Governance and Administration (G&A) Cluster media briefing on the Programme of Action, 10h00-12h00, Union Buildings, Pretoria

Introduction

The G&A Cluster strives to improve the quality of life of the people by improving governance, the capacity and organisation of the state and its underlying systems. The Cluster's priorities derive from Government's commitment to improve its service to the people as embodied in the 2004 electoral mandate.

Following the January 2007 Cabinet Lekgotla and the President's State of the Nation Address on 9 February 2007, the Cluster developed a Programme of Action (POA) for implementation of the mandate. The Cluster has four priorities:

* promoting good governance
* strengthening the capacity of the state
* achieving and maintaining the optimal organisation of the state
* developing and enhancing the state's transversal systems.

Government's POA for 2007 was approved by Cabinet on 5 March. The briefing on the first report of the Cluster took place on 10 May. This is the briefing on the second report for 2007, finalised by Cabinet on 26 May.

Overview of cluster progress

Although it is important to scrutinise the detailed project progress on a regular basis as facilitated by this review, it is equally important to take a step back at intervals to consider whether the work of the Cluster is making a positive difference. The halfway mark in the year is an appropriate occasion for reflection.

Anti-corruption efforts at local level are focused on implementing an anti-corruption strategy, while the national and provincial anti-corruption strategy was implemented from 2002 to 2005 and its impact is currently being assessed. The renewed gender and disability programmes are focusing on the creation of Gender and Disability Focal Points in departments to drive the implementation of the gender and disability strategic frameworks. The first cohort of the Accelerated Development Programme (more than 100 middle managers who are mainly black women) will graduate early next year.

Batho Pele is making a positive difference in the public service. A national advocacy programme is cascading the principles of Batho Pele to local government, so that a common service delivery ethos is instilled in all spheres of government. The Cluster has boosted the number of departments that have developed Service Delivery Improvement Programmes (from approximately less than 50% to more than 80%), which will form the basis for comprehensive monitoring and evaluation of service delivery performance in years to come. The campaign to induct all new public servants in the principles of Batho Pele will begin in earnest next year.

Through the efforts of the Cluster, ward committees have been established in almost all wards (96%) throughout the country, strengthening local democracy. The Cluster is also working to create educational programmes for ward committee members and will introduce a stipend to cover their expenses. The national Imbizo programme is bringing government leaders into direct contact with the people to address their concerns and service delivery challenges.

Local government is benefiting from the concerted efforts of the Cluster to build its capacity. The Cluster has engaged national and provincial sector departments to support local government and has deployed experts to municipalities to strengthen capacity and transfer skills. Monitoring and evaluation (M&E)of local government at provincial level has been greatly strengthened, with M&E units established in 8 out of 9 Premier's Offices and 6 out of 9 provincial local government departments.

Competency frameworks for senior managers and performance management frameworks for municipalities have been developed. Capacity building programmes for local government office bearers and officials have made good initial progress. Intergovernmental relations structures and processes are firmly entrenched, and solid technical work has been done on support to traditional leaders and property rates regulations. The Local Government Laws Amendment Bill was approved by Cabinet on 26 June 2007 for introduction into Parliament for consideration during this year.

Local government has commenced a skills audit and a skills database is being developed in the public service. The skills information is designed to assist in designing capacity building initiatives and in human resource planning. Competency assessments for senior managers will become compulsory next year. The intention is to provide departments with additional information regarding the capacity of candidates and incumbent managers for selection and developmental purposes.

A new Human Resource Development Strategy has been prepared, which includes capacity building steps such as the establishment of a National Public Sector Academy [currently the South African Management Development Institute (Samdi)]; partnerships with Higher Education Institutions and Further Education and Training Colleges; e-learning for the public service; learnerships, internships and traineeships; a more strategic role for professional bodies; leadership management development strategies; and strengthened systems for workplace learning. The capacity building initiatives are supported by organisational initiatives (human resource management interventions) and governance initiatives, including monitoring and evaluation.

The Samdi's preparations to transform itself into a National Public Sector Academy are underway and nine project teams have been established to look at different aspects. The Academy will be a key pillar of the implementation of the Human Resource Development (HRD) strategy. The Samdi's training programmes continue to strengthen capacity in the public service in areas such as supply chain management, anti-corruption, gender mainstreaming and disability management. Induction and orientation will be a lead programme for 'massification,' which aims to reach the maximum number of public servants possible through partnership arrangements with provincial academies and service providers.

The Single Public Service is a massive undertaking designed to improve service delivery by integrating the front office, the back office and the institutions delivering services to the people. Critical preparatory work is being undertaken to develop common norms and standards in relation to human resource practices. Funding options are being explored. The draft Single Public Service Bill has been prepared and will be released for public comment after approval by Cabinet. Internal consultation on the draft Bill is underway.

A critical element of the Single Public Service is the integration of service delivery, which allows citizens to receive 'government services' as a whole in a convenient location without having to travel far and wide. Thusong Centres have begun to meet this demand, and new Thusong Centres are being established to add to the 90 already in place. A critical focus is internet connectivity at these centres, especially to make the Batho Pele Gateway available at the centres, and the Alexandra Thusong Centre will be used as a blueprint for future centres. The Cluster also promotes the work of the Community Development Workers (CDWs) as integrators of government services who provide information about services and assess communities' needs. There are more than 3 000 CDWs in the field.

E-Government includes the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to facilitate more accessible government services. Two Cluster projects seek to achieve this. The first is the Track and Trace system developed by the Department of Home Affairs, which allows citizens to ascertain progress regarding their ID or passport applications by sms. A related Cluster initiative is the Citizen Relations Portal, which will allow citizens to make enquiries about service delivery. These projects seek to promote the use of ICTs by citizens and the public service to deliver services more effectively and efficiently.

The National Spatial Development Perspective assists districts to develop local economic strategies that support areas of need and potential. A pilot of 13 districts has been completed and further districts are being identified. National and provincial departments are supporting municipalities in finalising their Integrated Development Plans. Engagement by national and provincial departments with the spatial plans of local government is essential for effective implementation.

The Government-wide Monitoring and Evaluation System (GWM&ES) is under construction. The aim is to develop a dashboard reflecting public sector performance and other statistical information. The GWM&ES processes information from a wide range of sources, including government's transversal systems, including the National Statistical System of Statistics South Africa. The Presidency recently published the Mid-Term Review, providing analysis and trends gleaned from 72 macro-indicators. Capacity building for M&E is being designed by Samdi.

Evaluation of cluster work

Institutional change takes time. In 1999/2000 the Public Service Review Report argued that the transformation of the public service was complex and likely to take much longer than initially expected. Public service transformation and administrative reform have proved to be ongoing processes, requiring public servants to manage changes to systems, structures and policies while delivering high quality services to the people. Most Governance and Administration projects are medium to long term.

The work of the Cluster constantly improves the public service landscape but the work is ongoing. Batho Pele, which was conceived in 1997, has been implemented and revitalised since then. A campaign initiated in 2004 has recently been intensified. Ministers are conducting unannounced visits to service delivery points. In the spirit of the Single Public Service, Batho Pele training is also underway in municipalities. Batho Pele as a programme is continually being improved while remaining faithful to the principles identified at the outset.

Gender and disability representivity in the public service has been an area of weakness, since the targets for women in management and disabled people in the public service are not being met. A concerted effort is being made to rectify this situation. Programmes to facilitate public participation have yielded good results, although the rate of the resolution of the issues raised at izimbizo can still be improved. On average there has been good compliance with the requirements of the Public Service Anti-corruption Strategy and most departments have complied with the minimum anti-corruption requirements. The Local Government Strategy is being launched in provinces and municipalities.

The Cluster has undertaken critical work in support of municipalities through Project Consolidate since 2004, by deploying engineering, financial management and other technical experts. Municipalities have already shown improvements in the quality of the Integrated Development Plans, strengthened financial viability, improved governance and the filling of senior management posts. The 5-Year Local Government Strategic Agenda has been under implementation since January 2006. Following on from Project Consolidate's hands-on support to local government, it also addresses institutional capacity and policy refinement. Intergovernmental relations have been significantly strengthened through the implementation of the Intergovernmental Relations Framework Act, 2005.

Integration has been a common theme in the work of the Cluster, especially in relation to service delivery. The need for integration is the inspiration behind the Single Public Service initiative, and innovative programmes such as the Thusong Centres and the Community Development Workers show that we have made remarkable progress in a few years. The challenge will be to integrate the various institutions that deliver services and to present a single window on government for the citizen, wherever they may be.

The transversal systems of government must also be integrated, especially planning and monitoring and evaluation. Ambitious programmes are underway in these areas, in order to harmonise the planning of the national, provincial and local spheres, and in order to establish an integrated framework for monitoring and evaluation. Both of these programmes have not yet been fully implemented, and once the initial implementation is in place, the systems will continue operating with modifications where required.

The Cluster's work is making a positive difference to public administration through its pillars of governance, capacity, macro-organisation and transversal systems. The Programme of Action focuses on a one-year time span, which often provides only a snapshot of a much larger project or programme underway. In addition to the bimonthly reporting on the Programme of Action, Cluster programmes and projects should also be considered individually, within their broader time span, especially as and when the implementation and monitoring and evaluation cycles come to an end.

The Cluster has been responsive to high-level debates on the developmental state, the two economies and the organisation and capacity of the state, which have been incorporated into the Programme of Action, although much of this work has been submitted to the Cabinet Makgotla. Overall the Cluster has identified the areas of improvement required, and has established programmes and project to address them. However, implementation must be tightened, in particular the meeting of deadlines and the economic, efficient and effective use of resources.

Detailed Report for April - June 2007

Good governance

Anti-corruption

The Local Government Anti-corruption Strategy is being implemented in 27 districts with the support of the provincial departments responsible for local government. Four provinces have launched the strategy. Selected Project Consolidate municipalities were supported to implement the required policies, procedures and systems.

Gender and disability

Advocacy roadshows for the Draft Strategic Framework for Gender Equality and the JobACCESS Strategic Framework have been completed. Comments have been sought and are being incorporated into Guidelines and Implementation Plans for both documents.

Batho Pele

Over 184 municipalities, covering seven provinces, have been trained in Batho Pele. The programme forms part of the Single Public Service process and aims to ensure that there is a single service delivery ethos for the three spheres of government. Work is continuing to obtain the buy-in of the leadership and senior management at municipalities. Community Development Workers are being trained to assist with the monitoring of the programme's implementation.

The Samdi has initiated a massified induction programme aimed at ensuring that new public servants (a target of 100 000 per year has been set) receive training on the core values of public service delivery and development, focusing on knowledge of the Constitution and Batho Pele values.

Public participation

The National Imbizo Week took place from 10 to 17 April. Eighteen Cabinet Ministers, 13 Deputy Ministers and nine Premiers participated in 310 imbizo events through the country. In the same month President Mbeki visited Johannesburg for a municipal imbizo. Greater emphasis is being placed in the imbizo programme on ensuring greater alignment with local economic development within the framework of the National Spatial Development Perspective (NSDP), the Provincial Growth and Development Strategies (PGDSs) and the municipal Integrated Development Plans (IDPs). The second National Imbizo Week for this year will be held in October.

Ninety-six percent of municipalities have established ward committees and much has been done to build the capacity of ward committees. A training programme at National Qualifications Framework (NQF) level 2 has been developed and piloted in municipalities in the Eastern Cape and Mpumalanga. A national database for the programme is being created, which will be linked to the initiative of the Department of Communications to provide cellphones to all ward committee members.

Capacity of the state

Local Government Strategic Agenda

Six national departments [the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, the Department of Minerals and Energy, the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, the Department of Trade and Industry, the Department of Housing and the Department of Provincial and Local Government (dplg)] submitted progress reports on their local government support programmes in May 2007. All provinces have support programmes in place and submitted reports.

A total of 297 additional skills and resources have been mobilised for deployment to municipalities from Old Mutual, the SA Planning Institute, local economic development (LED) professionals, the dplg, Department of Water Affairs and Forestry, the National Treasury, the Development Bank of Southern Africa, the Department for International Development United Kingdom (UK), the South African Institute for Civil Engineers, the South African Association of Consulting Engineers, the Institute for Municipal Financial Officers and the United States Agency for International Development.

The project to develop monitoring, evaluation and reporting capacity in the Offices of the Premier and Departments of Local Government has made good progress. Eight out of nine Offices of the Premier have established monitoring and evaluation (M&E) units, although only one is at full capacity. In the Provincial Departments of Local Government, six out of nine provinces have M&E units.

A managerial competency framework and occupational competency profiles have been developed for senior managers in municipalities and incorporated into the Municipal Regulations. Competency guidelines have been gazetted for public comment in June. The competency framework will need to take cognisance of the National Treasury's Competency Regulations in relation to supply chain and financial management.

Preparations for the local government skills audit have been finalised. Implementation of phase 1 involves the determination of skills gaps in 10 municipalities, the drafting of a toolkit and the establishment of norms and standards with regard to municipal functions. The project will aim to ensure that the same skills audit tools are used to ensure comparable data.

One hundred and eighty-one municipalities out of 283 have responded to the audit of performance management systems at local government level. One hundred and forty-one have adopted performance management frameworks. Ninety-nine municipalities have linked their performance management systems to their Service Delivery Improvement Plans.

Two skills programmes of the four contained in the Municipal Leadership Development Programme (MLDP) have been piloted in 14 municipalities. Two hundred and fifty-five councillors and officials were trained. The programmes have been extended to five additional municipalities. The pilot will be followed by a capacity building rollout that would include other functional elements of leadership and management training.

Intergovernmental relations (IGR) fora have been established in all district municipalities and all nine provinces, while 15 Minmecs have been established at national level. IGR Toolkits, a policy, advocacy and information resource for IGR were launched at the 10th anniversary of the National Council of Provinces in May. The Toolkits are also available on the dplg website.

Consultation on the establishment of a National Programme of Support for Traditional Leaders will be finalised in June. All provinces have adopted guideline regulations that guide the drafting of provincial regulations for the transformation of Traditional Authorities into Traditional Councils and the establishment of Local Houses. Eleven departments have agreed to participate in the process of allocating roles and functions to traditional leadership.

Policy proposals that will inform municipal differential rating of various property categories in relation to the residential property sector have been developed. A formal engagement between the National Treasury and the dplg will commence this month.

Skills development

A communication strategy for the public service skills database project 'HR Connect' was implemented. Introductory workshops were held with 21 departments. Forty thousand personal survey forms were distributed. Departments have been requested to submit their forms by 20 June. Departments also received training on the process of aligning organograms with the Organising Framework of Occupations.

The local government skills database will be developed once phase 1 of the skills audit has been completed and the skills audit database has been set up. The project will take the Department of Public Service and Administration's (dpsa's) approach to the skills audit for the national and provincial levels into account.

All departments have been informed of Cabinet's decision to make the utilisation of competency assessments compulsory as part of the recruitment process for Senior Management Service (SMS) posts. The assessment battery has been reviewed and refinements will be made. A Leadership Development Management Strategic Framework is being developed. A centralised information system based on the assessment results will assist in tracking skills gaps, targeting executive development programmes, the deployment of scarce skills and headhunting.

The final draft of the Human Resource Development Strategy (HRDS) implementation guide and plan has been completed. A workshop with provinces and identified national departments was held to finalise activities for the strategic objectives identified in the HRDS. A policy on the utilisation of the 1% training budget is being developed based on information of gaps and best practices in departments.

Capacity building

Cabinet approved the transformation of Samdi into a Public Service Academy in November 2006. Schools of government abroad were visited to gain insights into training programmes and organisational forms. Nine project teams are working on aspects of the reconstitution into the Academy. A draft learning framework has been developed. Consultations with unions are underway regarding the multi-phased process of reconstituting Samdi into the Academy.

The Accelerated Development Programme is a training programme for middle managers, intended to fast-track them for senior management positions. The first cohort has completed the advanced phase and action learning projects are being completed. Phase 2, the executive phase, commences this month. The steering committee has identified six provinces and departments to form part of the second cohort.

A total of 625 officials in national and provincial departments were trained in supply chain management in the period January to June. A total of 563 municipal officials were trained in the same period. An e-learning programme for Bid Committee members is under development. Additional associate trainers will be appointed to respond to increased demand. The National Treasury is funding 150 supply chain management courses for the public sector.

Thirteen Samdi training sessions on anti-corruption have been held. The unit standards for the gender mainstreaming course have been gazetted for public comment by the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) to fast-track curriculum and training materials development. Donor funding has been received for this programme. Eighteen municipalities and two national departments have received training in disability management. Marketing of these courses to government departments is being stepped up.

Macro-organisation of the state

Single Public Service

Further consultations were held within government on the Single Public Service, including discussions at the South African Local Government Association (Salga) Conference on 22 to 26 April. The draft Single Public Service Bill is being finalised for submission to Cabinet in July. Projects to determine human resource management norms and standards and the remuneration and conditions of service dispensation for the Single Public Service are underway.

Integrated service delivery

Projects aimed at expanding citizen access to government services are underway. The Alexandra Thusong Centre will be used as a blueprint for ICT connectivity at Thusong Centres. The ICT infrastructure at the Centre will be upgraded. Once connectivity is established at Alexandra Centre, connectivity to all first-generation Thusong Centres will be addressed.

More than 3 000 Community Development Workers (CDWs) have been trained and are deployed across all municipalities. An Awards Ceremony for CDWs was held in Cape Town on 5 June. A Handbook for CDWs and a guide for communities about CDWs entitled 'Grassroots Innovation' have been published and the CDW website has been upgraded.

e-Government projects

The Citizen Relations Portal, which aims to connect citizens with service delivery departments via sms, is underway. A related project, 'Track and Trace,' launched by the Department of Home Affairs, has now captured 640 618 applications. The sms service has responded to 348 795 queries for marital status and passport and ID applications and 126 230 notifications have been made.

Transversal systems

Integrated planning

In 2006, 13 districts were identified for the application of the National Spatial Development Perspective (NSDP) on a pilot basis. Final reports for 11 of the districts have been completed and the remaining two will be completed in June. A workshop for the sharing of the lessons of the pilots was held in May. A further 10 districts and metros will be assisted to apply the NSDP by December.

Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) were analysed in April. District IGR fora and IDP engagements were held in all provinces to provide feedback regarding IDP credibility. Municipalities are currently finalising their IDPs for submission on 30 June.

Monitoring and evaluation

A draft Government-wide Monitoring and Evaluation (GWM&E) Policy Framework has been developed and is being consulted upon with the National Treasury, Samdi and various M&E experts. A preliminary audit was conducted of the Programme of Action M&E system.

In compiling the Mid-Term Review (MTR), a selection of 70 macro-indicators was used to develop a data analysis and trends analysis publication. The data was collected from various sources, including government departments and various surveys. The MTR was published in June.

The Samdi is leading the M&E capacity-building initiative. Two national focus groups on training needs have taken place and two more are planned. Plans are underway for a baseline study on training needs for the GWM&E System. A report is being developed on M&E programmes offered by Higher Education Institutions.

The project on the Draft Compendium of Definitions of the National Development Indicators is being undertaken together with the Presidency. Administrative data of the Free State Department of Education is being improved. Memoranda of Understanding for partnership in the National Statistical System (NSS) are being discussed with several departments. Reports on statistical capacity audits of the Departments of Transport, Education and Minerals and Energy have been completed.

Collaboration between the dpsa and the dplg is underway to develop a strategy to enhance public participation in M&E. The dpsa's focus will be to provide a generic framework for participation in the Government-wide M&E System and the African Peer Review Mechanism. The dplg is developing a public participation policy for local government.

Issued by: Department of Public Service and Administration
3 July 2007