is therefore necessary for us to invest further in the education and training of health professionals through provision of bursaries. Together with the national government, we are working on establishing efficient means of retaining the current medical professionals. However, the patients we are taking care of remain our fathers, mothers, children and they should be treated with respect. We therefore condemn those health workers who treat patients with contempt.
Priority 4: Rural development, land reform, food security and agrarian change.
Programme director
As the ANC led government we want to see sustainable and vibrant rural communities with all the amenities which are necessary to support the quality of life in the rural areas. We have promised South Africans that we will build modern infrastructural projects in the rural areas as part of efforts to better the living conditions of our people.
The issue of boosting food security is part of our priority areas. We want to see a vigorous agrarian reform taking place in order to support subsistence food production. The people of our province expect us to expand the role and productivity of modern small holder farming and maintain a vibrant and competitive agricultural sector. Government is committed to ensuring that we support our farming community in the best way possible. We are committed in ensuring that both human and material resources get deployed to ensure that arable land becomes productive.
One of our major plans for 2009/10 financial year is to improve the technical skills of scientists and extension officers in order for them to be of better service to farmers. It is in the interest of our people that land redistribution and restitution programme gets expedited. At the same time more work must be done to ensure that post land settlement support is offered to the beneficiaries of restituted land. We are mindful of the fact that this is a new concept which we may not have the same understanding and in this regard the MEC for Agriculture will further elaborate.However, we expect all government departments to focus their priorities on rural development and agrarian reform as a matter of principle.
Priority 5: Fighting Crime and corruption
Programme director
We have re-established the Provincial Justice Crime Prevention and Security cluster in order to fast-track the implementation of the provincial crime prevention strategy in our province. We welcome the appointment of the new national police commissioner and remain convinced that his appointment will assist in boosting the fight against crime.
The people of our province legitimately expect us to protect them from all evils of crime. We cannot afford to allow criminals to terrorise our society. The public has waited far too long to be told empty rhetoric’s at this point. We must ensure that the fight against the criminals is not deferred. Our province has been the most peaceful province for the past years and we are not about to allow any body to spoil our good record.
When it comes to the fight against corruption, we must indicate that the recent Auditor General’s report shed some light on the challenges faced by the public service in this regard. The report highlights the fact that many of our public servants including senior management service do business without authorisation and also fail to disclose. This is done despite the fact that the law requires all public servants to obtain permission for remunerative work outside the public service and for SMS members to disclose their financial interests.
It must be on record that any failure to disclose business interests will be tantamount to corruption. No public servant, regardless of position or status, will be protected from facing the mighty hand of the law for failing to comply with the prescripts of the law. In the same vein, we want to ensure that business people who corrupt the public officials through bribes also gets exposed, blacklisted and removed from our tender database.
Service providers who fail to deliver according to the tender specifications must also be blacklisted infinitely. This includes service providers who also render poor quality service to communities. The blacklisting should not only be limited to the specific company, which rendered poor service, but must include all other companies where the members have interest. We must double the fight against corruption.
Priority 6: Massive programme to build economic and social infrastructure
Programme director
In order to have a sound base for infrastructure development we have to ensure that the spatial development framework is updated. This will make the investment in transport and logistics infrastructure meaningful and support the scale of economic activities that is already taking place in some of our towns. We have constitutional obligation to provide basic services such as water, sanitation, and electricity to our people. Municipal managers must ensure that we do not derelict our responsibility. We are committed to support our municipalities to meet the demands of our people.
We are so fortunate in our province that the people have not yet taken the approach of street protest on the service delivery issues. This does not suggest that our people have access to all basic facilities. We must not stretch the patience of our people too far. We cannot afford to wait for the street protest to engulf our municipalities in order to unlock service delivery. We have to expedite the provision of water, sanitation, houses and other basic needs to our people.
Like SMS members in the provincial administration and municipal managers, senior employees who are failing to deliver on the expectations of the ruling party and the people will be called upon to account. Unfortunately, some may not even be reinstated, because we cannot use other sectors as dumping sites of people who are unproductive. It is now time to work.
Priority 7: Build cohesive, caring and sustainable communities
Programme director
We commit ourselves to the integration of Ubuntu principles in our daily work. As part of new mandate, the ANC led government has prioritised the implementation of integrated human settlement programme, farm worker housing, eradication of informal settlement, completion of incomplete projects and transfer of houses formerly owned by the state. These priorities will go a long way to build cohesion among our people through the services, which we are rendering as government.
Month after month we come together with our communities to commemorate special days in our calendar, with a view to infuse social cohesion and solidarity amongst our people. As SMS members you must ensure that the preparation for these days is not seen as a tendering opportunity but we must have the building of social cohesion and caring in mind.
Priority 8: Sustainable resource management and use
Programme director
As we continuously urge members of our society to save energy, we expect members of the SMS to be exemplary. We must ensure that the lights in our offices are switched off every day after work. The property of the state is the property of the people. We have assumed the custodianship of this state property and we are controlling this property for the benefit of the people. At no point should we assume that this property belong to certain individuals. We must handle the state property with outmost care.
The current economic situation and other commitments of government compel us to adopt belt tightening measures on our expenditure and budgeting. We can no longer afford to organise management meetings in hotels or lodges any more. We must use our boardrooms for our meetings. We must start using our public halls for our big gatherings, including the gathering of this nature.
Priority 9: Pursuing African advancement and enhance international co-operation
Programme director
We must continue to forge and maintain friendly relations with other provinces in other countries. As we promote trade, investment and social relations with provinces beyond our borders, we must resist the
temptation of using this as social visits. We therefore expect a rational international relations agenda and corporate diary, which speaks to packaged projects. These outward missions are going to be closely monitored to ensure that we get value for money spent on the visits.
Priority 10: Building a developmental state including improvement of public services and strengthening democratic institutions
Programme director
The people of Limpopo province expect us to reduce by half the number of audit qualifications in our departments, whilst municipalities must reduce by 26 percent. Bad administration and abuse of public resources must be the thing of the past. No acts of bad administration or abuse of public resources will be tolerated irrespective of the source involved. Some people might be familiar with this statement to the level where they are no longer threatened by the statement. On behalf of the executive, let me assure you that a different approach is guaranteed and inevitable.
We are also aware of the tendency by some public servants who are spending less time on their job by spending quality time furthering their private issues. The government has employed you to work eight hours or more a day. We have never employed any person to work less than eight hours, unless clearly stipulated in the contract. This regrettable tendency is much experienced during the last days of the week and the last days of the month.
As part of improving our services to the people, we must all work very hard. The fact is that we should all regard ourselves as fortunate because we are working for government. Millions of our people cannot wait for the day an opportunity allows them to work for government. They remain hopeful that one day such an opportunity will come. This means we are fortunate to be here today. Furthermore, this means that we must work beyond the call of duty in all our assignments.
Programme director
The recruitment, selection and appointment of employees must be above board. We expect that employees should be hired on the basis of competence, experience and qualification to do the job and not because of any other reason. We cannot condone acts of nepotism, or favouritism in the selection and appointment of employees as these is contrary to the law. Senior managers who are found to be involved in these practices will be caught and shown the full wrath of the law.
Members of SMS are required to sign performance contracts. These performance instruments must not just be signed for the purpose of procedure or compliance. The principal purpose of signing these contracts must not be undermined. Supervisors must ensure honesty during the assessment sessions. The performance assessment sessions must be robust, frank and open. This will enable us to improve our services to the people.
Programme director
The Public Service Act requires professional conduct of public servants at all times. We are guided by the public service code which expects all of us to be hardworking and loyal to the public service. Any one who behaves contrary to the law will be disciplined according to the Code. The law also provides for transfer of public servants to areas where service is needed in the interest of service delivery. This should not be construed or misread as amounting to purging.
I want to rebuke those amongst us who are not working hard and not committed to their work on the basis of purging allegations. We are not purging people. We expect members of the public service irrespective of position to remain focused on their work in order for government to meet its service delivery targets. Our primary mission as the ANC led government is to create a lasting establishment that will fight poverty through all means and at the same time, better the living conditions of our people.
We are more than convinced that, you as senior managers should play an active role in this mission. We are all under moral obligation to work together in order to do more for our people. The mandate from the electorate is very clear on what needs to be achieved. I am confident that you have the required competency and skills to equal the task at hand. As the executive council we are here to give you our undivided support. Working together we can do more! I wish you a fruitful summit!
Thank you
Issued by: Limpopo Provincial Government
11 August 2009
Source: Limpopo Provincial Government (http://www.limpopo.gov.za/)
