Chairperson
Speaker
Deputy Speaker
Members of the provincial legislature
Mayors and councillors of local government
Amakhosi present
Director-General and Heads of Departments
Excellencies
Members of the diplomatic corps
Distinguished guests
Ladies and gentlemen
Fellow citizens.
This is a historic year for South Africa and the whole continent as we celebrate the 100 the entenary of the ruling party, the African National Congress. It was inspiring to see the people of KwaZulu-Natal province coming to get her to receive the tor chasit travelled throughout the corners of this province. If there is any message-the strongest message that came out of the centenary flame celebration
If there is any message-the strongest message that came out of the centenary flame celebration is that of unity. The objective of the formation of the ANC was to unify all the people of South Africa to defeat the oppressive system and usher in democracy and to create a better life for all our people.
We are immensely grateful to the ordinary members of ourcommunities, community leaders and leaders of political parties for embracing provincial centenary celebrations. For them,the centenary flame was the symbol of 100 years of self less struggle for a non-sexist, free and democratic country enjoyed by all.
The celebration was the opportunity to reconnect with the past and to re-ignite the determination and courage of ordinary people of this province. As we took the flame to different communities we discovered hidden stories of the past- as ordinary people related their painful stories, their resilience against the jaws of apartheid and their final march to a free South Africa.
This exercise brought freshly to my mind the reality of the cost of reconciliation, where many people from different parties have deep seated wounds which neither the normaljustice system nor the TRC process has ever addressed.
A great deal of effort has been placed by this government, the Office of the Premier in particular, to the issue of building unity. We are pursuing programmes aimed at strengthening social cohesion. There are many of our people to whom the trauma suffered as a result of apartheid is exacerbated by the grinding poverty and underdevelopment.
The emphasis is on self-help as an important way to address many social ills and challenges we are facing in the province to empower our people to live sustainable livelihood. Efforts have also been made to reach out to many influentialsectors of our society, traditional leaders, religious fraternity, business, women and youth sectors, workers and minority communities to seek their support and partnership in order to ensure that the people of this province enjoy the fruits of freedom.
Freedom refers to a state of complete psycho-social and economic emancipation, to live free of oppression and prejudice based on socialstatus, race, class, culture, gender, religion, disability and political, legal, economic, culturalor other considerations. Madam speaker, as elected leaders we have the responsibility to ensure that this freedom is enjoyed by all.
The forbearers of our democracy left a legacy of a high level of discipline, dedication and selfless service to humanity. We must uphold this legacy because failure to do so will result in this freedom being undermined.
We emphasised on the need to conserve all our resources and direct them to service delivery and eradication of poverty. We are dedicating more resources to fighting corruption as fundamental to both defending our freedom, good governance and building our economy as part of the new trajectory of economic growth.
We have created an image of a responsible, clean and caring government,which is accountable and responds to the needs of the people. We have prioritised financial prudence and have realigned our budgets to ensure effective delivery of services. Key to this is the continuing integration and maximisation on the available resources and tota leradication of the silo mentality in the civil service.
Through the Operation Sukuma Sakhe campaign we are strengthening war rooms and have ensured that people on the ground remain in touch with issues of service delivery and that they continue to participate in the process of transfonnation.
Programmes
The programme structure of the Office of the Premier is:
- Administration
- Institutional Development
- Policy and Governance
Programme 1: Administartion: (R149,228 million)
The purpose of this programme is to provide administrative support to the Premier, Executive Council (Cabinet) and the Director-General in fulfilling their executive functions and promoting cooperative governance and ensuring sound financial management support and advisory services within the Office of the Premier. There are four Sub-Programmes supporting this programme, namely Premier Support, Executive Council Support, Director-General Support and Financial Management.
The Premier's Support Sub-Programme has been allocated a budget of R 28,519 million to provide technical, administrative and advisory support to the Premier in executing his constitutional mandate. The Executive Council Support Sub-Programme has been allocated a budget of R9,073 million to render secretariat support services to the Executive Council, Cabinet lzindaba, Clusters and key provincial committees.
The Director-General Support Sub-Programme has been allocated a budget of R21,708 million to provide administrative support to the Director-General in strategically managing the province. The Financial Management Sub-Programme has been allocated a budget of R89,928 million to provide sound financial management support and advisory services for the entire department.
Included in this Sub-Programme is the Integrity Management unit. Its primary priority is to mitigate and eliminate incidents of unethical conduct by government officials with a view to improving good governance. This unit therefore has the strategic goal of instilling an organisational culture of integrity in the provincial administration through the coordination and facilitation of the implementation and management of the KwaZulu-Natal Anti-fraud and Anti-corruption Strategy.
Also included in this Sub-Programme is the funding for the Ntambanana Special Project. These funds will be used for provision for piped water and proper roads for this project.
Programme 2: Institutional Development (R130,278 million)
The purpose of this programme is to improve service delivery through institutional capacity building and transformation management in the province. This programme comprises of the following sub-programmes: Strategic Human Resources, Legal Services, Information Communications Technology and Communication Services.
Sub-Programma:Strategic Human Resources (R791,02 million)
This Sub-Programme's function is to coordinate and monitor the customisation, development and implementation of human resources policies, systems, programmes and plans for the province. The Provincial Public Service Training Academy will focus on ensuring that provincial departments comply with human resource and skills development legislation and prescripts.
It will continue to build the capacity of human resource development practitioners and skills development facilitators.
The National Skills Fund (NSF) Strategic Project and Manufacturing, Engineering and Related Services Sector Education and Training Authority (MERSETA) leamership and apprenticeships projects will be launched on a date to be announced. The first KZN Public Sector Career Exhibition will be hosted. The appointment of interns in departments will continue to be facilitated and coordinated through this sub-programme.
The Provincial Public Training Academy is in the process of finalising the contract with the MERSETA for funding of R22 million to train 200 unemployed youth on learnerships, apprenticeships and skills programmes in manufacturing,engineering and construction.
The Training Academy will strive to build capacity on 6 500 public servants in 2012/13 on generic, transversal, leadership and management development programmes. Service delivery capacity will be strengthened by mobilising experts from within the public sector and seeking strategic partnerships with Further Education and Higher Education Institutions. In 2012/13, funding has been allocated for the renovations of the training academy.
During 2013/14, the focus with be on renovating and refurbishing the office accommodation and boardrooms and, in 2014/15, the focus will be on improving access to the facility, upgrading parking, improving access for the disabled, refurbishing the external fa de and improving security.
As part of the mandate of the Office of the Premier,we have initiated a province-wide Transversal Bursaries Programme. This funding will be used to support young persons who are residents of KwaZulu-Natal between the ages of 18 and 35 from previously disadvantaged and vulnerable groups e.g.orphaned, child-headed households, grandparents headed households, disabled youth and families.
As we announced in the 2012 State of the Province Address, the Office of the Premier is working with the Department of Higher Education and Training to create a Human Resource Development Council to guide skills development. We shall be receiving inputs from various sectors, academic institutions and training colleges to produce on a massive scale appropriate skills and ensure access to apprenticeships or supervised training.
The budgetary implications for the establishment and functioning of the Council will be addressed by undertaking a reprioritisation exercise in the 2012/13 financial year within the budget of the Office of the Premier.
Sub-Programme: Legal Services (R10,846 million)
This Sub-Programme has the function of rendering a comprehensive and professional internal legaladvisory service to the Office of the Premier and a comprehensive, professional, inter-departmental, transversal state law advisory service to the respective provincial line function departments protecting the interests of the entire province.
A critical priority for this government and its departments, within the framework of the Constitution and national legislation and policy, is to establish the most appropriate legal framework and legal basis for service delivery in the province. This sub-programme will ensure that legislation must be continuously reviewed and amended to give effect to changing circumstances and to correctly reflect shifts in or fine-tuning of policy.
It is imperative for purposes of clarity and good governance that the law reflects current policy. An ongoing process of review and rationalisation of laws within each provincial department is thus not only necessary, but critical.
In monitoring the Provincial Legislative Programme from the perspective of the Executive, there are still some critical Bills which have been identified for introduction in the Provincial Legislature during the remainder of the term of this Government.
This government is serious about service delivery, efficient and effective administration and the accountability of Government to the citizens and this commitment must, in this term, be reflected and given practical expression in our Provincial legislation. We have made progress in the improvement of the quality of our Provincial legislation and the rationalisation of our Statute Book, but still more needs to done.
I would, therefore encourage my colleagues to prioritise their legislative programmes to give effect to this commitment and these principles and ideals.
Sub-Programme: Information Communication Technology (ICT) (R25,174million)
The Programme was established to coordinate Provincial Government Information and Communication Technology in the Province as well as manage Information Technology in the Office Of the Premier. The Information Technology Sub-Programme derives its mandate from the Public Service Act and Regulations. All ICT goods and services are procured via SITA in terms of the SITA Act and Regulations.
The core focus of ProvincialInformation Technology is the co-ordination of ICT in the Province which is performed in conjunction with the Provincial Government Information Technology Officers Council.
This Sub-Programme will be implementing the following for the 2012/13 financial year.
- Developing and adopting a Provincial Governance policy for the Province
- Migration to a departmentalvirtual private network
- Development and approval of a business continuity plan for the Department
- Implement the Master Systems Plan for Office of the Premier in line with Government
- Wide Enterprise Architecture and
- Continued support to the Provincial Nerve Centre as it develops further.
This comprises of Government Communication Services. Government Communication Services aims to provide an integrated and coordinated Government Communication Service in KwaZulu-Natal, focusing on identifying priorities for Provincial Government communication including cluster communication priorities, and will inform the development of detailed communication programmes by clusters, departments and the Provincial Government.
The establishment of a consolidated Provincial Government newspaper, Simama KZN, which is published weekly in lsiZulu has contributed immensely to our efforts to communicate service delivery initiatives and to popularise the Government's Programme of Action. These efforts have been improved through the revamped Provincial Government website.Effective monitoring of the media has been achieved and compliance with the Provincial Government branding policy has improved.
Programme 3: Policy and governance (R 315,094-million)
The purpose of this programme is to initiate provincial-wide development and implementation of strategies and policies to achieve a co-ordinated approach towards sustainable provincial growth and development. There are five Sub-Programmes supporting this programme, namely Special Programmes, Inter-Governmental Relations, Provincial Policy Management, Premier's Priority Programmes and Heritage.
Sub-Programme: Special Programmes (R 73,923-million)
This sub-programme's function is to inculcate a culture of human rights, and promotion and protection of human and legal rights of the vulnerable populations, namely, women, children, older persons, youth and people with disabilities, HIV and Aids and Gaming and Betting.
The Office of the Premier will continue to drive a campaign to protect and generate respect for human rights, by facilitating an education campaign, coordinating human rights issues and ensuring compliance with constitutional mandates. The process of forming partnerships with municipalities in this regard will continue.
The establishment of gender forums at district and local municipalities and wards to isigodi (village) levelwill continue. Women's Empowerment programmes will be coordinated and criticalstakeholders will be capacitated on gender mainstreaming.
The active ageing campaign will be promoted throughout KZN and inter-generational programmes will continue. Human rights capacity building among local leadership and communities will be enhanced. The human rights education campaign will be driven among community structures.
The Programmes of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities will establish forums and arrange capacity building sessions at district and local municipalities and wards to isigodi (village) level. It willalso establish a Premier's Consultative Forum with persons with disabilities and will implement the Provincial Disability Programme of Action that was approved by Cabinet in 2011/12.
In carrying out its mandate, the Office of the Premier and the Provincial Administration adopted the "Three-Ones" principle to guide the coordination of the HIVand AIDS, STI and TB response,in respect of Coordinating Structure, Guiding Strategy, and Monitoring and Evaluation [M&E] Framework.
This approach of coordination is applied provincially and is being cascaded down to the district, local municipalities and ward level to facilitate integrated planning, response and feedback mechanism.
The new KwaZulu-Natal Gaming and Betting Act, No. 8 of 2010 was promulgated and came into effect simultaneously with the KwaZulu-Natal Gaming and Betting Tax Act, No 9 of 2010, on 1 April 2011.
The promulgation of this legislation will hopefully usher in a new era of prosperity for the KwaZulu-Natal gambling industry, which should enable the industry to step up its own efforts in bringing about socio-economic development, both through revenue generation and directly, through its own projects, to the benefit of the people of the province.
Good progress is being made towards the finalisation of the KwaZulu-Natal Gaming and Betting Regulations, 2012, which have been legally certified and approved. It is envisaged that these Regulations will be published and be brought into effect before the end of the fourth quarter of the current financial year.
We have pleasure to announce the appointment of the new KwaZulu-Natal Gaming and Betting Board. The Board Members who were sworn in on 17 January 2012 will take over the functions and powers of the newly established Gaming and Betting Board.
Sub-Programme: Inter-governmental Relations (IGR) (R5,264-million)
The Inter-governmental Relations Unit plays an executive supportive role to the Premier and the Director-General in the execution of the Inter-governmental Relations function. It provides support for the Premier participation in Presidential Coordinating Committee, Premier's Coordinating Forum of Mayors which monitors related activities. There is also a focus on International Relations through this programme.
KwaZulu-Natal's commitment to the African Agenda includes assisting in the post conflict reconstruction and development of African states. African states can be a source of economic growth for KZN in internationalforums. It is of strategic importance that the Province forges well developed relations and links with African nations.
Enormous strides have already been made by China in its drive to be the wortd's economic giant. South Africa's constructive engagement with China has provided the necessary platform to build and strengthen the already strong relations established with the provinces of Shanghaiand Guangxi. Exchanges with Shanghai and Guangxiwill be pursued with a view to achieving concrete outcomes.
In Brazil and Argentina, KZN will be pursuing areas of trade and investment, agriculture, economic development,infrastructure development and tourism and sport development. In Russia, the areas of interest will indude agriculture and environmentalaffairs, infrastructure development,trade and investment,education and tourism. Although cooperation and strong relations have been established with India and China, further implementation of these cooperation arrangements will be enhanced.
While the international relations strategy emphasises the African Agenda and the BRIGS block, cooperation with the western countries will still be followed in tenns of donor funding and knowledge expertise in areas such as climate change, disaster management, renewable and green energy. These countries fonn a strong historical background with South Africa and KZN.
Sub-Programma:Provincial Policy Management (RSS,120-million)
This Sub-Programme consists of the Policy Development and Coordination unit,Monitoring and Evaluation unit and the Provincial Planning unit. The strategic objective of this sub programme is to initiate provincial wide development and implementation of policies and strategies to achieve a coordinated approach towards sustainable growth and development, achieving coordinated policies, strategies and programmes and ensuring successful implementation through monitoring and evaluation.
Monitoring and Evaluation
The Monitoring and Evaluation Unit tracks the accomplishment of the Provincial sector targets set on the Provincial Programme of Action. This is done under the auspices of the Government Wide Monitoring and Evaluation System. The strategic objective of this unit is to establish and implement a fully functional, integrated, automated province wide-Government monitoring and evaluation system.
Nerve Centre
The Monitoring & Evaluation functionality in the Office of the Premier has been automated through the Provincial Nerve Centre. The Provincial Nerve Centre is fast becoming an integrated enterprise system bringing Government and the people together in the context of growth and development.
The Monitoring & Evaluation Plan using the Nerve Centre shapes immediate and long-term requirements to create a single enterprise so that citizens feel a sense of belonging and identify with the framework and interventions thereof as well as the 12 outcome results solution, all of which demonstrates government's services to the citizenry through extensive use of administrative and secondary data.
All of the provincial government departments performance data is being analysed. This is aimed at tracking progress and identifying early warnings for corrective action in order to meet the Governments' mandate. The Office of the Premier has taken the responsibility of coordinating the outcome-based approach working closely with the cluster system as vital coordinating mechanisms.
The outcome-based approach is being mainstreamed to ensure that all Provincial Governments' Departments plans and performance measures are aligned to the Medium Term Strategic Framework and Millennium Development Goals and other such policy obligations. New reporting measures are results based and add value to the province.
The 2012/13 phase of the Provincial Nerve Centre involves the establishment of District and Local Nerve Centres. This phase builds a unified portal to citizens and all of government. All of these objectives speak to the organic formation of a Connected Government making data available from the various spheres which is central to planning, monitoring & evaluation and implementation.
The Monitoring & Evaluation function which mirrors National, Provincial & LocalSpheres Monitoring & Evaluation Systems,converges into a shared service providing a common digitalrepository of data. This data will be subjected to cleansing and verification processes, for which tools have been already created. This system will provide insightful information for development interventions.Officials will be trained accordingly.
Severalevaluation studies on sector priorities will be conducted with national and local partners to determine value for money, internalrate of investment projects and cost benefit analysis studies. This will have direct effects on the project design and overall project management.
We seek to change fundamental management culture in Government from one which is rigid, unresponsive and bureaucratic to one which is more collaborative and accountable.
Provincial Planning Commission
The Provincial Planning Commission (PPC) was established by a resolution of Cabinet in February 2011 and was fully functional in 2011/12. The functions of the PPC are similar to those of the National Planning Commission and are to advise and make recommendations to the Premier and the Provincial Executive on:
- A long-term strategic development perspective and vision for the province.
- Ensuring coherence in policy development and planning across the provincial government.
- Strengthening performance monitoring and evaluation to enable assessment of the pace required to deliver on the desired outcomes.
The KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Executive Council (Cabinet) tasked the Provincial Planning Commission in February 2011 to undertake a review of and to prepare the 2011 KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Growth and Development Strategy (PGDS), aimed at directing growth and development in the province to the year 2030.
The PGDS consists of a Strategic Analysis of the current growth and development situation in the province, sets a vision on where the province aims to be in 2030, identifies seven strategic goals and 30 strategic objectives that will drive the province towards this vision. It also includes a Spatial Development Framework as a basis for spatial prioritisation of interventions.
After a broad consultation process,this PGDS was presented to and adopted in principle by Cabinet in August 2011,noting the need to prepare a detailed implementation plan for this strategy in the form of a Provincial Growth and Development Plan (PGDP), as well as the need to ensure that the PGDS and the PGDP are fully aligned to the National Development Plan being prepared by the National Planning Commission.
Both the PGDS and draft PGDP have already provided a clear development trajectory for taking our province to a better future. Developed on the principle of "One Strategy and Plan for All" there has been a particular focus on developing synergies between the vision and aspirations of government, labour, business and civil society.
It is now to be applied as a basis for the alignment and integration of national and provincial departmental strategic plans, municipal Integrated Development Plans, as well as the various sector strategies and plans of State-owned enterprises and private sector partners. With the agreed set of objectives and targets providing a common platform, the resource commitments of departments, municipalities and public entities will be better leveraged for improved impact in the province.
Throughout the drafting of the PGDS and the PGDP there has been a clear recognition of the following underlying factors, namely the fact that:
- The backdrop to the 2011 KZN PGDS is the provincial, national and global policy framework, namely the five National Priorities, the 12 National Outcomes, the New Growth Path, the National Planning Commissions Diagnostic Report (NPC) and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
- The structural constraints to growth in KZN that have been identified are increasing unemployment, poverty and inequality.
- Whilst KZN is endowed with the Durban and Richards Bay Ports, the Dube Trade Port, vast agricultural land and a strong industrial base, these comparative advantages have yet to be translated into competitive advantages.
Sub-Programme: Heritage (R 66,696 million)
The strategic goal governing the Heritage Sub-Programme is to highlight, conserve, manage and promote awareness of the cultural resources of the province. In keeping with the strategic goal of the unit, various initiatives to be embarked upon will range from the strengthening of the institutional infrastructure which will enable local community participation in Provincial Heritage Management in the form of District Heritage Forums while the profiling of marginalised heritage resources will have to continue in the form of various events planned for the year.
The Provincial Heritage Resources Authority in the form of Amafa will also receive funding to deliver on its mandate; while a fair amount of activity will also focus on the operationalisation of the newly enacted Provincial heritage legislation. The Office of the Premier intends adopting a multi-pronged strategy in the fulfillment of its mandate of coordinating the transformation of the heritage industry in the province.
The department further intends:
- Coordinating the celebration of heritage events
- Coordinating the erection of monuments, memorials and walls of remembrance
- Coordinating and helping heritage institutions to solicit and access funding from relevant heritage funding bodies; and
- Monitoring the operations of the District Heritage Forums and Provincial Heritage Resources Agency.
Sub-Programme: Premier's Priority Programmes (R114,091-million) Youth Ambassadors programme
The department will continue with the roll-out of the Youth Ambassadors programme, which includes household surveys. The Youth Ambassadors will also assist in the mass implementation of programmes to reduce social ills, such as awareness campaigns on HIV and AIDS, healthy lifestyle promotion, and the One Home, One Garden and Back to School campaigns.
Operation Sukuma Sakhe
In the 2012/13 financial year, the key focus areas in rolling out the Operation Sukuma Sakhe modelin all 11 districts is to create a model on sharing resources and integrating Departmental programmes to ensure a stronger impact on fighting poverty and strengthening service delivery.
We want to ensure effective coordinating and to monitor the involvement of youth in behavioural change programmes and guide their development- monitor and evaluate interventions on food security, focus on the empowerment of women and youth, improve ability to reach all wards especially in rural areas, as well as equip 400 war rooms with computers, furniture and connectivity.
Rural Development
We are refining a new strategic approach to rural development, involving a hierarchy of services from service points, to clusters of different Governmental services culminating in a small rural town.
By working in partnership with other government departments and key stakeholders, the Department will strive to address poverty and food insecurity through maximising the use and management of natural resources, and will explore strategies to improve socialand economic livelihoods of rural communities to fulfill its new mandate of rural development.
The department will reprioritise funding in 2012/13 financial year towards the establishment of a Rural Development component. Its focus will provide a coordination role for rural development activities in KwaZulu-Natal with a focus on practical sustainable grassroots programmes, building rural/village economies and mobilisation of business investments to create sustainable and vibrant local economies. Cooperation with lngonyama Trust Board, Rural Development Forum and Amakhosi has already been demonstrated.
Climate Change Council
The KwaZulu-Natal Climate Change Council and a secretariat are currently being established within the Office of the Premier to educate our communities about practical mitigation and adaptation measures. With the establishment of the KwaZulu-Natal Council on Climate Change, local businesses will be encouraged to move towards cleaner, green practices.
The KwaZulu-Natal Premier's Clean Technology Innovation Competition will be launched this year in partnership with the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation. This is a new initiative and the cost implications are currently being finalized. Funds will be reprioritised within 2012/13 budget to accommodate it.
The Office of the Premier collects revenue mainly from casino taxes and levies, bookmakers' tax in respect of horse racing and gaming, and recoveries in respect of bookmakers' licence renewals. The two main sources of revenue fall under tax receipts,namely casino taxes and horse racing taxes.
During the current financial year the KZN Gaming and Betting Act was enacted as mentioned above and the KZN Gaming and Betting Tax Act, the Bookmakers' Control Committee and KZN Gambling Board have merged into the KZNGBB. Casino taxes depict revenue collected in accordance with the KZN Gaming and Betting Act. A dedicated unit was established within the KZNGBB to address the issue of illegal gambling operators.
The department's revenue projections are steady over the 2012/13 MTEF, due to the estimated effects of the recent economic recession. However, there may be additional revenue collected, arising from the increase in the Limited Payout Machines which have been, and are currently being, rolled out in the Province. Furthermore, there is a proposal to review all fees and taxes for 2012/13 which will potentially lead to improved collection.
Conclusion
May I take this opportunity to thank the Director-General, Mr NVE Ngidi, and the staff of the Office of the Premier for their commitment and dedication. I also wish to thank my beloved wife and my family for supporting me all the time as I go about my duties.
With peace, democracy and development having been achieved, KwaZulu-Natal can now only grow further, economically and socially, to achieve a better life for all.
I now formally wish to table Vote 1 with a budget of R594,600 million before the Legislature. Let us work together for growth, development and a better future for all.
I thank you.
Province
