14 March 2006
Honourable Speaker and Deputy Speaker,
Leaders of opposition parties,
Honourable Members of the Executive Council,
Honourable Members of the House,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen
We convene today in this chamber following the aftermath of one of the most
successful second democratic local government elections in our country. On
behalf of the government and the African National Congress (ANC), we wish to
convey our heartfelt appreciation to all political parties in this house and
the Province, for the manner in which they conducted themselves throughout the
elections process. We also wish to congratulate the Electoral Commission (IEC)
for a job well done.
The wilful abidance to the electoral code by all political parties
throughout the electioneering process is commendable and resonates with the Age
of Hope that our President talked about in his opening of Parliament address.
There are certainly no victors nor losers in these elections. What has
certainly triumphed is the collective will of the people. The people have
expressed their choice of government and we should all respect their choice.
The task for all of us now is to get down to the business of doing that for
which we have been elected, which is to bring more quality service delivery to
our people in the most cost-effective and efficient manner.
Governance and Administration
Honourable Speaker, the Provincial Growth and Development Strategy (PGDS),
the Public Service Regulatory Framework (PSRF) and other relevant policies and
legislations form the basis of the developmental approach of the Office of the
Premier. Within this context, the strategic goal of the Office of the Premier
is to ensure that there is a dynamic, functionally organised and systematically
integrated environmental framework, conducive to good governance and a sound
provincial economic growth that results in equitable distribution of resources
to the people of the Province. The Office of the Premier has been restructured
along the guidelines provided by National Treasury and now reflects three main
programmes for co-ordinating provincial government activities. The three
programmes are Administration, Corporate Support and Policy and Governance.
Special Programmes
Honourable Speaker, the Office of the Premier prioritises co-ordination and
integration of government programmes, transformation and service delivery
programmes, as well as the implementation of specialised transformation
programmes affecting the youth, women, children, the elderly and disabled
persons. These are the people who resemble the face of poverty in our Province
and our success will be judged on the extent to which we intervene on their
behalf.
Honourable Speaker, this year marks the 50th anniversary of womenâs march
against pass laws in our country and the provincial programme of action to
celebrate this milestone event is being developed and will be implemented later
during the year. This will also be aligned to the celebration of achievements
at local government sphere, where a significant proportion of women are now
represented in governance structures. There is 48.8% women representation in
our councils and we are envisaging about 49% of Mayors and 82% of Speakers who
are women.
Our strategy of ensuring women and disability representation in key
leadership positions, particularly decision-making structures in the public
service and society in general is steadily bearing fruit.
The statistical evidence received this month, confirms the dent we are
making in ensuring that women and people with disabilities are represented at
senior management level. Although by no means sufficient, there is a noteworthy
improvement of 0.5% that is, we are now at 32.7%, as compared to 32.2% recorded
last year with regard to representation of women in senior management
positions. However we have noted that some of our departments have as yet not
reached the desired 30% mark, which is required for women representation at
this level. These departments include Education, Safety, Security and Liaison,
and Economic Development, Environment and Tourism. We wish to reiterate our
call on these departments, to follow the good example shown by others.
Honourable Speaker, our quest for transformation and equity for people with
disabilities remains critical. The overall employment of people with
disabilities remains at 1.8% that is below the required target of 2%. The
departments that continue to do us proud in this regard include Agriculture
which has improved from 3.8% to 6.9% and the Department of Public Works which
is at 3.2%. We need to commend the Department of Education and Economic
Development, Environment and Tourism for improving their employment equity
figure to a 3% margin.
In the same vein, the overall economic empowerment of communities
particularly women continues to receive maximum attention from our government.
The statistics obtained from the Provincial Supply Chain Management Unit in the
Provincial Treasury reveal the remarkable progress government is making in the
empowerment of women and people with disabilities. During this financial year
alone, about 998 companies owned by women, received tenders to the value of
R1.163 billion, which is a marked improvement from 503 women-owned companies
who previously received an amount of about R400 million.
Similarly, the economic empowerment of people with disabilities is also
gaining impetus and has improved tremendously compared to the previous years.
Whilst five companies owned by disabled people received just over R400 000 in
the previous financial year, this year there has been phenomenal improvement
with 23 companies having received approximately R5 million worth of tenders.
There are strong indications that we will surpass our current record in the
coming financial year.
Multi-Purpose Community Centres (MPCCs)
Our efforts to bring government services closer to the people are gaining
strength and momentum. We are delighted to announce that the number of
functional MPCCs has increased from eight to 15 during the current financial
year. This is in line with the set presidential target of having one MPCC per
local Municipality by 2010.
The construction of additional MPCCs will commence in Greater Tubatse at
Ga-Mapodile in partnership with Xstrata, Maruleng at Metz and Thulamela at
Mtititi. Musina Municipality will extend an existing facility at Madimbo into
an MPCC. Construction of Atok MPCC in Fetakgomo Municipality is nearing
completion â the project is being implemented in partnership with
Anglo-Platinum and Eskom. We are encouraged that there has been dramatic
improvement in the utilisation of services at these centres by the
community.
Human Resource Development Transversal (HRD)
As we said before, our Provincial Growth and Development Strategy identifies
skills shortage as a major threat to our efforts to grow and develop the
economy. Our Human Resource Development Strategy (HRDS) therefore, lays a good
foundation for dealing with this challenge. We look forward to the speedy
integration of this Strategy into all government programmes as we strive to
build a self-sustaining Province. A total of 392 learner community development
workers (CDWs) have been deployed in all municipalities, 82 of them will be
completing their learnership programme during this month. The remaining 310
CDWs learners undergoing training are expected to complete in July this
year.
Honourable Speaker, 41 mentors from the municipalities were trained to
support these learners and it is planned that an additional 100 mentors from
the municipalities and departments will be trained to ensure that effective
support is provided to these special cadres of our public service.
We are also planning to hold roadshows in all local municipalities to create
more awareness about the role of the CDWs and also to promote partnerships with
ward councillors and committees.
Youth Development
Honourable Speaker, Limpopo has a youthful population and the majority of
these people live in rural areas under extremely poor conditions. The challenge
of the Youth Commission and the Provincial Government is to ensure that we
protect our youth against the scourge of poverty, diseases and other related
factors in line with our Provincial Growth and Development Strategy (PGDS). In
recognition of the good work and selfless service that the youth are rendering
to their peers and communities at large, we will for the first time this year
introduce the Premierâs Youth Excellence Awards, to reward those of our youth
who against all odds continue to do good to our people and make us proud.
Honourable Speaker, furthermore, we are proud of the achievements registered
by many of our departments which continue to implement learnerships and
internships programmes in line with the mandate of our government. We are
encouraged to note that the number of interns has increased by 676 and it is
now at 1124. The number of learners in the learnership programme on the other
hand has risen by 54 and it is now at 627. Our challenge however, is to ensure
that we develop an exit strategy for those candidates who successfully complete
their learnership and internship programmes. Whenever possible, government
departments must give first preference to these young graduates when they fill
vacancies within their departments.
Policy Development and Co-ordination in government
Honourable Speaker, in the 2005/06 budget speech, we reported the good
progress that the Planning and Co-ordination Unit in the Office of the Premier
was beginning to make in integrating all our inter-governmental planning
processes. We can now report with confidence that the Provincial Planning Forum
is being resuscitated with the functional support of all our sector departments
and Municipalities.
As you will be aware, early this year we convened district-wide IDP
(Integrated Development Plans) consultative meetings in all our districts, with
a purpose of fostering co-ordination and alignment of developmental plans and
priorities for this financial year and beyond. We have also resolved at both
PCC (Presidential Co-ordinating Council) and Executive Committee (EXCO) level
to assist the newly elected local government office bearers, to familiarise
themselves with the existing (Integrated Development Plans) IDPs and to adopt
credible oneâs by June 2006. Our primary objective is to ensure that our plans
serve as a concentrated expression of the development programmes of all three
spheres of government.
Honourable Speaker, we wish to announce before this august House that
already the Provincial Planning Framework is being developed and spearheaded by
Office of the Premier in collaboration with the Department of Local Government
and Housing and supported by the district municipalities. The target we are
setting for ourselves is that project planning in respect of all the projects
destined for implementation during the 2007/08 will be undertaken and finalised
in the current financial year. Our chief aim is to improve performance in the
implementation of capital projects and avoid unnecessary roll-overs which deny
our deserving communities the opportunity to enjoy a better life.
African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM)
Honourable Speaker, our Province recognises that the APRM remains an
imperative in our forward march for the attainment of peace and a better life
for all. In this regard, we have ensured the election of a cross-sectoral
Provincial Governing Council tasked with the responsibility of overseeing the
programme in the Province as required by national guidelines. Both the
Executive Council and Provincial Governing Council have benefited immensely
from valuable inputs received from provincial and district conferences that
were held with the stakeholders. Our overall assessment is that the Province
has been able to make progress in line with the thematic areas of review i.e.
Democracy and Political Governance; Economic Governance and Management;
Corporate Governance; and Socio-economic development. The provincial APRM
report will be shared with the stakeholders in the Province and will further be
submitted to national APRM secretariat to be part of the country report on
APRM.
Combating Fraud and Corruption
During September 2005 a Head count of employees on the payroll of government
was conducted. The Operation Head count must be seen as consistent with
endeavours to strengthen our institutional effectiveness and efficiencies. This
operation has succeeded in identifying most of our institutional deficiencies
and administrative gaps that require immediate redress.
In the Office of the Premier we were able to discover that certain
traditional leaders who have passed away and some CDWs who left the public
service were amongst those illegally paid for some months before their salaries
could be stopped. We are ensuring that charges of misconduct are laid against
officials who failed to take the necessary steps to prevent these illegal
payments from occurring. In total the operation has saved government no less
than R30 million per year as a result of a total of over 200 cheques that
remain uncollected. This money will obviously be invested in programmes that
advance service delivery in the Province.
Communication Services
Honourable Speaker, as promised in the last budget vote, we are proud to
announce that the Province has now successfully refreshed its corporate logo
and brand to meet the expectations of the public and society as a whole.
Communication Services in the Office of the Premier will focus on improving and
implementing our marketing and branding strategy to the satisfaction of our
clients and other stakeholders. The Branding process has already started from
the Office of the Premier and is expected to be rolled out to other programmes,
departments and municipalities. These will ensure that Limpopo as a brand is
easily recognised and identifiable in both national and global circles to the
benefit of our tourism and domestic markets.
Government Information Technology System
Honourable Speaker, the 21st century requires that governments re-invent
themselves in order to remain relevant to the societies and communities they
serve. It therefore cannot be denied that information communication
technologies (ICTs) have now become an imperative in the work of governments
all over the world. The long-term objective of the Limpopo E-Government
Strategy is to bring about a transformed public service that is effective and
efficient and which results in integrated public service delivery at a reduced
cost of doing business.
There is a process in motion at the national level to develop an electronic
government Act which will attempt to break the legislative silo walls between
departments and between spheres of government which impede e-government
implementation. A harmonious marriage has been struck between this emerging
e-government framework and the PGDS in the form of the Limpopo e-government
strategy.
We therefore believe that there is a need to have a seasoned workforce that
is fully capable and competent to apply ICT in the workplace. This should
become the performance benchmark for every government department, municipality
or Parastatal. The Office of the Premier has a staff complement that is 85%
computer literate as opposed to the rest of the provincial public service that
stands at less than 15%. With regard to the rest of the Province, this 15%
coverage extends mainly to staff at head offices of provincial departments.
Most district offices and field offices do not have this work facility.
The present data communications infrastructure caters mainly for head office
premises of provincial departments and there is little coverage of district and
field offices. Municipalities on the other hand have almost no data
communication infrastructure which partly accounts to the reason why we
continue to have some of the backlogs in Municipal service delivery. These
therefore suggest an urgent need for a data communication infrastructure that
is shared not only between the provincial and local spheres of government, but
also with the public and communities at large.
However, we are encouraged that so far 10 provincial departments have
appointed their Government Information Technology Officers (GITOs) in order to
articulate and manage IT service definition and service demand. This is a good
start and we hope that in the medium term we would need about 130 more GITOs/
Chief Information Officers (CIOs) in the next three to five years to develop
the necessary strategic IT management capacity for departments and
municipalities. In keeping with this momentum we must therefore work harder
towards achieving the target set by the Department of Public Service and
Administration (DPSA) to have 100% of public servants having access to e-mail
and internet facilities by 2012.
Internal Audit Services
In order to address the challenge of high staff turn-over in our internal
audit unit, the Human Resource Development (HRD) unit is in the process of
establishing a learnership programme for this unit. Being mindful of this
challenge, we have further ensured that 43 staff members receive bursaries in
this area of expertise so that the capacity of this unit can be strengthened.
We trust that this endeavour will go a long way in addressing the shortage of
skills in our internal audit unit and the provincial administration as a
whole.
Inter-Governmental Relations (IGR)
The Provincial Government has established Intergovernmental Relations
Structures as required by the Intergovernmental Relations Framework Act of
2005. The most noticeable of these structures is the Premier Mayorâs Forum
which continues to perform a sterling role in facilitating co-operative
governance in the Province.
During this financial year and beyond, our intergovernmental relations unit
will ensure that all Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) and twinning
agreements signed are evaluated, monitored and implemented. We also plan to
perform cost benefit analysis for all international trips already undertaken in
order to ascertain the benefits derived from these missions. This will enable
us to strengthen relations and build new ones to promote tourism and investment
in Limpopo.
Labour Relations
Honourable Speaker, we are pleased to announce that progress is being
achieved in terms of finalising the outstanding cases of misconduct, disputes
and grievances in the provincial administration.
We are currently working on the case management system that will be linked
to Persal in order to monitor and maintain labour peace and stability in the
Province. This system will also assist the Office of the Premier to co-ordinate
labour matters effectively for 2006/07 and beyond.
We also plan to employ more labour specialists to strengthen our capacity to
make sure that discipline is correctly applied and cases are finalised on
time.
Traditional Affairs
Honourable Speaker, as already announced during the State of the Province
Address, 1888 Headmen were appointed last year. We will soon be implementing
tailor-made programmes aimed at empowering Headmen and traditional leaders to
enable them to take part in the development of their people and the Province as
whole. In order to minimise and streamline the processes of succession claims
and disputes we intend acquiring an IT related system that will preserve our
genealogy and history electronically. Systems such as the ones currently being
used by NHLAPO commission like audio visuals are being contemplated in this
regard.
In keeping with the undertaking made in the last budget vote, we are glad to
report that some of our Traditional Authority Offices have been refurbished as
promised and the remaining ones will be catered for during this Medium Term
Expenditure Framework (MTEF) period and beyond.
These offices will be provided with facilities and IT connectivity that will
enable them to link with Head Office and other stakeholders in and around
Limpopo and throughout the country. Services to be rendered from these points
will be beneficial to the people as government departments and parastals will
be given office space to render essential services in the same premises.
Honourable Speaker, it is my privilege and honour to place before this house
the 2006/07 budget vote of the Office of the Premier for appropriation:
For Budget Vote 2006/07 table, please follow the link below:
http://www.limpopo.gov.za/HomePage_View1.asp?SPEECH_ID=52
Issued by: Office of the Premier, Limpopo Provincial Government
14 March 2006
