The department will have to analyse where it comes from, the progress it has made in terms of the turnaround strategy, the challenges that remain – and above all the vision and objectives it sets for itself, said Public Works Minister Thulas W Nxesi.
He was speaking during the opening of the two-day Strategic Planning Workshop (Lekgotla) held at St. George’s Hotel, in Centurion - Gauteng from 18 to 19 November 2013, aimed at setting key focus areas for the next Medium Term Strategic Framework (MTSF) and mapping a way-forward of what the department needs to do in order deliver on those MTSF priorities.
In his address during the workshop, the Minister called for an integrated approach in dealing with different elements of planning. “In the new MTSF we have to ensure all plans are aligned to the National Development Plan (NDP). Indeed the MTSF will form the first five year building block of the NDP.”
The Minister said that in the period between now and early 2014 before the new administration is in place, government departments will be required to report against their Strategic Plans and Annual Performance Plans (APPs) which by definition includes departmental commitments to the 14 outcomes listed in the MTSF.
Among others, these outcomes include the quality basic education, a healthy nation, a safer South Africa, decent employment, skilled and capable work force, responsive economic infrastructure network, comprehensive rural development, an inclusive and responsive social protection system as well as transforming society and uniting the country.
The Minister called on the Lekgotla to flag on commitments relevant to DPW which touches on the fight against corruption, tender fraud and price fixing in infrastructure programmes, job creation and economic growth – particularly those linked to addressing youth unemployment, eradication of mud schools and payment of suppliers within 30 days.
He also challenged the Lekgotla to deliberate during the two-day session on ‘Rebuilding Public Works’ wherein “we clarify our mandate and core business as Public Works, interrogate the current way we do business and to do all this with a clear focus on our deliverables in terms of the MTSF and the NDP”, he said.
Commenting of the turnaround campaign of the DPW, Minister Nxesi remarked: “Remember when we embarked on this turnaround journey we said that there would be different phases which include the immediate stabilisation of the department, the implementation of new structures and systems for business improvement and long-term growth and sustainability - a phase of continuous improvement. But we also said there was no Chinese wall between the phases. Basically, we had to stop the bleeding, but start planning and taking decisions for longer term improvement and transformation. That has been the approach and we have made real gains – improved audit findings and our improved standing with parliamentary committees reflects this. But gains have been uneven – and not as much as we would have liked. But that is the real world of constraints and blockages. That is the challenge of trying to make changes whilst simultaneously keeping the business going.”
In his address during the workshop, the Minister called on the house to move swiftly from stabilisation to consolidation. “You remember at the time we said that DPW was like a patient in the ICU. Today, there can be no doubt that the patient has been stabilised and the prognosis is much improved. Most important, the patient has woken up from a coma induced by lack of stable leadership, a sense of fatalism that nothing would change, in some cases denialism as to whether indeed there was a problem, and a general absence of mechanisms for accountability. That mood has definitely changed. I see many committed officials grappling with the challenges – incrementally making improvements; turning the corner.”
In his concluding remarks the Minister said that during the period until the new administration after the 2014 elections, the department should focus on consolidating the initiatives which were introduced in the last two years which includes the Clean Audit Project, A Reliable Register of Assets, the review of all leases, the operationalisation of the Property Management Trading Entity (PMTE), establishment of an implementation-orientated Project Management Office (PMO) in the Director-General’s Office as a matter of urgency, review of the DPW structure to reflect the DPW mandate and to adopt a Client-Centred Service approach wherein the department finds out what the clients want and deliver on those needs with the full participation of the clients.
