MPUMALANGA PROVINCIAL LEGISLATURE
MONDAY 28 JUNE, 2004.
Madam Speaker and Mister Deputy Speaker
Honourable Members of the Provincial Legislature
Their Majesties the Kings
Honourable Amakhosi
Members of the Executive Council
Mayors and Councillors
Heads of Departments
Distinguished and Honoured Guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
Today we meet in this august House to table the Budget and Policy of the Office of the Premier for the 2004-2005 financial year for consideration of this Honourable House.
We do this barely a month since the State of the Province Address. On that occasion we outlined our priorities which included the strengthening of the economy, the creation of work, to sustain the fight against the pulverising poverty that still grips many of our communities.
It was on that occasion that we informed this House that as a Province we have in the past ten years laid the foundation to ensure that children in all parts of the Province have access to better education, health care, social grants and better homes, where there are basic services like water and electricity, telephones and sanitation.
On that occasion we also informed this Honourable House that we will continue with our programmes to speed up the provision of housing, electricity, better education, social security and other amenities.
In order to deliver all the above, we have to ensure that these programmes are co-ordinated and monitored from a central point, which is the Office of the Premier.
In order to do this effectively and efficiently there is a need for us to transform our public service which includes the co-ordinating and monitoring mechanism in the Office of the Premier.
To improve the capacity of the Office of the Premier to discharge its functions of oversight, co-ordination, monitoring and evaluation, more work will be done to increase effectiveness, particularly in the areas of strategic planning and monitoring.
In order to build the public service that we envisage, the Office of the Premier needs to focus its attention and resources on the following broad areas:
· Consciously prepare for policy implementation, by among others,
strengthening our capacity to provide support and intervene where threats to
service delivery occur and remove red tape as far as possible;
· Improve on governance, leadership and management;
· Focus on Human Resources, the development, management and creation of a
professional cadre of public servants in our Province;
· Facilitate and practise accurate evidence-based decision-making;
· Strengthen the systems for oversight, co-ordination, monitoring and
evaluation:
· Eliminate duplication of roles and duties by structures;
· Enhance performance management;
· Rationalise "old order" legislation;
· Strengthen and improve dialogue between the government and the people, and
· Entrench sound financial management in the Office of the Premier.
We must develop and entrench in everyone a commitment to professionalism, which must become a way of life.
Professionalism is not only about qualifications, it is also about how you approach your work; how you relate to colleagues and to members of the public.
Every official in the Office of the Premier, and indeed in the Provincial Administration, must be beyond reproach and adopt an ethical, constructive and committed approach to their working life.
On the occasion of the State of the Nation Address, President Thabo Mbeki emphasised:,
"We must be impatient with those in the public service who see themselves as pen pushers and guardians of rubber stamps, thieves intent on self-enrichment, bureaucrats who think they have the right to ignore the vision of Batho Pele, who come to work as late as possible and knock-off as early as possible".
In response to this mandate the Office of the Premier has organised a partnership-seeking summit of Public Sector Unions, which will take place before the end of July to precisely address the issues of Batho Pele.
The Office of the Premier, for budgetary reasons, is divided into programmes,
which deal with Management Services; Communication Services; Legal Advisory
Services; Internal Audit Services; Executive Council Support Services; Macro
Policy and Strategy and Transformation Services.
Transformation services include the Office on the Status of Disabled Persons,
the Office on the Status of Women, the Office on the Status of the Child, Public
Service Transformation and the House of Traditional Leaders.
This particular section, namely Transformation Services, has been identified as deserving special attention for purposes of reorganising the Office in order to promote clarity of mandates and roles. In this regard, the co-ordination of all machineries which deal with the target groups namely, women, youth, children and disabled, in the Premier's Office, through a singular Directorate, is an attractive option.
This option holds prospects of attaining better political guidance to these machineries and mutually reinforcing programmes.
In his State of the Nation address, the President said, "We will work with Provincial Governments to expedite the passage of Provincial Legislation regarding the place and role of the system of Traditional Government. This will open the way to allocate resources to this institution to enable it to play its role as defined by the law".
I need to point out to this House that two months into the current financial year we transferred the functions of the Directorate of Traditional Leadership and Institutions to the Department of Local Government and Housing.
It is my firm belief that this Unit will be better served in this Department to effectively dispense its functions, which relates to the establishment of district and local Houses of Traditional Leaders.
It is the responsibility of the MEC for Local Government and Housing to ensure that there is a sound relationship between the traditional leaders and elected representatives of the people at local government level.
I should, however, point out, Deputy Speaker, that the House of Traditional Leaders will continue to have representation in the Office of the Premier.
We will, in this financial year, pass legislation, which will ensure the continued existence of the Provincial House of Traditional Leaders, and in addition, the legislation will enable the intended establishment of at least three local Houses, at district level.
Deputy Speaker, allow me to walk you through the various programmes of the Office of the Premier as budgeted for in this financial year.
PRIVATE SECRETARIAT
In pursuance of the objectives of the Office of the Premier, the Private Secretariat is expected to display and exercise requisite standards of professionalism with the public, departments and colleagues.
This will ensure effective and efficient co-ordination and management of the Premier's day-to-day programme and to ensure that all our Departmental programmes are in line with our objectives for the year.
Therefore, this Secretariat will establish and strengthen relations with the public and external role players in all sectors, with more focus on labour, business organisations, political parties and traditional leaders.
I may mention that I have recently met with the leadership of COSATU in the Province, and a partnership between sugar cane farmers from Mozambique and the Ehlanzeni District. Tomorrow we will be meeting with National Federated Chamber of Commerce.
The Unit will also support the Premier to establish an Economic Advisory Council and co-ordinate and facilitate meetings between the Premier and business organisations.
The Office of the Director-General will ensure the proper and effective management of the Office of the Premier as a whole, ensuring that the various components provide an effective and reliable service to the Premier and the Executive Council.
In addition, we will enhance our relations with our Parliamentary Office at the National Council of Provinces in order for us to keep abreast with and contribute towards the national imperatives of the law making process of the country.
A further function requirement is to provide strategic and administrative leadership throughout the Provincial Administration.
The Director-General performs a very crucial cross, co-ordinating function in that he serves as Secretary to the Provincial Executive Council. He is also responsible for co-ordinating the Heads of Department Forum, Tinyosi, which is the implementing arm of our Provincial management.
CORPORATE SERVICES
The Corporate Services Chief Directorate is responsible for developing and monitoring the implementation of transversal Human Resource Policies throughout the Provincial Departments, provision of Workstudy and Job Evaluation services, co-ordination and monitoring of Human Resource Development, ensuring sound Labour Relations and rendering administration support services to the Office of the Premier.
In addition, mechanisms will be investigated and implemented, that will speed up the conclusion of labour related disputes and charges
In order to do this effectively and efficiently there is a need for us to
transform our public service which includes transforming and re-organising the
co-ordinating and monitoring mechanism in the Office of the Premier.
We have in the past made reference to the fact that we will embark on the
skills audits to be conducted across all Departments of Government. I can
announce today, that we have commenced with the preparations to conduct this
audit, which should be finalised by September this year.
Upon completion of the skills audit we will conduct skills development related training, as well as continue with the existing generic management training.
We need to ensure that all public servants have the skills and knowledge they need to be able to perform with excellence. It is also one of our intentions that the skills audit must lead to the placing of individuals in jobs they can perform better.
This year a further 3 800 officials have enrolled for the various phases of the ABET programme. In order to ensure that a high standard of tuition is maintained, the Office of the Premier, through the Human Resource Development Unit, has intensified the quality assurance oversight function.
Deputy Speaker, the Learnership Programme is now being implemented in the Province. The initiative will be extended to include the unemployed by the end of next month. Approximately 800 unemployed learners will be absorbed by Departments by May 2005. This complies with the resolutions of the Growth and Development Summit.
I am proud to report today that we are the first Province to have successfully implemented the Learnership Programme and we are setting the benchmarks for others to follow.
A comprehensive Human Resource Development (HRD) Strategy has been developed for the Province and this strategy is aligned to the National Strategy and it is being utilised as a roadmap for Human Resource Development initiatives in the Province.
Plans are underway to launch the Provincial Human Resource Development Strategy.
INTERGOVERNMENTAL RELATIONS & PROTOCOL DIRECTORATE
During the forthcoming financial year we will continue to manage the existing twinning agreements that we have with our partners in Mozambique, Canada, Germany and the Far East.
At the same time a policy, strategies and action plan will be developed in order for us to optimally reap the benefit of these agreements. In addition, we will also finalise the process of developing a Provincial Strategy for the co-ordination of co-operative governance.
PERSAL DIRECTORATE
The basic activities of the Persal Directorate is to render helpdesk activities, supporting all Provincial Departments and the conducting of system audits on a continuous basis.
The latter assists in the compilation of management information on human resource and remuneration matters.
The Unit will continue to provide training on the functionality of the system to approximately 700 users and will continue to take overall managerial accountability and responsibility for the effective and efficient management of the PERSAL system in the Province. This will in turn, ensure data integrity restoration.
FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
The Director-General has been instrumental in laying a sound financial administration in the Office of the Premier and this will remain a cornerstone of sound governance and administration.
We must and will adhere to the prescripts which ensure efficient and effective financial management, as well as the implementation of the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) in the Office of the Premier.
I am pleased to announce that the Office of the Premier was successful in co-ordinating the closure of the financial books of all Departments, which were subsequently presented to the Auditor-General.
COMMUNICATION SERVICES
The role of government communications, among others, is to ensure dialogue between government and the public.
It also entails effective and efficient exchanges between government and other publics, and other roleplayers which include organised business, the Trade Union movements, community organisations and other external and internal stakeholders.
This will necessarily entail re-organising the whole Provincial Communications Strategy in line with our new mandate.
Deputy Speaker, Honourable Members, one of the challenges we must address to
develop our Province further, is to attend to the pressing need to brand this
region. Many exploits by people of this Province and the opportunities it offers
are not adequately amplified due to the absence of an enduring theme, which
reverberates through all our endeavours.
As part of enhancing the marketing of this Province, the Premier's office will sponsor an enthusiastic politico-cultural crusade to discover the many heroic stories of the people's of this region of our country.
LEGAL ADVISORY SERVICES
Deputy Speaker the Chief Directorate: Legal Advisory Services will continue with the process of rationalising "old order" legislation which has been assigned to the Province. Once this process has been completed, only Provincial legislation which complies fully with the new Constitutional dispensation, will be in place.
The successful conclusion of this rationalisation exercise will significantly promote legal certainty and consequently contribute to the enhancement of service delivery within the Province of Mpumalanga.
INTERNAL AUDIT SERVICES
In the year ahead, the Internal Audit Services will enhance its efforts to improve and maintain good governance through the performance of audits on efficiency, effectiveness and sound financial practices. It is our responsibility to reduce fraud by identifying high-risk areas and strengthening internal controls.
This brings me to the important facet of corruption. Corruption is widely recognised as a huge hurdle to sustainable development. Corruption leads to bad economic decisions and deprives the poor of resources.
To this end we will continue to apply the Public Service Anti-Corruption Strategy, which is a blue-print for Anti-Corruption activities in the Public Sector. This will be done through the Provincial Anti-Corruption Unit and the Hotline. And, for those of you who do not know the number it is 0800 004 993. Anti- Corruption initiatives must be part of the Moral Regeneration Movement in our Province and the country as a whole.
We are in discussion with the Audit Unit with the aim of doubling the number of anti-corruption hotline investigators.
EXECUTIVE COUNCIL SUPPORT SERVICES
This programme consists of two streams,namely the Executive Council Secretariat and the Executive Council Outreach Research Unit.
The Executive Council has taken a resolution to review its management system and operate through an Executive Council Committee system. This system will enable Members of the Executive Council to interrogate issues at Committee level, being assisted by Heads of Department and other technical staff and make recommendations to the Executive Council.
Regarding the Executive Council Outreach Programme, we are at present reviewing the Executive Council Outreach Programme and are considering implementing new strategies and models, which will enhance our interaction with communities, covering all Departments of the Provincial Administration.
RESEARCH
In order to ensure that we begin adopting the practice of facilitating and providing accurate, evidence-based decision making, the Research Directorate will enhance its responsibility in rendering support to the Executive Council and the Provincial Government, by conducting research in all aspects of governance in the Province.
Madam Speaker, this will enable the Provincial Administration to make accurate and informed decisions, which will allow us to further identify areas of critical need in service delivery.
MACRO POLICY AND STRATEGY
The Executive Council has instructed the Macro Policy and Strategy Unit to expedite, together with the Department of Economic Development and Planning, the finalisation of the revision of the Provincial Growth and Development Strategy.
This document should form the basis of each Departmental planning initiative in the Province.
In terms of monitoring and evaluation we have already finalised an audit for the integration of monitoring and evaluation systems in all Departments. The terms of reference for the Provincial Monitoring & Evaluation framework have been drafted. In the year ahead we will finalise the process and acquire the Provincial Monitoring & Evaluation system, which will effectively be implemented in order to enable government to track all projects. The system will also ensure that accurate information and progress reports will be produced, as and when required.
In terms of the management of information, we intend to speed up the integration of geo-information systems, as well as fast-track the development of a Provincial Information Management Policy. In order to ensure that we have evidence based decision making, we will acquire GIS data sets to provide accurate and comprehensive information and data.
Strategy and Planning is a fundamental prerequisite to achieve the best outcome possible for those whom we serve. In the year ahead, through strategy and planning, we will co-ordinate the formulation of sector strategic plans and develop all phases of the Provincial Growth and Development Plan and the Provincial Rural and Urban Development Strategy.
We aim to achieve a higher level of co-ordination and integration of the programmes of Departments, to achieve the set objectives.
We will consciously prepare for policy implementation by providing advice and support on policy development, as well as assessing the impact of policy implementation across the broader spectrum.
TRANSFORMATION SERVICES
This Chief Directorate comprises of Public Service Transformation, the Office on the Status of Women, the Office on the Status of Disabled Persons and the Office on the Status of the Child. The House of Traditional Leaders and the Youth Commission operate as separate entities under this Chief Directorate.
With regard to Public Service Transformation, we will focus on the effective implementation of the priorities of transformation which are: institution building, rationalisation and restructuring, democratisation of the workplace, transformation of service delivery in the public service, affirmative action, human resource development and training, as well as ensuring the efficiency and productivity of government administration, through the promotion of professional service ethics.
Our focus includes the enhancement of the Batho Pele Learning Network and the Batho Pele Revitalisation Strategy.
This Unit will begin preparation for the roll out of a Provincial audit that will track the implementation of Reform Policies within the Public Service.
I can mention here that the Honourable MEC for Safety and Security, Pogisho Phasha, is organising a summit where we will, as government, business and as organised labour, discuss how we can, together, enter into a people's contract to improve service delivery in the public service.
The programme carries the approval of COSATU and its affiliates. And we believe that all other Trade Union federations outside of COSATU will find no problem in endorsing the Batho Pele progamme initiated.
OFFICE ON THE STATUS OF WOMEN
The Office on the Status of Women strives to improve communications between government and the women of our Province. In order to achieve this, the Office has established the Provincial Gender Machinery system.
Through the Gender Machinery System, we will hold discussions with Municipalities with regard to the establishment of Gender Desks at these local government structures.
By July this year we will have finalised the second draft of the Provincial Gender Policy and by October this year, we will have a monitoring and evaluation tool in place to monitor and evaluate the implementation of the equity policies by government Departments.
It is my pleasure to announce today, Madam Speaker, that the Province has been nominated to host the August 9th National Women's Day Celebrations this year, which will be held in the Nkangala Region of our Province, in the small town of Ogies.
OFFICE ON THE STATUS OF DISABLED PERSONS
The plight of the disabled people in our Province has and will continue to receive our fullest attention.
To this end, the Office on the Status of Disabled Persons will realign its monitoring and evaluation processes, which will contribute in creating access to services and opportunities for people with disabilities.
More emphasis needs to be placed on raising awareness of the plight of people with disabilities, which includes employment, access to government buildings, housing, education and access to health services and facilities.
Increased attention will be given to facilitate the creation of adequate mechanisms within Municipalities, to enable these structures to begin addressing the plight of the disabled.
Let me make use of this opportunity to congratulate the OSDP in my Office for receiving a gold award during last year's Premier's Service Excellence Awards.
OFFICE ON THE STATUS OF THE CHILD
The Office on the Status of the Child will co-ordinate the establishment of structures at Provincial, District and Local government levels, in accordance with the National Policy on the Rights of Children. A series of workshops will be held throughout the Province in order to assess child-specific issues.
HOUSE OF TRADITIONAL LEADERS
The House of Traditional Leaders has recently been transferred from the Provincial Legislature to the Office of the Premier.
As indicated earlier, this House will facilitate the meetings between myself and the Provincial Traditional Leaders. This Unit will be responsible for rendering advice to the Premier on issues relating to chieftainships and disputes.
YOUTH COMMISSION
Madam Speaker, the Province of Mpumalanga acknowledges the central role played by the Youth in setting a basis for effective, efficient and democratic governance. We have in various spheres and levels of government deployed capable young leaders. Their level of performance is a shining example of the kind of governance we must consolidate.
I am heartened by the fact that the Youth are not sitting and waiting for delivery and handouts, but are geared towards participation and self-empowerment. They are clear about what they want for the future.
Youth unemployment is assuming crisis proportions. Work is central to people's dignity and to their sense of the future. The Extended Public Works Programme will seek to alleviate the lack of jobs through the construction of infrastructure programmes, transfer of skills and entrepreneurship development.
The Youth Commission has been assigned to faciitate the utilisation of the Msobomvu funding by the youth of the Province. This task will also be facilitated through the Department of Economic Development and Planning.
Young people should ensure that they do not only tap from this opportunity, but are also in the driving seat of this initiative.To this end let us become agents for change and thus indeed champions of our own destiny.
I would like to re-iterate what I said during the State of the Province address that the Youth Commission must be allocated sufficient resources to discharge its mandate.
CONCLUSION
Madam Speaker, in tabling this Policy and Budget speech for the Office of the Premier, I have not looked back and reflected on specific achievements of the past. I do so fully aware of the expectations by all of us that this Office must live up to the justified hopes of many to captain this ship in an able and professional way.
Our future cannot but be bright. We look ahead to a year in which we will translate more of our words into action.
In conclusion Madam Speaker, I, upon consideration of yourself and this Honourable house, therefore request approval for a budget of R108, 275 -MILLION for the Office of the Premier for the forthcoming financial year.
I thank you