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15 November 2006

This briefing provides highlights of the progress made in the implementation of Government's Programme of Action (PoA) for 2006. This fourth report for 2006 was presented to the Governance and Administration (G&A) Cabinet Committee on 31 October 2006 and approved by Cabinet on 8 November 2006.

The G&A has three broad priorities reflected on the PoA:

1. capability needs for the developmental state
2. macro-organisation of the state
3. planning, implementation and monitoring and evaluation.

Capability needs for the developmental state

Capacity assessments

Cabinet decided in July 2006 that a team should be established to make recommendations on an institutional base for long-term planning in South Africa. A comparative study of long-term planning in Brazil, Malaysia and South Korea was undertaken and recommendations will be made.

Capacity assessments are underway in the Departments of Transport (with a focus on public transport), Minerals and Energy (licensing), Agriculture and Trade and Industry (micro-finance). High-level Vulindlela analyses are being conducted in the Departments of Agriculture, Minerals and Energy and the provincial economic departments.

Skills database

The pilot phase of the public service skills database is underway. The alignment of the Human Resource Development user requirements has been completed. The Public Service Sector Education and Training Authority (PSETA) requirements have been completed and PSETA has successfully uploaded the information to the South African Qualifications Authority.

Nominations by departments for the Accelerated Development Programme for Middle Managers have been completed. The first training session has taken place in the Western Cape (14 - 17 August 2006), the Department of Public Service and Administration, Office of the Public Service Commission and the South African Management Development Institute (4 - 7 September 2006), Mpumalanga (18 - 21 September 2006), the Department of Trade and Industry (dti) and Home Affairs (3 - 6 October 2006) and KwaZulu-Natal (16 - 19 October 2006).

The Gender and Governance Framework for Gender Empowerment will be launched on 25 November 2006, to coincide with the 16 Days of Activism for No Violence Against Women and Children. The Job-Access Strategy for persons with disabilities was launched at the Public Service Health and Wellness Indaba in Cape Town on 8 October.

The Personnel Expenditure Review Report has been finalised. The development of a remuneration policy for the public service has commenced.

Anti-corruption

The Guide on the Prevention of Corrupt Activities Act, the National Anti-Corruption Forum (NACF) Integrity Pledge to the people of South Africa and the official website of the NACF has been launched. Preparations for the Global Forum V on Fighting Corruption and Safeguarding Integrity (2 - 5 April 2007) are continuing. The African Union Commission and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa have agreed to co-host the Africa Forum on Fighting Corruption, to be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 21 - 23 November 2006.

Macro-organisation of the state

Single Public Service

A task team of officials from the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA), the Department of Provincial (dplg), National Treasury, the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) and The Presidency are developing legislation for the Single Public Service. A first draft has been circulated for comment.

The National Treasury and the DPSA are participating in a Work Group that oversees amendments to the Public Finance Management Act and the development of a State Controlled Institutions Bill aimed at rationalising and regulating aspects of the governance and administration of public entities.

Batho Pele

The Batho Pele Gateway portal, aimed at expanding access to information on government services, will be translated into the remaining four languages (Siswati, Xitshonga, Venda and Ndebele) by February 2007. Twenty-three General Service Counters, providing access to the portal at Batho Pele Service Centres, have been installed.

A national Batho Pele Forum was held on 14 - 15 September 2006. Delegates from all three spheres of government attended. A successful Public Service Week was held on 6 - 10 November. A total of 686 public servants have been trained in the Batho Pele Change Management Engagement Programme.

Izimbizo

Ten Presidential Izimbizo have been held this year. National Imbizo Guidelines have been developed. Approximately 60% of ward committees have been established since the March 2006 elections. The October Imbizo Week involved nearly 400 izimbizo.

Planning, implementation and monitoring & evaluation

Thirteen district/metro pilot sites have been identified for the application of the National Spatial Development Perspective (NSDP) approach to planning. A working session has been held with the pilots. Integrated Development Plan (IDP) process plans reflecting the NSDP approach have been prepared for each pilot. A revised NSDP is being prepared for publication.

Local Economic Development (LED) experts and provincial officials are assisting 10 of the 17 municipalities with weak IDPs to strengthen their LED strategies. A National LED Conference was held in August 2006, which launched a LED Framework and Toolkit. Growth and Development Summit Guidelines for Districts and Metros have been developed. These Summits are currently underway throughout the country.

A first set of draft regulations for the Municipal Property Rates Act has been prepared and will be gazetted shortly. Forty municipalities have benefited from the deployment of municipal finance technicians.

Municipal Performance Management Regulations were gazetted and support with implementation has been provided to seven provinces. A detailed assessment was undertaken of all former cross-boundary municipalities and recommendations have been developed.

Active support has been provided to municipalities in the roll out of Municipal Infrastructure Grant projects and with compliance with the Division of Revenue Act.

SALGA has completed the core councillor induction programme and sector-specific training is underway. SALGA, the Local Government Sector Education and Training Authority (LGSETA) and the dplg are discussing the development of a qualification to ensure that a structured Councillor Orientation Programme is presented in future.

Mobilisation of stakeholders and deployments of experts to municipalities continue.

An assessment of the capacity of provincial Departments of Local Government to perform their statutory functions has been conducted. A preliminary report has been finalised and the final report will be completed by January 2007. An improvement framework to guide provinces will be completed by November 2006.

In October, government launched a Local Government Anti-Corruption Strategy. This Strategy proposes clear roles and responsibilities for various stakeholders in building good governance and rooting out corruption at a local level.

Monitoring and evaluation (M&E)

The Government-wide Monitoring and Evaluation System is being implemented in three work streams. The first addresses principles and practices (norms and standards). The second stream is capacity building for M&E. Experts have been invited to participate in the programme. An integrated report of provinces' readiness to undertake M&E of the Local Government five year Strategic Plan has been developed.

The third stream is undertaking an assessment of the current transversal systems. The reporting requirements for the monitoring of strategic plans will be finalised by the end of November 2006. Based on the reporting requirements an Information Technology (IT) solution will be developed by March 2007.

The National Statistics System has completed the South African Statistical Quality Framework (SASQAF) of criteria and protocols for certifying the statistics of departments and state agencies as official statistics. Data from the Department of Education is currently being reviewed. An initial assessment of the Department of Home Affairs' National Population Register databases has been conducted. An assessment of the Departure Survey of Tourism SA for the purposes of the certification of tourism statistics is underway.

Home Affairs Identification System

The Home Affairs National Identification System (HANIS) Back Record Conversion (BRC) Project was initiated to scan and absorb the approximate 30 000 000 (thirty million) hard copy fingerprint records, which are housed by the Department of Home Affairs.

Throughout the project an average of 76 000 records per day were digitised. As at 16 October 2006, 21 687 212 records from the Back Record Conversion project had been absorbed into HANIS. Thus far, more than 29,6 million fingerprint records have been digitised and around 27 million records have now been absorbed into the HANIS infrastructure.

Fingerprints of all persons applying for an Identity Document are taken during the ID application process and searched against the existing database. This is to ensure that a person only comes into possession of one identity number without any possible duplicates during the production of identity documents.

The Department of Home Affairs is pleased that the digitisation of manual records has finally been concluded and it will lay a basis for the future introduction of the Smart Identity Card which seeks to replace the current green bar-coded identity documents.

HANIS and the Who I Am Online

The Department of Home Affairs envisages changing the manual processes where paper forms are used as a main interface with its clients and systems to a total paperless environment where all transactions are committed online and real-time. In order to accomplish this, a new design of an integrated core business system is required termed the 'Who I Am Online System.'

With the 'Who I Am Online,' the department wants to implement online registration that captures, for example, photos and fingerprints; introduce an integrated core business system (incorporating civic and immigration with a single logical database of all persons); eliminate manual and tedious processes; reduce the vast amounts of paper; ensure acceptable fingerprint quality at offices of application; improve turnaround times for "enabling documents" applications; eradicate future "Back Record Conversion"; and improve overall security.

Support Intervention Team in the Department of Home Affairs

The Support Intervention Team in the Department of Home Affairs will conclude its work in December 2006. Accordingly, the team will compile a final report which will be submitted to Cabinet for consideration and approval. Once the report has been approved by Cabinet, the Department of Home Affairs will implement the recommendations accordingly.

African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM)

The African Peer Review Mechanism programme of action has been refined and submitted to the APRM Secretariat. A draft report on progress in the implementation of conventions and protocols to which South Africa is a signatory has also been submitted. A workshop will be held to undertake a gap analysis of issues raised in the Country Self Assessment Report that are not covered in the APRM programme of action or the Government POA. The gap analysis will form part of South Africa's response to the Country Review Report.

For more information, please contact
Clayson Monyela
Tel: (012) 336 1382
Cell: 082 806 7405

Issued by: Department of Public Service and Administration
15 November 2006