Budget Speech delivered by Premier Kb Maape At the North West Provincial Legislature
Hon Speaker, Mme Basetsana Dantjie
Hon Deputy Speaker, Mme Viola Motsumi,
Members of the Executive Council present
Chief Whip of the Majority Party, Cde Paul Sebego
Chairpersons of Portfolio Committees
Leaders of Opposition Parties
Chairperson of the House of Traditional Leaders
Chairperson of SALGA North West
District Mayors
Executive Mayors & Mayors
Section 100 Administrators
Director General
Provincial Heads of Departments
Head of National Departments
Municipal Managers
Executive and Senior Managers in the Public Service
Ladies & Gentlemen
Baagi Ba North West Province
Hon Speaker, the tabling of budgets for Provincial Departments for the 2022/2023 Financial Year mark the fourth year since the invocation of Section 100 1 (a) & (b) by national government in the 2018/2019 financial year.
As has been shown through performance reports of various departments since last week, and will further be demonstrated through the performance report of the Office of the Premier today, the North West is in a better position than it was this time in 2018.
In February 2022, Cabinet approved the Inter-Ministerial Task Team’s (IMTT) plan for a phased exit. This decision was communicated to the National Council of Provinces by the Convenor, Hon. N.C Dlamini Zuma on the 23 March 2022.
I must indicate that no opposition was raised by the NCOP with regards to the decision of Cabinet to support the phased exit starting on the 31 March 2022, just like there was no opposition when section 100 was invoked.
Based on the above, the intervention has begun with the phased exit since the 31 March 2022. It is expected that all departments under section 100(1)(b) will complete their exit activities by the end of June 2022.
A detailed hand-over report will be submitted to the Minister responsible for each department as well as the coordinator, who is the Administrator in the Office of the Premier.
Amongst the issues to be included in the report, will include the following:
- Achievements and progress made to address the reasons for the intervention;
- Outstanding matters, issues of concern and recommendations to address these;
- Lessons learnt;
- Progress against the original implementation plan, as submitted to the NCOP in the fifth administration;
- A list of directives to be issued to the provincial executive to address outstanding priorities and areas vulnerable to regression, if required.
As part of the phased exit approach, we continue to carefully manage the transition and de-escalation of certain elements of the intervention providing for the transfer of management and control of aspects of provincial administration previously assumed by national government departments since 2018.
The Province is working with national government through the Inter-Ministerial Task Team led by Minister Dlamini-Zuma to manage the transition and the eventual lifting of the intervention in a manner that does not erode and undermine the gains made by the province.
We welcome the lifting of section 100, though we must say we are anxious and worried about it, as we understood and appreciated the need for such intervention on the part of the national government.
Hon Members, we wish to share with you some of the key performance highlights and achievements of the Office of the Premier covering the period since the intervention and recently in the past financial year (2021/2022):
- The Office of the Premier has not incurred any unauthorized expenditure for the past five (5) years.
- For the second time in succession (2019/2020, 2020/2021 financial years) the Office obtained an unqualified audit opinion, with reduced audit findings as compared to the previous year respectively. It is also worth mentioning that, during the 2020/2021 financial year, no new transgression in relation to irregular, fruitless, unauthorized and wasteful expenditure has been registered in the financial records of Office of the Premier.
- We welcome the improved audit outcome of other departments and continue to support all efforts at further improvement.
Honourable Speaker, we are making progress in addressing and reducing the book value of prior year irregular expenditure cases for condonation and de-recognition as part of the clean audit project of the office. The Office carries a historical irregular expenditure book value of R900 million, R200million of which we are confident to clear in the new financial year.
As we build internal capacity to deal with these historical cases, the Office of the Premier is also working with Provincial Treasury to assist Provincial Departments to address their own cases.
This strategy has been adopted in order to transfer knowledge and skills to officials and to solidify an engine of internal control in and across the NW Province in order to rid the provincial administration of the negative image of poor financial management.
I wish to report to this House that during the period under review the office of the Premier paid 96% of service providers within 30 days as prescribed with the underperformance translating to only R3,812 million from a total spending of R305 millions of allocated operational budget. The Office spent 83% of its allocated budget.
The office has resuscitated the Gender Responsive Budgeting Steering Committee to monitor and evaluate if the departments put on gender lenses when they do their planning.
We had analysed the APP's before they were signed off and advised the departments to have a standard indicator responding to the gender responsive planning and budgeting including youth and persons with disabilities
With respect to the coordination of children’s programmes, the province during the National Annual Children's Parliament has emerged with the Deputy President of the children Ms Mary-Ann Pretorius, grade 10 learner from Mahikeng High School who represented SA at the Global Conference on the elimination of child labour.
We partnered with the North West Provincial Legislature (NWPL) (public participation) to host Disability Sectoral Parliament with the aim of holding government accountable to its commitments in bettering the lives of persons with Disabilities. We hosted the Disability Rights Summit to set a tone for government in the next term.
The Office of the Premier has developed a GIS Strategy which among others will provide a strategic framework for an integrated use of GIS in the whole Province including Provincial Departments, SOEs and municipalities. Significantly, it will enhance the District Development Model planning processes.
Honourable members, the Office of the Premier is in the process of reviewing its organizational structure as part of strengthening its coordination, planning and monitoring functions.
The fit for purpose structure developed will ensure that the Office performs its constitutional responsibilities as expected.
We are also providing support to all provincial departments as part of the macro reorganisation of the government to align structures and performance of departments with government policy priorities.
We wish to report that we are making progress in the filling of vacancies of Heads of Departments. Of the current five (5) vacancies of Heads of Departments, we have already concluded interviews for two in the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs and Traditional Affairs, and Public Works & Roads.
Appointment decisions for the two departments will be made in June once legal processes and consultations have been concluded with the Minister of Public Service and Administration.
We are confident that by the end of this calendar year, all Departments will have substantive heads of departments.
Hon Speaker, the office of the Premier is not only the appointing authority for heads of departments, we are also responsible for coordination, monitoring and evaluation of human resources policy prescripts in the province.
We will be improving and strengthening this capacity for all the provincial functions which are coordinated by the Office of the Premier like labour relations, human resources practices, legal services, occupational health and wellness etc.
The recruitment of senior and executive managers in the public service will receive close scrutiny to ensure that people who are appointed into these critical positions have the relevant skills and qualifications, and carry the ethical predisposition required to build a highly productive, and ethical public service.
We have already approached the Provincial Chapter of the Public Service Commission to obtain their independent assessment and evaluation of all appointments in the province, and to work together to strengthen recruitments and fill of all future vacancies.
Ladies& Gentlemen, COVID 19 pandemic has highlighted the critical importance of occupational health as a critical support function for effective service delivery. Since 2020 the province has lost 221 number of public servants due to COVID 19.
In the current phase of our COVID 19 response strategy, we will endeavour to achieve a full vaccination coverage for the office and the public service in the province.
Vaccination remains the one remaining weapon to protect workplace health and safety, guarantee uninterrupted service delivery and preservation of life for public servants, their families and the public.
Hon Speaker, the National Anti-Corruption Strategy envisions an ethical and accountable state that has zero tolerance towards corruption, within and outside the public service.
This Strategy provides a roadmap to tackle corruption as a collective responsibility of society but also acknowledges that the journey towards a corrupt free society will be a long and arduous one.
The office of the Premier will be convening a provincial consultative summit in order to bolster our provincial anti-corruption strategy and mobilize stakeholders and role players to take a public pledge to fight and report cases of corruption as required by the law.
The Office of the Premier has already adopted a departmental whistle blower protection policy, and this will be rolled out to all provincial departments, and the public.
Hon Members, we rely on the support of and the oversight provided by portfolio committees to alert us and the relevant law enforcement agencies to cases of malfeasance and corrupt conduct within government.
We thank Dikgosi, organized labour, civil society, business who in the recent past have provided dependable frontline pushback against corruption particularly in government.
We will repay your confidence by promptly and effectively acting against all corrupt officials and leaders, irrespective of who they are.
Honourable Speaker, government announced a few years ago that the Ikatisong School of Governance will be established to provide accredited training to public servants. Sadly, this announcement was made without research, modelling and funding required or set aside for this purpose.
As a result, earnest work only began after the announcement to deal with the practical realities of such a project. During this process, discussions were held with many stakeholders to eventuate this project without success. We agree with the concerns of the Portfolio Committee that we must go back to the drawing board. A comprehensive report will be tabled to the Portfolio Committee, with viable and sustainable options, on how this project can be carried out without compromising our public servants.
The challenges notwithstanding, our public servants have, and still are, receiving training mainly through National School of Government, SETAs and other service providers.
The following are just some of the courses that were offered during 2021/2 financial year.
- Breaking Barriers to Entry into Public Service(BB2E). The programme provides learners (interns) with an Orientation into the key functions of Public Administration and Public Service.
- Compulsory Induction Programme (CIP) to the new incumbents to the Public Service. This programme intends to induct the newly appointed employees in the Public Service and it was effectively coordinated by ISOG.
- Theory of change for Transversal Skills Needs analysis. This programme was Implemented by the NSG and HSRC for purposes of doing Training Skills Analysis for the Province which will inform the future training and development plans.
- Emerging Market Initiatives Programme (In partnership with MicroSoft SA). The Microsoft EMI aims to skill 40 Government employees as Master Trainers in Basic, Intermediate and Advanced IT skills to build the provincial capacity to address the 4IR (4th Industrial Revolution). These 40 Master Trainers will in turn train a further 120 people as Master Trainers and together all of them will embark on training 20,000 youth in the province.
Hon Speaker, For the 2022 academic year we have awarded bursaries to 65 new intake of bursary beneficiaries across all the four District Municipalities with a total budget of R15,805 284,25.
The bursaries awarded focuses on the following field of studies among others: Accounting, Commerce, Logistics, Dental Surgery, Education, Engineering, Agriculture, Medicine and Built environment.
We are seeking alternative means to expand our reach through possible policy review, partnerships and cooperation with other bodies outside government to extend this assistance to students who currently fall outside the current policy threshold and therefore unable to access both our bursary scheme and NASFAS (the missing middle).
On the 01 June 2022, we will be launching the renaming of the provincial bursary fund to Victor Sifora Bursary fund. We are also working on aligning the fund with the skills needs of the province.
Since 2021, 129 students have been funded, with 64 new intakes in 2022 and 44 from prior years’ intake expected to graduate in 2022.
We plan to integrate and place all our graduates in departments as part of their bursary contracts and internship programme.
Any excess number which we may not be able to absorb in government will either be placed in the private sector or released from contract obligations in order to seek further work opportunities in the private sector.
The OOP is Coordinating and Monitoring the development and Implementation of the Departmental Work Skills Plans. In 2021/22 financial year a total number of 332 Youth Development Programmes were implemented which were constituted of internships and learnerships. These programmes will continue in the 2022/23 because the DPSA regulations that has brought the adjustment of Internship timeframe to 24 months.
Hon Members, the extend of the challenge of youth development require extensive partnerships with organised business and other social partners.
Honourable Speaker, this Legislature passed the North West Youth Entrepreneurial Services Fund Act 6 of 2015 (YES). This Act was never operationalized for various reasons. As a result, in 2019, the Executive Council decided to repeal this Act and to provide youth services through departments but coordinated in the Office of the Premier.
As the Office of the Premier, we understand the concerns of the Portfolio Committee on the repeal bill of Yes, However, the Yes concept does not include services to young people on the social front, being street children, children in trouble with the law, youth substance abuse and rehabilitation, and teenage pregnancy,
We, however, agree with the Portfolio Committee to halt the repeal of YES bill until a comprehensive report serves before the Committee on options available to coordinate youth services across departments and municipalities.
We will soon announce the appointment of a Provincial Youth Development Manager and the resuscitation of the youth unit in the Office of the Premier whose responsibility will be the coordination, monitoring and implementation of youth empowerment/development initiatives in the North West Province.
Hon members, In June, the Office will convene a Provincial Youth Summit in order to align all provincial youth development initiatives into a Provincial Plan in line with the Integrated Youth Development Strategy.
We have already this year in partnership with both COGHSTA Department and Water Research Commission placed 22 graduates across municipal water works through a funded work integrated learning programme. The Artisan Development programme which previously supported 35 learners to the tune of R3.7 million in the 2021/22 financial year will be continued to assist these learners towards obtaining their trade certificates in the current financial year.
We are also in the process of finalising a Memorandum of Understanding with the Construction SETA (CETA) which will result in the funding and supporting skills development projects in the built environment. This partnership will see the establishment of a Provincial Skills Development Centre funded by CETA, one of the four such centres in the country.
Further partnerships are being considered and will be concluded in the near future in tourism, roads and infrastructure delivery and other key economic sectors.
Hon Members, the provincial communication function in the office of the Premier is a critical conduit to facilitate meaningful participation of citizens by sharing information and receiving feedback through multiple communication platforms.
We have now approved a single provincial government Corporate identity manual applicable to the entire Provincial Government.
We will continue to strengthen our relationship with the media and pay particular attention to cooperation with and support of community and local media.
Mme Mmusakgotla, the Office of the Premier is the centre for policy, research and planning in the North West.
The Office provides similar support to provincial departments, municipalities and public entities as provided by DPME in the Presidency to national departments and other public bodies.
Proper functioning of provincial administration require coherence in policy, spatial planning and development framework in order to promote sustainable and beneficial utilisation of public resources to improve the quality of lives of our people.
We have budgeted an amount of R1million for the 2022/2023 financial year, to undertake a study to assess the effectiveness or otherwise of the implementation of Government Policy priorities in the North West Province.
Further plans are at an advanced level to appoint various experts panels to conduct thorough assessment and alignment of national and provincial policy priorities in the following critical performance areas:
- The review of the performance, relevance, sustainability, retention and/or release of State Owned Entities;
- The review of the Provincial Growth & Development Strategy;
- The design, planning and implementation of key strategic mega infrastructure projects
Hon Members, we are moving into the full institutionalization and implementation of the District Development Model in the 2022/23 Financial year through the coordination of both the office of the Premier and COHGSTA working with Sector Departments, district, and local municipalities.
As we prepare for the new municipal financial year beginning in July, we will review the One Plans to address the issues emanating from the assessment of this plans by National Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs.
The Office of the Premier has designed a Provincial Geographic Information system (web based application) in order to capture, store, integrate, analyse, present and disseminates spatial or geographical data.
This GIS web application is well suited to support the DDM as it will be able to collect and store demographic and district profiles. We will continue with our efforts to institutionalise this Web Based System.
Honourable Speaker and Members, the North West Province has submitted a list of Infrastructure Projects to the Infrastructure South Africa (ISA) Unit in the Presidency to assist with registration, sourcing of funding and implementation of various projects.
We have been allocated a team of Technical Advisors to assist the province to build capacity and to qualify some of the Mega Infrastructure projects for funding and implementation.
We are targeting at least 5 mega Infrastructure Projects
- In Water and Sanitation – (29 projects with a planned value of R11 billion) ;
- Roads infrastructure with (37 projects at a planned value of R7,7 billion);
- Human Settlements with a planned value of (R3,200 billion);
- Information Communication Technologies to enable the digital economy with an initial planned value of (R5 billion);
- Agro-processing, Mineral Beneficiation, Capital Equipment's Renewable Energy and Logistics with a project planned value of (R3bn) and
- Industrial Development project with planned value of (R3,200 bn).
In total, if successful mobilization of funding for these projects materialize, we will realise a total of at least R33 billion, with envisaged the creation of at least Sixty thousand jobs.
Hon members, the coordination, preparation and submission of these projects for consideration by ISA does not require any additional appropriation for the Office of the Premier. These will be delivered within the existing planning capacity within the Office.
The cooperation with ISA is also intended to build beneficial linkages for skills transfer to empower provincial officials to manage projects of the scale proposed in our investment book.
The intervention of ISA in the province also opens up new channels of private sector participation in the delivery of key projects to bolster economic recovery and support job creation in the province.
In the coming weeks we will be engaging with ISA to make sure that all plans meet the requirements. We will continue to update the legislature on our efforts to facilitate the creation of jobs and growing of the provincial economy.
In recent months we have held numerous engagements with the various sectors of the economy in order to build a partnership towards accelerating economic growth and job creation.
We will be continuing to engage with both organised business and with individual companies who have indicated a willingness to assist government in basic service delivery and who have shown a vote of confidence by expanding their investments in the North West.
We were greatly encouraged by our recent visits to Henwil Chickens who are currently constructing a feed mill outside Lichtenburg, and to Pilanesberg Platinum Mine who are going to develop a new underground shaft and a Kell Plant in the vicinity of Moruleng which will create over 3000 new jobs with a total investment value of R10 billion.
Mmusakgotla, the Special Programme function in the Office of the Premier has now been fully integrated and have completed a full-service delivery year since the transfer in the 2021/22 financial year.
We can now report to the house that the Office of the Premier has a full oversight of the coordination and monitoring of transformation priorities which include gender, youth, persons with disabilities and veterans. We have initiated one-on-one interactions between the Premier and MECs in order to ensure oversight and synchronization of plans.
We have already provided support to provincial departments during the planning phase of the 22/23 financial year to ensure that departmental plans are mainstreamed to address issues pertinent to these designated groups in our society.
Hon Members, the Provincial Council on AIDS Secretariat will conduct the End-term Review of the current Provincial Implementation Plan (PIP) of HIV and AIDS, STIs & TB 2017-2022 and coordinate the development of the PIP 2023 - 2028.
This will ensure that we take stock of the impact of our efforts in dealing with HIV matters and map a way-forward to address new and persistent challenges.
We will strengthen the sector collaboration efforts through the launch of the Private Sector Forum which will complete the composition of the PCA.
We are committed to resuscitate and bring back the public profile and awareness of the work of the Provincial Council on Aids and re-energise society to take active part in the programmes of the PCA.
The Office of the Premier will continue to provide leadership by meeting on quarterly basis with sector leaders in the PCA. All departments will be encouraged to adopt sectors plans. The Office of the Premier working with relevant stakeholders will provide training to PCA Secretariat and council members for effective functioning of the structure.
Mmusa Kgotla, earlier this year on the 12th March we hosted a successful inaugural Presidential Imbizo in the North West Province which has since been held in provinces of the Free State and Mpumalanga.
Our province has provided a guiding template for participatory democracy and focussed service delivery report back to the communities.
Since the Imbizo, many commitments are being implemented jointly with National sister departments.
The Minister of Police as promised during the Imbizo returned to Mahikeng to conduct further consultations with members of the public on issues raised related to crime in the area, drug abuse etc. Community Policing structures are being resuscitated to improve collaboration between the police and public.
The Department of Defense and Military Veterans have deployed necessary capacity to assist areas affected by recent rains and floods in Deelpan and areas of Ratlou Local Municipality to assist with repair of bridges etc.
As promised during the Imbizo, the provincial government has reached agreement with the Minister of Transport to transfer parts of the N12 roads to SANRAL for repair and maintenance.
As this arrangement progresses, SANRAL capacity will be sought to improve our own provincial capacity for construction and maintenance of both provincial and local roads.
Bagaetsho, we highlight a few of these Imbizo outcomes to demonstrate that we take our people serious and all the issues they raised with us will be attended to and resolved.
Our disaster support in Deelpan and other areas affected by recent rains continues with the support of National Departments.
On behalf of government and the people of the North West, we once more wish to convey our support and condolences to the provincial government and people of Kwazulu-Natal who continue to bear the brunt of inclement weather conditions.
We thank the men and women from various rescue teams across the Province who were deployed to and performed exceptionally well during the April rescue programme in KZN.
On the matters of the traditional leaders, our office continues to support the department. We will continue this financial year to work with Magosi a rona. We are working on the delegation plan that will give the MEC of COGTSA delegations to deal with some traditional leaders matters as per legislation.
Hon Members, allow me to conclude by providing key highlights and justification for the appropriation we wish this house to make for the Office of the Premier in the 2022/23 Financial Year:
- ICT Transformation Programme is budgeted at R116.8 million;
- Provincial communication services are budgeted at R8 million;
- Bursary funding is budgeted at R4.4 million;
- The review of Provincial Spatial Development Framework is budgeted at R1 million;
- Increase the support of the Foundations such as Moses Kotane, Mama Ruth Mompati, JB Marks and Onkgopotse Tiro from R100 000 to R200 000 this financial year
- Women and Rights of Children activities/intervention is budgeted at R1.1 million;
- Disability and Older Persons activities/intervention is budgeted at R1.2 million;
- Mega and Infrastructure Programme is budgeted at R1 million;
- Youth Advocacy Programmes is budgeted at R1.5 million;
- Artisan Development Programme is budgeted at R4.1 million;
- Organisational Structure Review for the Office is budgeted at R1.2 million.
- Establishment of office of Provincial AIDS Secretariat is budgeted at R3 million;
- National and Provincial Government Priorities is budgeted at R1 million;
- Development of Provincial Growth and Development Strategy is budgeted at R1 million
Madam Speaker and Honourable members
It is my privilege to table before this esteemed House for appropriation, the 2022/23 budget for Office of the Premier as follows
|
Programme |
R’000 |
|
Administration |
114,825m |
|
Institutional Development |
251,097m |
|
Policy and Governance |
106, 589m |
|
TOTA |
472, 511m |
We interacted with our portfolio committee led by Honourable Motswana. I raised pertinent issues, some are incorporated in the budget speech and others will be attended to, as we continue to report back to the portfolio committee in due course.
I take this opportunity to thank
- the Speaker and Deputy for their continued support and guidance.
- Honourable Members of the Executive Council for their ever-ready support
- Honourable members of the portfolio committee for their robust and relevant engagements and advice
- Honourable members of the opposition for their most welcome oversight role
- The DG, the Administrator and the entire staff of the Office of the Premier.
- The Chief of Staff, Advisors and the entire Private Office staff for agreeing to be slave-driven
- The entire public service in the North West Province for the pulpable positive mood and willingness to go an extra mile
- Kgosi Mabe le Magosi a mangwe re lebogela ke mo Nokeng le tshegetso ya lona
- Baagi ba North West a re tsweleleng go dira mmogo go tlisa Botshelo jo bo botoka
- Ke leboga my partner, my children and my siblings for encouragement and support
- Ke leboge Lekgotla le legolo la ANC le le nkadimeleng tiro e.
