delivered by MEC Thaba Mufamadi
4 April 2006
Thomas Sankara, a hero who led a Revolution in Burkina Faso in the 1980s, as
the people of that West African country struggled to overcome poverty, hunger,
illiteracy, and all the ills of underdevelopment and oppression, in his
writings entitled, Womenâs Liberation and the African Freedom Struggle, he had
this to say: âWomen must not be denied from participating in the joyful march
of the procession of history for the creation of better society.â
Honourable Speaker of the House
Honourable Premier
Fellow Members of the Executive Council
Honourable Members of the House
Mayors and Councillors present
Distinguished guests
The people of our province
Toady, as in yesterday, Thomas Sankara would concur with our little
modification of his profound words when we say: âThe masses of our poor people
must not be denied from participating in the joyful march of the procession of
history for creating a better life for allâ.
Since 1994, the ANC led government, a genuine leader of the people of South
Africa, assumed a pioneering and pivotal role in the affairs of the African
destiny in a profound manner. The key strategic objective was and is still
being that of rolling back the frontiers of poverty and expanding the frontiers
of human fulfilment. And by extension to the rest of the Southern Hemisphere.
Thus affirming the clarion call âThe masses of the poor people must not be
denied from participating in the joyful march of the procession for creating a
better life for allâ. South Africa has been in the forefront of world wide
campaigns for the creation of a new humane peaceful global order. Our
participation in the global multilateral fora is geared towards the poverty
eradication and the alleviation of unemployment. From and through the World
Trade Organisation, to the World Summit on Sustainable Development to New
Partnership for Africaâs Development initiatives.
Our confidence in the success of our programmes for social human development
stems from the fact that these multilateral fora have emerged with a consensus
around the need to fight poverty and unemployment. Considering the nature of
the challenges that the poor of the world face, this is indeed a positive
intervention. Therefore, it is our firm believe that a Peopleâs Contract can
sustain the momentum towards tackling these challenges with success.
As Public Works, we are humbled that once again, we come before this august
house to give an account of what we have been preoccupied with in the past
financial year. We seek to indicate in this Budget Vote the progress we have
made in terms of successes and achievements. We shall also state the nature of
the challenges we faced that may have slowed progress in certain respects.
In this connection, I would like to take you through the overview of the
2005/06 financial year.
Overview of 2005/06financial year.
Financial overview
In the financial year 2005/06 the department was allocated a budget of R600
804 000. An additional funding, amounting to R21 million, was granted as a
rollover from the financial year 2004/05, which increased the budget to R621
804 000. However, following Executive Councilâs decision regarding
reconfiguration of provincial departments and the transfer of Roads portfolio
to the Department of Roads and Transport, R34 089 000 was suspended from the
departmental budget and transferred to department of Roads and Transport. This
resulted in the departmental budget adjusted to R587715000.
These funds were distributed as follows:
Administration: R154134000
Property and Facilities: R113089000
Building: R320 492 000
Total: R587 715 000
The initial revenue budget for 2005/06 was R10 529 000. This was
subsequently adjusted to R25 787 000. The reason for the adjustment is due to
proceeds from the disposal of the heavy machinery and trucks that were in Roads
program as well as the recovery of outstanding rentals.
Honourable Speaker,
(AsgiSA) Accelerated Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa details
government's interventions to grow the economy by 6% and reduce poverty and
unemployment by half in 2014. And the Department of Public Works through its
programmes is crucial to governmentâs contribution. There are constraints which
might impede the goals of AsgiSA which were identified and these included
inconsistencies in the procurement environment, fronting, fragmented
empowerment programmes, scarce critical skills, and lack of transformation in
the relevant industries. To this end, the Department of Public Works will give
closer attention on how to use our portfolio to contribute positively in the
realization of the goals of AsgiSA.
The case for human resource development cannot be overemphasised. In her
address delivered on the occasion for the signing of the Construction Charter
and Property Charter by relevant key stakeholders in Tshwane, the Minister of
Public Works, Stella Sigcau, enlivened us to the urgent realities when she
said, âWith reference to the built environment specifically, we are faced among
others by the following reality. The total number of registered engineers
declined from fifteen thousand five hundred and thirty (15530) in 1998 to
fourteen thousand nine hundred (14900) in 2004.â She further alluded to the
dynamics of this situation by saying that, âthe resulting ratio of citizens per
engineer is two thousand nine hundred and twenty three (2923). And that by way
of comparison this ration is one hundred and eighty four (184) per engineer in
Austria and two hundred and twenty (220) in the United Kingdomâ.
Minister Sigcau continued to draw our attention to the deteriorating
situation in terms of human resources in the built environment when she said,
âAccording to the Engineering Council of South Africa it is estimated that five
hundred to eight hundred (500-800) engineers will be retiring annually from
2009 onwards. This exceeds the numbers of those who are currently graduating
and to make matters worse, a very large percentage of graduates are emigrating.
In fact in 2001 more than 90% of graduates emigrated.
Honourable Speaker, The Writing Is On The Wall! Our department of public
works is ready to support the national effort for human resource
development.
In an attempt to address the skills shortage in the built environment the
department awarded 20 bursaries to prospective employees in the field of
Architecture, Quantity Survey, Mechanical Engineering and Project management.
50 bursaries for serving employees were also awarded in various
disciplines.
We acknowledge, Honourable members, that this is not a complete solution to
our problems, retaining these professionals still remains a challenge. However,
we are able to report that there have been attempts from our department to
develop a skills retention strategy in line with the Department of Public
Service and Administration initiative of retaining scarce skills.
In the past, we reported that we were implementing the Adult Basic Education
and Training (ABET) programme for most of our low-level workers. The main
challenge we faced was the inherent weakness in the structure of the programme
in that it did not incorporate training. We therefore redesigned the programme
to be integrated into the learnership programme. In the year under review we
facilitated ABET programmes for 739 employees [level 1 to 4] of which 639 set
for exams.
Furthermore, the Department has facilitated learnerships programmes in
skills development with an intake of 47 learners in the field of air
conditioning and refrigeration. The department partnered with local businesses
to ensure successful implementation of these learnerships. To enhance capacity
of serving employees, we implemented 64 skills programmes which catered for
various skills. To date, the department is facilitating the employment of 150
interns in line with the provincial internship programmes.
Honourable Speaker,
HIV and AIDS remains a threat to our society. In addressing HIV and AIDS
awareness, the department embarked on a programme to popularise voluntary
counselling and testing, which is a step beyond just awareness, through its
programme of peer educators who were trained by the department.
We reported last year that the integration of Occupational Health &
Safety, HIV & AIDS and the Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) services for
our employees was commended by the Department of Public Service
Administrationâs HIV & AIDS Indaba held in Durban last year in October.
This year, this integration has become an HIV Strategy benchmark in the
continent. This was attested to by a delegation from Sierra Leone who visited
our department, to do an understudy of this integration.
Honourable Speaker,
My department continues to analyse the challenges and shortcomings of its
systems and interrogate its operations with the purpose of learning from them
and derive better options moving forward. The overall strategy is that of
strengthening institutional and operational efficiency by improving management
systems, structures and processes in the areas of Infrastructure delivery. The
interventions anticipated are driven by the imperative necessity of satisfying
service delivery needs against a backdrop of discontentment from our clients on
the quality of service we offer them.
Honourable Speaker, in all that we do, we have an important partner and that
is the emerging contractor. As Government continues to empower the historically
disadvantaged contractors with certain levels of government contracts, the
emerging contractor continues to be plagued by inadequate technical and
managerial skills required for project implementation, inability to access
capital, provide securities, raise insurances and obtain professional
indemnity. The other problems usually facing the emerging contractor is lack of
resources for either large or complex construction work, the lack of continuity
in relation to type, scale and location of work.
The advent of the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) which
governs all procurement in construction brought about a system of
simplification of the procurement process and management of risk for government
through grading of contractors. This grading of the contractors is dependent
mainly on two factors; experience based on previous track record and working
capital. The element of working capital hampers the majority of our people from
participating in the industry as there has never been equitable distribution of
wealth in this country. What that translates to, is a situation where the
emerging contractors will continue to struggle in the lower end of the
construction register doing meagre jobs while the system favours the already
established conglomerates.
The department has made some initiatives to remedy the imbalances of the
past, which grossly disfavoured the black people, by initiating arrangements
that eases the financial burden from the emerging contactor. Even though these
aspects are good initiatives they do not eliminate entirely the problems of the
emerging contractors. There is still a need for intervention by government to
address complex challenges that affect emerging contractors as against material
suppliers within the framework of the Construction charter. Hence we say:âThe
masses of the poor people must not be denied from participating in the joyful
march of the procession for creating a better life for allâ.
As an implementing agent, in the year under review, we provided project
management service to our client departments as follows:
In line with the national program of eradicating the situation of learners
under trees and in shacks, 558 schools were identified by the department of
education. The department of public works project managed the construction of
423 schools at the value of R411 million.
The Hospital Revitalization Programme which entails the construction of
Wards, Theatres, Transport Control Offices, Workshops, Administration Offices,
OPD Reception, Pharmacy, Casualty and X-Ray Departments, Laboratory, Health
Support, Recreation Facilities, is on-going at the following hospitals
Nkhensani, New Jane-Furse, Lebowakgomo and Dilokong. In the 2005/06 financial
year we have spent R87 million in this program.
We have commenced with the construction of mortuaries in 10 hospitals to the
total value of R56 million to be completed in July 2006. Honourable Members, it
should be noted that the existence of these mortuaries will enhance medical
academic training of health care professionals.
In addition, 102 Two bed roomed houses, 81 bachelor flats and 15 blocks of
flats for medical personnel to the value of R128 million is under construction
and will be completed by end of March 2006.
Furthermore 33 clinics are being upgraded at a total budget of R128 million,
two health centres at a budget of R20 million and 36 clinics were electrified
at a total budget of R9 million.
With respect to the Department of Agriculture, six veterinary clinics were
upgraded at Sibasa, Mara, Belabela, Ellisrus, Praktiseer and Towamba at the
value of R9 million. As we speak, we have completed an audit for the upgrading
of the infrastructure at Tompi Seleka College.
We are also busy with the construction of Sekhukhune satellite traffic
station and the upgrading of Limpopo Traffic College for the Department of
Roads and Transport at a budget of R7 million. In order to provide office space
for this department, a contractor has been appointed to convert a warehouse at
our district offices in Polokwane at a contract value of R2 million.
The Construction of new offices at Suid Street for the Dept of Economic
Development, Environment and Tourism will be completed in June 2006.
Honourable Speaker,
With the allocation for the department the following projects were
undertaken:
* upgrading of Giyani EMPC for EPWP Training Centre
* surfacing of the access road to the Premierâs Guest House
* upgrading of cost centres and road camps
* refurbishment, maintenance of three goverbment complexes and office
buildings
* consultants have been appointed to look into the relocation of the Provincial
Legislature to Polokwane.
Honourable Speaker,
Indeed, âThe masses of the poor people of Limpopo must be enabled to
participate with pride in the joyful march of the procession of history for
creating a better life for allâ.
In line with our commitment towards procurement reform and empowerment, the
following outcomes were achieved in the 2005/06financial year:
* The department awarded a total of 771 contracts to the value of R861
million
* Of these, 680 were awarded to HDIâs at a total value of R717 million
* The number of contracts awarded to women were 446 at a value of R383
million
* The number of contracts awarded to the Youth were 441 at a value of R306
million AND,
* 2 contracts were awarded to people with disability at a value of R1
million.
As reported in the previous financial year, three key challenges faced by the
Department with regard to procurement were highlighted. The first one was the
negative public perception regarding procurement. The second challenge was the
lack of understanding of the procurement processes by our stakeholders. The
third challenge was the lack of appreciation and understanding of the new
legislation that governs the construction industry. To address these
challenges, the department has conducted awareness workshops with our
stakeholders in all six districts and will continue to do so in the coming
financial year.
Honourable Speaker
The unequal property relations perpetuated under colonialism and apartheid
sparked all subsequent misery and strife for the majority in our country. Black
people were denied access to productive land through the Native Land Act of
1913. Under this unjust piece of legislation, black people were effectively
barred from owning property or trade in properties. Together with similar
policies Black people were prevented from participating in enterprises that
allow them to create and accumulate wealth within the property industry.
Commercially, property ownership is dominated by collective investment
schemes, property loan stocks and listed property companies. There is limited
participation of black people, and more especially historically deprived women
in terms of ownership and control of these companies.
Honourable Speaker, today as we deliver this address to you, the Property
Transformation Charter is in place. The Charter is intended to unlock obstacles
to property ownership and participation in the commercial property market. This
is a direct intervention in elimination of discriminatory legislation created
under apartheid tyranny.
The Property Charter constitutes a framework and the principles through
which BBBEE will be implemented and also provides mechanisms to monitor and
report on progress. Furthermore, the Charter will ensure transformation of
inequitable ownership patterns and will make certain that properties in black
hands, in township and rural areas, also begin to attract economic value.
As we all know, the government is the largest owner of property portfolio in
the country generally as well as in the Province. A critical challenge, though,
is that of ensuring that the value of government property portfolio is
constantly in its appreciation state, thus be in a position to compete with the
private sector property portfolio in order to provide effective service
delivery. To ensure this government needs to have a proper maintenance
plan.
In the budget speech for 2004/2005, we indicated that there is a maintenance
backlog on governmentâs property portfolio due to continuous under-funding
based on industry norms, which requires that there be an expenditure of at
least two to three percent of the total value of the assets towards maintenance
on an annual basis.
In an attempt to quantify the maintenance backlog on government buildings,
as a start, an audit was commissioned on three government complexes, namely;
Thohoyandou, Lebowakgomo, and Giyani. The audit has since been concluded and a
report has been recently presented.
The report indicates that in the short term (0-12months), an amount of R14,
145, 869 R15, 916,428 million and R9, 986,322 million is required for the
Thohoyandou, Lebowakgomo and Giyani government complexes respectively. The
total cumulative amounts for the three government complexes in the next five
years will amount to R93, 739, 006. These figures will escalate by 10% per
annum for each year of delay in attending to the backlogs.
Should we succeed in allocating more funds to the maintenance of our
property, we would have ensured that the property remains functional and that
we would derive socio-economic benefits from it.
Honourable speaker,
We have engaged with the Office of the Speaker about the relocation of the
Legislature to Polokwane. It is with pleasure that I report to this Honourable
House, that the submission was favourably accepted, and subsequently, approval
for the relocation has been granted. We are currently engaged in the designing
phase and also doing an analysis of the various funding options and it is my
submission that construction should be initiated during this financial
year.
In terms of the disposal of redundant state properties the Department can
report that the targets set for this past financial year has been achieved. It
is noteworthy that ninety two percent of these properties were transferred to
previously disadvantaged individuals in line with our empowerment strategy.
Hence we say:
âThe masses of the poor people must not be denied from participating in the
joyful march of the procession of history for creating a better life for
allâ.
I must also caution to add that, owing to a greater need for accommodation
by essential services personnel, moreover, our health care professionals, the
department has slowed down the disposal of state properties.
Rental collection remains a challenge despite our efforts to intensify debt
recovery. In an attempt to ensure that revenue collection is optimized the
Department is commissioning a comprehensive debt recovery strategy. We want to
further stress to those tenants who continuously default with the rental
payment that they are in breach of the lease agreement, and the Department will
have no hesitation in evicting them within the legal prescripts.
The Department is making good progress in the management of lease agreements
with private landlords. And the systems and processes we have put in place have
improved our operations in ensuring that our leases are renewed and terminated
timeously. We will continue to maintain this momentum.
Honourable speaker
Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) is the cornerstone of our programme
towards eradicating poverty and fighting unemployment. It is for this reason
that it resonates in both the speeches of the President and the Premier. As
Public Works we are on the driving seat for ensuring that there is full
compliance to this imperative by government departments as a whole.
The main strategic objective of the EPWP is to ensure that there is long
term self reliance and economic sustenance in a sustainable manner on the part
of our people. To achieve this, we need to ensure that the EPWP helps us to
develop the pool of skills our economy requires, because part of the main
problem around unemployment in the country is structural unemployment. This
means that whereas there are job opportunities created from time to time,
however, there are no corresponding skills on the part of a majority of job
seekers. Therefore, the implementation of the EPWP is aimed at responding to
this challenge as a matter of urgency.
EPWP is multi-sectoral by nature and synergy among the various sectors is of
utmost importance. It is for this reason that a number of programmes and
projects have been initiated in various departments, municipalities and
Parastatals under four sectors of the economy, namely: Infrastructure,
Economic, Social and Environmental.
The following are some of the achievements made to date under the four
sectors:
Infrastructure Sector
* Ten labour Intensive projects are ongoing under the Road Agency Limpopo
(Gundo Lashu) with a total cost of R50 million. These projects currently
employing an average of 150 workers a day each.
* Nine Labour Intensive Construction projects with a total cost of about R8
million has been awarder by the Polokwane Municipality. These are expected to
generate about 150,000 worker-days of employment in the rural areas.
* Department of Roads and Transport is implementing a road fencing project with
a total cost of R20 million and a total of 488 workers are engaged under this
project
* Small Scale Contractors trained under the Sakasonke programme are engaged by
the Department of Education to construct 4 classrooms and an ablution block
with a total cost of R34 million.
* 12,168 jobs were created which translates to 660,000 worker-days of
employment with almost R20 million paid as direct wages to the rural
workers.
Economic Sector
The EPWP activities under this sector are being rolled out through
micro-enterprise venture learnership programmes. Target groups for the sector
are selected from struggling Small Medium Micro-Enterprise (SMME) and the
unemployed members of the community. To date 120 small scale contractors have
been trained on Building technology and are now engaged in various social
infrastructure projects. At least 2303 jobs have been created through these
learnerships.
Social Sector
There are two major projects running under this sector, namely, Home Community
Based Care (HCBC) and Early Childhood Development (ECD). A sector plan has been
developed to cover these areas and is currently under review by stakeholders. A
total of 1008 sites were identified in the province for the two projects. About
600 care workers will undergo training on HCBC and ECD.
In addition, the Manyeleti Youth Development Project is being implemented under
the Department of Safety and Security with a total budget outlay of R3, 5
million. To date a total of 2750 people were trained in various technical and
vocational skills.
Environmental Sector
A number of projects have been identified under this sector mostly in
relation with programmes such as working for Tourism, People and Parks,
Sustainable land-based livelihood, working on waste, working on fire and
Wetlands preservation.
To date 4,382 temporary and 427 permanent jobs have been created under the
Environmental sector. In addition, 122 SMMEs have been established to work on
the environment related projects and a total of 3830 workers of the SMMEs have
received skills development training.
In total, for all the sectors, 1,579 permanent and 17,440 temporary jobs
were created and all those workers involved in implementation process had
undergone skills development training albeit at various levels and
standards.
In this regard, I am pleased to report that, Limpopo Province with technical
assistance from the International Labour Organisation has established a
Training Centre for a coordinated and practically oriented training at Giyani
College of Education. The Centre caters for training of established and
emerging contractors, consultants and staff of implementing agencies in the
Province with a potential to provide services to neighbouring provinces.
Although the main emphasis initially will be on the infrastructure sector, all
sector-learnerships have common areas such as entrepreneurship development,
management skills etcetera, which can be catered for by the centre in a
professional and well co-ordinated manner.
However, our achievements still fall short of the expectations. The EPWP is
not yet firmly anchored in the planning and implementation processes of all
government bodies. In fact, some organs of the government still view the
implementation of Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP) as a sole
responsibility of Department of Public Works and do not have clear
understanding of their roles and responsibilities in relation to the EPWP.
Our vision in Limpopo is to create a situation where majority of our people
will have opportunity to work and have a decent livelihood. In order to achieve
this goal we intend to take full advantage of the EPWP. Our success in this
regard will be gauged against the creation of sustainable jobs and building up
of marketable skills and knowledge among our people.
We are therefore determined to streamline the coordination of the planning
and implementation of EPWP and improve the packaging and delivery of training.
We also endeavour to mainstream the EPWP in the planning and implementation
processes of all public offices. Efforts will also be made to create and
nurture partnership with neighbouring provinces and the private sector with the
aim of expanding the benefit of EPWP.
Honourable Speaker, in the new financial year for 2006/07, here, we outline
our strategic focus areas.
Strategic focus areas for 2006/07
Infrastructure planning and development
During the state of the nation address, the President directed as follows,
âBetter supervision of infrastructure projects undertaken by government will be
introduced, to ensure that capital budgets are spent without roll-overs and
that labour intensive methods are prioritised, and the necessary training of
workers is carried out to provide them with skills.â
My department will comply with this directive by continuing to provide
leadership in sustainable infrastructure planning and development. To this end,
we commit ourselves to a well coordinated planning and development approach by
involving important stakeholders such as the Department of Water Affairs and
Forestry, Road Agency Limpopo, TELKOM and ESKOM in our planning cycle.
Arrangements with our clients departments are at an advanced stage for the
conclusion of service level agreements that will enable them to submit their
infrastructure plans six months before the commencement of every financial
year. In this way, the province will maximise on the time available for actual
construction work during the financial year.
Maintenance Plan
As alluded earlier on, there is a need for a proper coordination and joint
planning in respect of the maintenance of government buildings. The overall
outcome thereof will be to ensure that government buildings are kept at a
standard that supports service delivery and value to the community.
To this end, the department is developing a discussion document on
Government maintenance Framework which we believe will provide a consistent
approach to planning and management of this function in the entire provincial
Government.
With respect to the Public Works Portfolio, a maintenance plan for the three
government complexes has already been developed for implementation in 2006/07
financial year in line with the Intergraded Infrastructure Plan. The highlights
of the plan are:
* R7, 492,667 for routine maintenance of offices, residences and
grounds.
* R31,000,000 for the construction of MEC residences
* R46,061,000 for renovation and capital maintenance of offices.
Space audit
The challenge facing the provincial government in Limpopo in terms of office
accommodation is the provision of office space for government departments. This
is at a premium. The Department of Public works has embarked on a space audit
to ensure that we have an informed needs assessment of all Departments in
Polokwane and to develop an integrated office accommodation plan. That will
enhance proper planning and efficient provision of office space.
Asset register
The National Department of Public Works has come up with principles which
embraces issues from the National Treasury Assets Management guidelines and in
line with the government Immovable Assets Management Bill (No1 of 2006) The
National Department has further reached an agreement with the Accountant
General in the National Treasury on various fields of information that an
immovable assets register should contain.
It has also been agreed with the office of the Auditor General that basic
fields of information will serve as the basis for future auditing of government
immovable assets. It is against this backdrop that the Department is
undertaking a comprehensive review of the immovable assets register in order to
ensure that it meets with the guidelines as stated.
EPWP
EPWP Strategic thrust for 2006/07 financial year is to continue with
conscientising and advocacy of the programme to stakeholders in the
Province.
The Department will ensure finalization of the sector plans which will lead
into an overall five years EPWP Provincial Business Plan. We will also ensure
intuitionalising of the Labour Intensive Method of Construction in the tender
documents of all implementing agents in the Province to comply with EPWP.
In addition we will provide technical support in Labour Intensive Methods of
construction to all implementing agencies in the cost- efficient implementation
of EPWP Projects. With regards to Municipalities, we will ensure that they
comply with the EPWP principle of utilising at least 20% of Municipal
Infrastructure Grants on Labour Intensive Methods. The Department will continue
with the provisioning of coordination and harmonizing Learnership training in
entrepreneurship development and workers life skills. Through a survey we will
streamline daily wage payments on all EPWP Projects in the Province.
The National Cabinet has taken a decision that in 2006/07 Financial year the
EPWP will focus on Social Sector, the provincial Government will ensure that
this directive is implemented.
Procurement policy
The Province has adopted a new preferential procurement policy as from
January 2006. In the department, we are committed to rearranging our
procurement processes and systems to ensure that we comply with this
policy.
In the 2006/07 financial year, the department will continue to hold awareness
workshops with stakeholders on the application of the new Provincial
Preferential Procurement Policy.
Communication strategy
Our communication strategy has always emphasised the need to inform the
public about what we do as a department, this financial year, we are going one
step further. Our emphasis will be more on encouraging the public to
participate in the departmentâs planning processes.
Furthermore, the Department will continue to play a meaningful and active
role in ensuring that there is synergy between our programmes and the
municipalities within the context of the Integrated Development and Planning to
enable government as a whole to utilise the scarce resources with greater
impact to our people.
Honourable Speaker,
I now proceed to present the budget for vote 9 for the fiscal year
2006-2007.
Programme 1: Administration: R201 689 000
Programme 2: Public Works: R387 230 000
Total: R588 919 000
The economic classification of the budget is as follows:
Compensation of Employees: R344 077 000
Goods & Services: R127 028 000
Provinces & Municipalities: R2 764 000
Households: R2 620 000
Buildings & Other Fixed Structures: R77 061 000
Machinery & Equipment: R35 369 000
Total: R588 919 000
The projected revenue budget for the 2006/07 financial year is R9 876 000.
The reason for the decline in revenue is that the Department has disposed major
source of revenue in the form of houses, flats, heavy machinery and trucks.
Honourable Speaker
In conclusion, during the month of September in 2005, the province
officially inaugurated the roll-out of the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM)
process. This was in line with our national governmentâs commitments to the
peer review programme among member states of the African Union.
During the past few months the Provincial Governing Council (PGC) of the
APRM has managed to bring together almost all organized bodies that include
religious, business, labour, civic, women, youth and people with disabilities,
to formally introduce APRM and the expectations from the structures in terms of
their participation in the APRM. The turn out has been positive and it was a
clear demonstration on how serious the civil society regard this process.
The outcome was that with there is full support of the APRM process in the
country in general and the province in particular. Stakeholders and
role-players committed themselves to cascade the implementation of the process
thereof to their own members and the community at large.
In the same vein, the PGC made an appeal to all members of the community in
their own right as individuals and as groups to make own written submissions on
how they view the developments and changes in South Africa. This will be in
terms of the four thematic areas of the APRM:
* Economic Governance and Management
* Corporate Governance
* Socio-Economic Development
* Democracy and Political Governance
By this call the aim is to make sure that every citizen in our province has
a say in the APRM process. Hence, we say, âThe masses of our poor people must
not be denied from participating in the joyful march of the procession for
creating a better life for allâ.
Therefore, I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Honourable
Premier and the House, both for having mandated and entrusted the stewardship
of the APRM process to me. Indeed, it was a fulfilling and eye opening
experience for all members of the Provincial Governing Council generally and I
in particular. The main lesson we derived from the APRM is that it equips us
with an understanding of the complexities of challenges that faces Africa as
whole. Therefore, APRM sets us on one goal on how we can tackle Africaâs
crucial challenges and thus be enabled to accomplish the enormous task of
African Renewal.
Finally, I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to the entire staff of
my department, who continues to display an impeccable contribution record
towards service delivery under the sterling leadership of Mr. Johannes
Rantete.
Re a shoma!
I thank you.
Issued by: Department of Public Works, Limpopo Provincial Government
4 April 2006
