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15 February 2005

Introduction

Governance and Administration is the engine-room of government, ensuring that the machinery of the state has the necessary human resource capacity, institutional architecture and capability, systems and organisational culture in place to ensure that the state can deliver on its social and economic development objectives. In his State of the Nation Address on 11 February, President Thabo Mbeki highlighted a number of critical medium- and short-term tasks for the Governance and Administration (G&A) Cluster. This briefing will elaborate on these tasks and provide background and context where necessary.

Capacity of the state

The President emphasised the need to “massively improve the management, organisational, technical and other capacities of government so that it meets its objectives”. The Forum of South African Directors-General has accordingly been instructed to prepare and submit “a thorough review of the functioning of the government system as a whole, and make proposals on the capacity of the implementing agents, skills and competence within the public service, alignment of planning and implementation, and issues pertaining to the mobilisation of the public service to speed up social transformation”.

Skills needs in the public service

Preliminary work on government capacity presented to the January 2005 Cabinet Lekgotla showed that government is experiencing certain critical skills shortages. The current structure of the public service comprises of 2% managers, while 50% of the employees fall within salary levels that are typically labelled as lower-skilled, 40% semi-skilled and a further 8% as highly skilled. Government plans to ensure that the skills profile of personnel and the skills profile required by a developmental state are commensurate with one another.

In an attempt to enhancing Human Resource Management and Development, government, through MPSA, has undertaken a research project to determine ways and methods to strengthen the efficiency of human resource management and development in the Public Service. This will define the roles and responsibilities of human resource components. It will define the competency requirements for human resource practitioners and identify necessary interventions to improve the delivery of services. Work in this regard is currently in its final stage.

In order to build a developmental ethos in the public service, skills development norms and standards for the public sector must be defined for an integrated public service. The evolution of a learning culture is promoted, while a cadre of line managers who embody skills development principles in their management style and approach is cultivated. Focused, short-term training for selected employees or occupations is conducted, and human resource development frameworks in the public sector are harmonised.

The Integrated Management Development Programme (IMDP) was established to ensure a comprehensive approach to the development of public service managers. It consists of:

* Presidential Strategic Leadership Development Programme (PSLDP) for senior managers on levels 13-16.
* Advanced Management Development Programme (AMDP) for middle managers on levels 9-12.
* Emerging Management Development Programme (EMDP) for junior managers on levels 6-8.

These programmes are accredited through tertiary institutions. 3632 managers will have been trained through these programmes by 31 March 2005.

The next steps towards improving systems and processes include the encouragement of departments to bring human resource management and development functions into closer cooperation so that recruitment, promotion and career development activities are linked to skills development planning.

A public sector-wide database system located in a central department will be established for the purpose of storing and analysing training information as well as for modelling and forecasting. Standards should be prescribed for recording training expenditure and for capturing information on training. Departments must be encouraged to quality assure the entire skills development process, and skills planned should be informed by the overarching planning systems oriented to the developmental state.

The Governance and Administration Cluster has adopted Home Affairs Turnaround strategy as one of its priorities during 2004. Building capacity has been and continues to be one of the crucial challenges facing the Department of Home Affairs. Given the centrality of strengthening of our leadership and management, we are particularly pleased that the Department has managed to appoint a number of skilled personnel with the requisite skills, expertise and knowledge required to take DHA onto a higher trajectory.

Skills needs in local government

Uneven municipal capacity is perhaps the greatest risk to municipal performance and equitable service provision over the medium term. Notwithstanding progress made to date, service delivery backlogs still exist in key areas that affect the daily lives of our people. Where these backlogs coincide with poor municipal capacity the result is service failure and government that is incapable of meeting its goals. Project Consolidate has profiled 136 municipalities requiring various levels of support from national government according to objective service and performance indicators.

Project Consolidate is a two-year engagement programme that is aimed at getting national and provincial government, together with key partners and stakeholders outside government, to find new, creative, practical and impact-oriented modes of engaging, supporting and working with local government.

The Ministry and the Department visited all provinces individually to discuss the objectives and rollout of Project Consolidate. Also various private sector, parastatal, donor and NGO stakeholders have been engaged to solicit their support for Project Consolidate.

An Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) has convened two meetings, a national Advisory Working Group – consisting of the captains on industry and parastatals – has been established to advise the Minister of Provincial and Local Government., and all provinces have put in place appropriate political oversight and technical project management capacity. At a national level, the Department of Provincial and Local Government is at an advanced stage of establishing a national Project Management Unit for Project Consolidate and putting a national Delivery Facilitation Team in place. By early December the end of 2004, about half of the many Departments represented on the IMC had identified designated officials to support Project Consolidate.

By mid-December 2004, a draft national High-Level Action Plan was developed on the basis of most provinces’ draft Provincial Programmes of Action on Project Consolidate.

A final national High-Level Action Plan for Project Consolidate will be submitted and finalised by March 2005 and will be submitted to Cabinet for noting. Copies of final Provincial Programmes of Action will also be available.

Comprehensive progress reports on Project Consolidate will be submitted to Cabinet on a six-monthly basis for the next two years commencing in June 2005. A key feature of this programme will be the establishment of a national Delivery Facilitation Team on critical government matters.

Human resource capability of municipalities directly and most visibly affects the capacity of government to implement its development programmes at a local level.

Local government has critical problems in acquiring and retaining skills of professionals, senior management and technicians. Priority skills have been identified including areas of management, technical skills (e.g. artisans and craft workers), communication, ICT and financial management. Management skills identified by both municipal managers/workers were diversity management, strategic and business planning, people management and change management.

In the current MTEF period, R15,5 billion has been set aside for municipal infrastructure through the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG). By December 2004, as the President outlined in his address, only 56% had been allocated to municipalities, “a reflection of lack of all-round capacity particularly in technical areas”. The review of the functioning of government as a whole will provide guidance on addressing these issues.

In order to ensure that Project Consolidate succeeds, national departments must strategically and operationally support municipalities to develop the capacity to perform their constitutional mandate. They must also allocate dedicated personnel to the Project Consolidate initiative. An audit will be undertaken to assess government’s capacity to sustain implementation of Project Consolidate. For the success of Project Consolidate, greater co-ordination still remains instrumental amongst national departments.

Unified system of public administration

A developmental state must position itself to intervene effectively and coherently to address social and economic developmental goals. Part of the task of the review of government announced by President Mbeki is to define and work towards the optimal configuration of the state required to deliver on these goals. The imperatives of integrated service delivery and mobility between the spheres create the impetus for the evolution of a unified system of public administration. Initially the development of this system requires the harmonisation of conditions of service between the public service and local government and a streamlining of the governance arrangements and human resource practices of public entities. Ultimately it will find expression in overarching framework legislation that will establish common norms and standards for public administration.

The development of integrated service delivery mechanisms is in line with the principles of cooperative governance, in particular the constitutional provisions requiring that the spheres of government must coordinate their actions to provide coherent government for the country as a whole. This mandate provides the impetus for the proposed institutional integration. Another incentive for the establishment of a unified system of public administration is to facilitate mobility between the spheres of government. Currently the Constitution and certain legislation require that functions be transferred from one sphere to another. These transfers are complicated by the discrepancies in the conditions of service of the public service and local government, and within local government itself.

This has necessitated an initial focus on the conditions of service as part of the single public service project. The South African Local Government Association (SALGA) has made progress in rationalising local government conditions of service, including the establishment of job evaluation systems and the reduction of categories of municipalities. Local government is now working towards a single pension fund and a single medical aid. The Department of Provincial and Local Government (DPLG) has developed draft legislation that will regulate local government human resource matters and will promote the harmonisation of conditions of service within local government, and between local government and the public service.

While local government is taking steps to rationalise its conditions of service and DPLG is developing legislation to regulate municipal employment matters, the National Treasury and DPSA have been conducting a review of public entities. The objective of the Review is to develop a coherent and consistent regulatory framework for public entities, broadly aligned with public service arrangements, with a view to improved governance and oversight, clear and appropriate lines of accountability and performance-oriented human resource management.

The review has focused on Schedule 3A and 3B public entities and covers areas of corporate governance, the classification of entities into new corporate forms, human resource and performance management and proposals for legislative amendments to give effect to the governance framework. Reports, with findings and recommendations were finalised for each of the mentioned areas of review. A consolidated governance framework report was drafted to inform government policy.

The process has given rise to legislative proposals on public entities’ corporate governance and human resource matters. The review has developed a new classification system for public entities and proposals have been made on corporate governance matters and human resource practices. A set of tools has been created that will allow departments to exercise oversight over their public entities.

The Constitution provides the basis for framework legislation for a unified system of public administration. The legislation aims to ensure seamless service delivery, and will create a broad framework of norms and standards for public administration. It will allow for a degree of autonomy and differentiation within public administration and will provide for mobility within public administration. Draft legislation will be submitted to Cabinet in 2006.

Government systems

The President indicated in his State of the Nation Address that the plan to improve monitoring and evaluation across government, including the electronic information management system, have been completed for phased implementation by June this year. The Government-Wide Monitoring & Evaluation System has already made progress with the design of a logic model and architecture for a Government-Wide system, and initial surveys on departmental M&E systems have been conducted.

The issue of effective monitoring and evaluation is growing in importance because of Government’s focus on implementation. The Programme of Action (POA) was announced by the President in the May 2004 State of the Nation Address. A new report card system was introduced and placed on the Government website to enable the public to follow progress in implementing the Programme of Action. A similar provincial report card system for those elements of the Programme of Action in which provinces have responsibility has been developed.

Integrated service delivery

G&A continues to focus on integrating service delivery to deliver services seamlessly and in a manner that is convenient for citizens. Multi-Purpose Community Centres are designed to offer services and information on a range of services, benefits and economic opportunities. MPCCs are located in rural and marginalised urban areas, close to where the people live, offering convenience and saving citizens prohibitive transport costs. The MPCC programme will be expanded from the current 65 to full coverage of every district and metropolitan municipality by the second half of 2005. By 2014 all 284 municipalities will have an MPCC.

The Batho Pele Gateway portal, which was launched in August last year, continues to provide information on government services on the government website. Because Internet access in this country is limited, it is important to ensure access to Gateway through other channels. Gateway is available at certain MPCCs and Post Offices and further channels for accessing the portal will be explored. As part of the medium-term strategy for e-government, transaction capability will be developed to allow citizens to conduct service delivery transactions online.

The e-Government Programme consists currently of two parallel streams of activity: the Batho Pele Phase I Enhancement Project and the e-Government Phase II Project.

The Phase I Enhancement project is currently addressing the following:

* Gateway Portal language editing and translation
* Migration to a more robust processing infrastructure
* Communication of the benefits of the Batho Pele Gateway
* Study of government wide web sites
* Inventory of government information systems and projects

Work is continuing on the preparation of a set of baseline documents for the next phase, including:

* Charter for E-Government Programme
* Conceptual Framework for E-Government Programme
* Policy for E-Government Programme
* Strategy for E-Government Programme
* Architecture for E-Government
* Implementation Plan for E-Government Programme

These six documents constitute the minimum necessary set of information required to commence the national and international consultative process to develop the necessary understanding and commitment to the next, transactional phase of the programme. The documents form a coherent whole and must exist to facilitate effective implementation efforts. A project to facilitate the creation and maintenance of an inventory of government ICT systems and projects is in progress as a necessary prerequisite for further work on Phase II.

The Home Affairs National Identity System (HANIS) is a key pillar of government’s e-government programme. Through this system the Department of Home Affairs seeks to create and maintain an integrated biometric database of all people – citizens and visitors – that it deals with. As part of the Department’s Turnaround strategy, it is planned to computerise all application processes, enabling a quick, reliable and secure system of identification and delivery of services.

The contract to convert the over 30 million paper-based fingerprint records of the Department of Home Affairs into the HANIS has been awarded. Work has begun and it is planned to complete this during 2006. Electronic registration of illegal foreigners at Lindela has been introduced.

Community development workers (CDWs) are part of government’s drive to ensure that service delivery reaches the poor and marginalised communities. CDWs provide a bridge between government and citizens, providing information on services, benefits and economic opportunities. They are also in a position to inform government about the needs of the people. A CDW learnership has been established and more than 500 learners have been enrolled in four provinces. Community development workers will be deployed to all municipalities by March 2006.

The Ministry of Public Service and Administration and the Indian government are finalising a CDW exchange programme. Emanating from a visit to India by the Ministry of Public Service and Administration, a programme is being prepared that will see 30 CDW learners travel to India for further training and exposure in the field of International Community Development work. The programme is facilitated by an agreement to promote human resources development to enhance the developmental goals of both countries. The learners will be accompanied by officials as well as training professionals.

40 Community Development Workers in Gauteng have been trained and equipped with laptops to assist communities to access information on government services. This initiative provides a direct and cost effective service to people who have to travel far to get information from a government office.

The Department of Home Affairs has developed a framework to explore possibilities of extended working hours for service delivery points, which have high levels of public interface. It has also embarked upon a project to open some of its offices on Saturdays. The response to this has been overwhelmingly positive.

For instance the, the results of the Services Quality Survey conducted by the Southern African Migration Project (SAMP) revealed that 86 percent of South African citizens and 93 percent of the non-citizens are satisfied with the overall performance of the Department of Home Affairs. In addition, this report revealed that the response points towards a reality in which customers are positively disposed towards the Department and are optimistic of our continued ability to deliver quality services

Home Affairs, has in partnership with the Provincial Health Departments, connected 69 Hospitals as part of the Child on Line registration which seeks to afford mothers the opportunity to obtain birth certificates for their children immediately after they are born.

In addition, the Department of Home Affairs will in the next two months launch the first ten mobile units as a means of achieving the broader strategic objectives intended to bring government services closer to the people. These units will be used to provide the full range of Home Affairs Civic and Immigration services.

Sixty-seven mobile units will be deployed throughout the country and will be fitted with all the necessary equipment and facilities so that they function like ordinary offices. These vehicles will be located mostly in rural areas taking into account the population dynamics of the area in accordance with the Urban Renewal and ISRDP nodal points.

Dokoza is an example of the innovative use of technology. Through this Centre for Public Service Innovation mobile project, Doctors are now able to extract patient data, medical history, diagnosis, status and condition through short message service (SMS) and web based devices. This is a cost effective advanced system for fast tracking critical services to the national health care sector. Dokoza is currently being piloted at the Johannesburg General and Helen Joseph hospitals.

Like other government initiatives such as Multi-Purpose Community Centres (MPCCs), Community Development Workers (CDWs) and Izimbizo, the Mobile Units will strengthen government’s people-centred approach to development.

Batho Pele and participatory governance

The President stressed the need “to deal with those within the public service who, because of their negligence and tardiness, deny many of our people services that are due to them, in instances where resources have been made available to deliver those services”. As part of the revitalisation of the Batho Pele programme, Ministers and MECs will make unannounced visits to service delivery institutions to ensure that no public servant is denying our people services. Batho Pele also incorporates a change management campaign, aimed at inculcating the belief set “We belong, We care, We serve”. The President also highlighted the importance of the ethos of Letsema and Vuk’uzenzele and reflected on the deepening of the imbizo programme.

The SMS Service Delivery Challenge (Khaedu) Project entails the deployment of SMS members to service delivery points (coalface) as part of a mandatory performance agreement arrangement in order to gain practical experience on the challenges prevalent at service delivery points. The Pilot Project was launched during Public Service Week in November 2004. To date 38 SMS Members from DPSA, SAPS, Correctional Services and some from the Mpumalanga Provincial Government attended the classroom phase and are to be deployed to the service delivery point by February 2005.

Intergovernmental Relations Bill

After a two-year process of consultation within Government, including two unprecedented workshops involving all three spheres of executive government, the Intergovernmental Relations Bill was approved by Cabinet on 3 November 2004. The underlying policy was presented to the portfolio and select committees immediately after finalisation on 9 and 10 November 2004. The Bill has been certified by the state law advisers as consistent with the constitution and was introduced into Parliament on 7 February 2005. The Bill will be presented to the portfolio committee for the new term today (Tuesday 15 February 2005). We are hoping that all structures of government will debate and internalise the contents of the Bill in a bid to promote more effective coordination and to reduce laborious decision-making processes.

The Department of Provincial and Local Government (the dplg) is preparing a practitioners guide to the implementation of the Act (once promulgated) as part of a comprehensive and hands-on implementation support programme that will assist all spheres of government to develop the capability to conduct effective and efficient intergovernmental relations. The implementation plan will be launched once the Act is promulgated. Several provinces and municipalities have already begun to establish the institutions and procedures required by the Bill, and there is growing interest in developing spatial plans based on implementation protocols.

From 29 March to 2 June a massive programme to support the review of IDPs will be conducted to pilot elements of this alignment.

Alignment of the NSDP, the PGDS and the IDPs

As part of the work on reviewing the functioning of government, FOSAD will reflect on the process of harmonising the provincial Growth and Development Strategies (PGDSs), the municipal Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) and the National Spatial Development Perspective (NSDP). The alignment of the IDPs, the PGDSs and the NSDP is intended to allow government to make choices about investment and development spending explicit and rational. This in turn requires the articulation of an explicit perspective that serves as the basis for making strategic developmental choices.

The NSDP is an indicative planning tool to encourage interaction and coordination between departments and spheres of government on planning. It outlines principles and guidelines premised on the twin concepts of development potential and need.

To realise the government’s objectives of growing the economy and addressing poverty, the NSDP recommends the focusing of the bulk of government fixed investment on areas with potential and need. It is argued that these areas present the greatest possibility for both economic growth and poverty alleviation. In areas of limited potential, the NSDP recommends that government takes an approach which ensures that citizens be provided with a package of essential services. Moreover, it is recommended that government concentrate primarily on social investment such as human resource development, labour market intelligence and social transfers.

An extensive scoping and consultation exercise was undertaken in 2004. Proposals have been submitted to Cabinet regarding key interventions, including the development of a shared understanding of the provincial and district space economies, and the revisiting of PGDSs and IDPs to ensure alignment. The President announced in his State of the Nation Address that work to align the NSDP, PGDSs and IDPs to ensure focused development planning is ongoing.

The Department of Provincial and Local Government has been working in support of the Presidency to develop a practical approach to aligning the NSDP, the PGDS and IDPs. A proposal is currently serving before Cabinet. From 29 March to 2 June a massive programme to support the review of IDPs will be conducted to pilot elements of this alignment.

The IDP review is an annual process required by the Municipal Systems Act. Teams from the dplg will work in all provinces in a hands-on way, and focusing on each district and metropolitan municipality who will in turn, support municipalities with technical engagement to develop credible IDPs that engage key areas of national priority relating to basic service provision, development and work creation. The process will be overseen through the Local Government MinMEC. Dates for hearings in all provinces have been finalised. The hearings will also focus on municipal capacity and capability to implement the IDP.

Improving local government performance

Government’s Programme of Action, the Medium Term Strategic Framework, Departments’ policies, the Ten Year Review, and other documents, suggest the following as the core strategic priorities for Local Government:

Successful Local Government Elections in 2005/06

The 2005/06 local elections will provide the first real test of local democracy under the new system. Completing preparations for the election and voter participation in the election are the most pressing issues for 2005. Strategic tasks before and after election include – Public participation, empowerment, visibility and communication; and Management of performance during the transitional period, before and after elections.

In preparation for the Local Government Elections, the Department of Home Affairs has conceptualised a distribution strategy for Identity Documents to enable more South Africans to vote. The overall aim of this strategy is to improve the distribution of identity documents, which will reduce the number of unclaimed identity documents. A secondary aim will also be to improve the current service standard for the issuing of an identity document from 6 - 8 weeks to 4 – 6 weeks.

In preparing for the first phase of the Local Government Elections, Home Affairs will re-launch the ID campaign towards the end of this month.

Empowered public and community participation in governance

The system of ward committees, the municipal Integrated Development Plan and the municipal budget process enable the voice of communities to be heard and to have an effect on the decision-making, plans and budgets of municipal councils, in the spirit of Vuk’uzenzele. The President indicated in his State of the Nation Address that 80% of ward committees have been established.

The most important tasks in this regard are threefold –

* Departments will participate in a national campaign to mobilise public participation in the 2005 IDP review, planned for the first half of 2005;

* All ward committees must be established and operational prior to elections; and

* Other spheres of government should increasingly utilise ward committees as channels for providing information to communities about public services and programmes. Community Development Workers should form close relationships with ward committees.

Local Economic Development: job creation, public works program and municipal infrastructure

The major portion of government’s annual and medium-term budget is invested in people, economic growth and job creation. The Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP), skills development and the rural and urban programmes invest in the economic well being of the poor by creating permanent and temporary jobs and by increasing the number of skilled people in the labour market. Municipalities are responsible for providing municipal infrastructure needed for municipal service provision. The Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) is an investment in social infrastructure, opportunities for job creation and economic development.

Mobilising private sector participation in Project Consolidate, and introducing a national framework and strategy to provide certainty and predictability regarding municipal responsibility for local economic development are essential.

Transformation of Immigration

As the President said during the State of the Nation Address, the Department of Home Affairs has published the immigration regulations for public comment and enrichment. We have taken note of a number of views that have been expressed since the publication of the regulations and we would like to encourage an open debate and public discourse as we strive to define and shape the new immigration regime in South Africa.

In addition, Home Affairs will, in the next few weeks, launch the National Immigration Branch which will include amongst others, the unveiling of professionally branded uniforms, vehicles, training programme for the Immigration Practitioners and Refugees Smart Cards. The launch of the new uniforms will seek to demonstrate the decisive changes and reposition immigration as a priority in the national and international agenda.

Conclusion

The critical task for the G&A Cluster in the short-term is the review of the functioning of government, as announced by the President in his State of the Nation Address. It infuses a number of areas of work of the Cluster, including the assessment of the capacity of the public service and local government to implement government programmes, the development of a unified system of public administration, the provision of integrated service delivery and service delivery innovation, a reflection of ways of improving the underlying systems of government and the alignment of the NSDP, PGDSs and IDPs. Interventions in respect of these areas are already underway, and will be further refined in the coming months by the review.

Issued by: Ministry of Public Service and Administration
15 February 2005