Eastern Cape Office of the Premier 2011/12 Policy Speech by Premier, Noxolo Kiviet

Honourable Speaker and Deputy Speaker;
Members of the Executive Council;
Honourable Members of the House;
Leadership and officials of our administration;
People of our beautiful Province;
Comrades, compatriots and friends

I take this opportunity to greet you all.

Following the presentation of the State of the Nation Address by our President Jacob Zuma, we presented the State of the Province Address to this House and outlined the key interventions that the provincial government proposes to implement in the coming financial year.

These interventions are intended to better the lives of the ordinary people of this province. Cutting across these key interventions is the need for more coherent and effective coordination of government action and work, as well as the continuous development of the capacity of government towards building a real developmental state.

In the State of the Province Address we made a commitment that the various Executing Authorities will present to this House their Policy Speeches that clearly indicate the programmes they will implement to realise the strategic objectives which we outlined.

Honourable Speaker, in the 2010/11 financial year we  committed  ourselves to finalise an organisational re-engineering project in the Office of the Premier; to update the Provincial Growth and Development Plan; to develop a Public Sector Transformation Strategy; as well as to develop a litigation management strategy. For all intents and purposes, the re-engineering process of the Office of the Premier is complete, and is now at the stage of engagement with the Department of Public Service and Administration.

The Public Sector Transformation Strategy was developed and presented to a very successful provincial Public Sector Transformation Summit which Members of this House also attended towards the end of 2010. The litigation management strategy has also been developed and is ready for implementation.

Following the Executive Council Lekgotla held earlier this year, the process of updating the Provincial Growth and Development Plan (PGDP) has since been elevated to a full scale PGDP review project. This project has been mandated to the Ministry of Provincial Planning and Finance working with Eastern Cape Socio-Economic and Consultative Council, and will guide government’s long range planning beyond 2014.

Honourable Members, today I present the Policy Speech of the Office of the Premier outlining the programmes we have identified and resources allocated to realise the policy intentions as articulated in  the  2011  State  of  the  Province Address as was presented before this House.

The R403, 880 million budget I present to this House today will assist the Office of the Premier to achieve the following:

• To improve policy coordination and service delivery integration.
• To strengthen the monitoring, reporting and evaluation function, and to ensure that this is properly performed at all levels of government in the province;
• To upscale the capacity of the Provincial Government machinery and to improve its effectiveness and efficiency.

Currently, the Office of the Premier has three programmes which are Administration, Institutional Building and Transformation, and Policy and Governance through which it carries its mandate.

Honourable Members, I will briefly reflect on these programmes, their work and budgets for the 2011/12 financial year below:

Programme 1- Administration with a budget of R96,582 million is tasked with ensuring that the Office of the Premier functions as a learning and best practice organisation.     Secondly, this programme enables internal organisational coherence within the regulatory compliance framework. With this budget, this programme will assist the department in engaging in a process of organisational self-assessment for continuous service delivery improvement. As such this should help facilitate change in the culture of the department while also facilitating regular liaison with the provincial communities and stakeholders.

To strengthen good governance within the department, the programme will assist in the strengthening of the internal control environment in a manner that ensures compliance with applicable legislation, policies and regulations. To this end an Internal Audit function is budgeted to be established in the department. Furthermore, this programme will work to strengthen the departmental risk management, anti-fraud and corruption strategies.

Following the shift in the Special Programmes coordination function, the department will retain reduced capacity for its own internal Special Programmes Unit which will be located in this branch. Through Programme 1, the department will also implement and monitor its human resources, employee wellness, and attraction and recruitment plans for this financial year.

Programme 2 - Institution Building and Transformation with a budget of R202,796 m is charged with the effective coordination of and capacity building within the public sector to ensure institutional transformation. It also serves to coordinate the implementation of the provincial government’s internal and external information and communication system.

In the 2011/12 financial year, this programme will facilitate the implementation of the Provincial Public Sector Transformation Strategy. Amongst others, the objectives of the strategy include the strengthening of the human resources management and development as an enabling platform for effective change and institution building; as well as to effectively coordinate efforts aimed at transforming the culture of the provincial public service to promote professionalism, increase responsiveness, sound ethics and moral renewal. We will facilitate this through a number of interventions that will be launched in this financial year as outlined in our Annual Performance Plan. Such interventions will include the implementation of the Employment Equity Strategy and Policy, ensuring regularisation of the Performance Management and Development System and establishment of the Leadership Academy.

The Department will also, through this programme, facilitate and coordinate various interventions aimed at improving the corporate image of provincial government including the jerking up of the provincial communication function and effective management of public enquiries.

We will also facilitate the implementation of the litigation management strategy to minimise incidence of litigation against the state and costs arising there from. We will also ensure a fully functional and effective fraud and corruption case management system while assisting departments to develop credible fraud and corruption prevention plans.

We will continue to build our provincial information and communications technology (ICT) competency towards ensuring that:

• The  provincial  governance  framework  is  in place;
• Key employees are trained on optimal and effective use of ICT to enhance internal operations and service delivery; and
• Increase our internal capacity to maintain ICT infrastructure and provide the necessary support services so that overtime we minimise dependency on the State Information Technology Agency (SITA).
  

Programme 3- Policy and Governance with a budget of R104,502 million is mandated to lead and facilitate the development and full implementation of sound, effective, appropriate and integrated provincial governance, policies, strategies, and programmes in the Province. It also takes responsibility for reporting, monitoring and evaluation of the impact of these policies, strategies and programmes. This programme also facilitates cooperative governance in the Province through promoting strategic interface among Government institutions, on the one hand, and also between Government institutions and civil society on the other.

As earlier indicated, in this financial year, this programme will facilitate and oversee the review of the Provincial Growth and Development Plan to align it with the national long range planning beyond 2014. The programme will also develop a provincial policy   development framework to ensure that policies in the province, including the local sphere, respond to and are aligned with the government’s strategic priorities.

Honourable Speaker, the targets set in the both the State of the Nation Address and the State of the Province Address can only be realised if there is constant follow up on the plans and programmes put in place to realise them. It is thus for this reason that this programme will also finalise the development  and  facilitate  the  implementation  of the provincial M&E framework that will assist in monitoring performance across government.

Through this Programme, the department will also ensure that the Premier’s Coordinating Forum is strengthened such that it provides the necessary leadership and guidance to all the provincial Intergovernmental Relations (IGR) platforms. This programme will also lead in the introduction of the public participation programme linked to the national sphere as well as the coordination of the Provincial Executive Council Outreach programme.

The State of the Province Address emphasises the point that we cannot achieve a fraction of the work we set for ourselves unless we achieve “development through unity”. Recognising the truth of this statement, Honourable Members, the department realises that working together entails rallying all stakeholders behind one common programme for the betterment of the lives of the poor. To this end, we commit to work tirelessly with our social partners and communities for the realisation of our vision of a better life for all.

As I conclude Honourable Speaker and Members, in this context, let me quote the words of one of the great stalwarts of our liberation struggle in South Africa, Tata Walter Sisulu when, accepting the Padma Vibhushan award from the President and Government of India on 15 July 1998, he said: “Half the battle shall have been won if indeed our efforts as leaders of our countries, parties and communities can at least inspire hope in our people for a better life. The battle shall have been won if by 2099 great grandchildren shall be able to enjoy the benefits of a good education and decent housing. The battle shall have been won if by the turn of the next century poverty, squalor, degradation and disease shall remain but a distant and fading memory....It is not beyond us to make the new millennium, the millennium of accelerated development, social justice and economic emancipation for all our people.”

Inspired by these wise words, the Office of the Premier, as the centre of service delivery coordination in the Province, will continue to upscale its capacity to effectively discharge its constitutional mandate now and into the future. Our efforts therefore are geared towards ensuring that this battle that Tata Sisulu referred to shall indeed be  won  in  favour of the poor masses of our province.

I thank you!

The budget mentioned above has been apportioned as follows to the various programmes and their respective sub-programmes:

Source: Eastern Cape Provincial Government