Mpumalanga Provincial Government satisfied with progress on Operation Vuka Sisebente
26 November 2015
The Mpumalanga Provincial Government is satisfied with the progress of Operation Vuka Sisebente, launched by Mpumalanga Premier David Mabuza in Bushbuckridge in August this year.
Operation Vuka Sisebente has succesfully been launched in all the municipalities in Mpumalanga. At least 312 out of 402 war rooms have been established throughout the province.
Operation Vuka Sisebente is an integrated service delivery model that works through a multi-sectoral partnership. It was launched by the provincial government to create vibrant, equitable and sustainable socio-economic communities by providing comprehensive, integrated and transversal services to the communities through efficient and effective partnerships.
Operation Vuka Sisebente ensures that communities are given the support that they need in an integrated and efficient manner by all spheres of government in the province.
It is a one-stop point service delivery mechanism that ensures that government and non-governmental services are delivered from one point. It is single integrated and readily available basket of services that ensures a guaranteed turnaround times of responding to people’s needs.
At the centre of Operation Vuka Sisebente are the war rooms which are a service delivery engine set up in the wards to deliver a fully coordinated and integrated basket of services by different stakeholders.
Collectively community leaders, government departments, field workers, community members and civil society come together to respond to various issues ranging from HIV and AIDS, poverty and other social ills such as crime, gender–based violence, stigma and discrimination, family disintegration and substance abuse.
Households and the wards are profiled through the word-of-mouth, walk-in visits to the war rooms, community dialogues, service delivery campaigns, events, stakeholder consultations and traditional councils. Other community structures include schools, churches and early childhood development centres.
The war rooms record all needs from the community in a service provider referral register, submit them to government departmental representatives for immediate response. Action plans are then developed with government departmental representatives to address the identified needs from the community.
Services that the ward council of stakeholders cannot handle are then escalated to the local council of stakeholders by the fieldworkers through specific interventions.
Services provided are categorised into three priority levels: immediate essential services, these need to be provided within 90 days and they include food parcels, social grants, vital registration, temporary shelter, basic municipal services, behavioral change campaigns and access to healthcare.
The second priority level is the medium-term services, these are provided up to 180 days, they focus on skills development, job creation, establishment of co-operatives and enterprise development.
Lastly, the third priority level is the long-term services, these are provided up to a year or more, and they include infrastructure development and some municipal services.
At the war room meetings, fieldworkers and departmental representatives report all the services they have provided to the communities. Also, the community members report the services they have received directly from the war rooms.
The local council of stakeholder representatives report to the ward council of stakeholders the escalated services they have resolved while the fieldworkers do follow-up visits to households to check if services have indeed been delivered. Feedback on services delivered is provided to the war room secretariat.
The war rooms comprise of the chairperson which is a ward councilor, deputy chairperson who is a community member and the community development worker becomes the secretariat of the war room.
Other members of the war room are the ward committee, they include all heads of community structures in the ward ranging from civil society organisations, faith-based organisations, private sector, local business, traditional leaders and representatives from health, safety and security, education, social development, municipal services sectors.
At the local municipality war room, the chairperson is the executive mayor, the secretariat is the municipal manager, and other members of the local municipality war room include the municipal council, business sector, provincial and national government departments that provide services in a particular municipality.
At the provincial war room, the chairperson is the Honourable Premier, the secretariat is the Director-General, other members of the provincial was room is the executive council, the executive mayors and the provincial heads of departments.
The provincial government is satisfied with the progress of launching Operation Vuka Sisebente in the province, as this will be key in delivering the much-needed services.
Issued by Zibonele Mncwango
Spokesperson: Mpumalanga Premier
Mpumalanga Provincial Government
Office of the Premier
Tel: (013) 766 – 2453
Mobile: 079 491 0163
E-mail: mncwangoz@prem.mpg.gov.za
Alternative: zibonelemncwango@gmail.com