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Date: 03/05/2005
Source: Department of Public Service and Administration
Title: Fraser-Moleketi: Parliamentary Media Briefing, May 2005


Media briefing on Monitoring & Evaluation of Programme of Action: Governance and Administration Cluster by Minister of Public Service and Administration, Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi

INTRODUCTION

The Governance and Administration (G&A) Programme of Action (POA), like the POAs of other Clusters, reflects the decisions of the January Cabinet Lekgotla and the undertakings given by the President in his State of the Nation Address in February 2005. The Cluster has three broad priorities:

(1) Capability needs for the developmental state, which focuses on the capacity of the public service and local government to implement the social and economic objectives of government, as well as related human resource management issues and anti-corruption;

(2) Macro-organisation of the state, which includes the work on an integrated public sector, intergovernmental relations and integrated service delivery; and

(3) Planning, implementation and monitoring and evaluation, which encompasses the alignment of planning, the hands-on engagement with local government “Project Consolidate”, the establishment of a government-wide monitoring and evaluation framework, statistical capacity and the African Peer Review Mechanism.

CAPABILITY NEEDS FOR THE DEVELOPMENTAL STATE

Public Service Capacity

The capacity and organisation of the state was a key focal point at the January Cabinet Lekgotla. In taking these deliberations forward, the President gave the Forum of South African Directors-General (FOSAD) the task of conducting a review of the functioning of government with proposals on the capacity of implementing agents, competence, alignment of planning and implementation, and the mobilisation of the public service to speed up social transformation. The paper was drafted and revised and presented to FOSAD on 30 March 2005. A revised paper was presented to an Extended Cabinet meeting on 13 April 2005 and will again be discussed by Cabinet in May 2005.

In his State of the Nation Address, the President also referred to a review of gender balances as well as the representation of people with disability within the public service. The process has therefore begun to assess the level of compliance by departments with public service affirmative action targets. The task team will make recommendations to improve the representivity of designated groups and will revise the targets.

The Public Service Commission has drafted reports on the clarification of the roles of administrative and political heads and on capacity of executing authorities. Work is underway to pilot in selected departments an integrated system of capturing and tracking skills development. Amendments to the Public Service Act are also being drafted.

Anti corruption

The Second National Anti-corruption Summit was convened on 22 - 23 March 2005 in Tshwane and was attended by 396 representatives of all sectors. The Summit adopted 27 resolutions dealing with ethics, awareness, prevention, combating, oversight, transparency, accountability and the National Anti-corruption Forum. The 27 Resolutions address the issues of whistle blowing, coordination within and between sectors, the implementation of anti-corruption legislation, post-public sector employment, research, financial disclosures, apartheid corruption and the improved functioning of the National Anti-Corruption Forum (NACF). The NACF is required to translate the Resolutions into a programme of action (the National Anti-corruption Programme) by the end of June 2005.

Induction in the public service

Final course material is being prepared for the compulsory induction and orientation programme for all public servants, and the programme will be implemented from June. Various measures are underway to strengthen middle and senior management skills and have been linked to the existing competency frameworks. A foundation management programme is under development. The first phase of the mentorship programme has been developed and implemented.

Human resource management

Work is underway to strengthen the human resource function in government. Amendments to the Senior Management Service (SMS) performance management and development system have been prepared and a simplified system has been developed for other levels. A review of the impact of the SMS is underway. A broad framework introducing payment of scarce skills allowances to identified personnel in selected occupations has been issued to departments for implementation.

A review of the total remuneration packages of certain occupations is underway. A revised grading structure for social workers has already been undertaken. A framework has been developed to introduce non-pensionable incentives to facilitate the deployment of managers. Steps are being taken to improve the physical work environment of public servants. Projects on Tshwane Inner City and the Cape Town Parliamentary Precinct as well as the Maintenance Programme are underway.

MACRO-ORGANISATION OF THE STATE

Integrated public sector

This year the Government intensifies its efforts in ensuring that commitments made through the Freedom Charter are put into action for the improvement in the lives of the South African people. In making this possible, we have to consider whether service delivery institutions, including government departments, are appropriately configured to realise this objective. In this regard, the Seamless Public Service Delivery Strategy has been identified as a springboard to ensure that this initiative becomes a reality.

The context of this initiative is based on the understanding of South Africa as a Developmental State, which is in pursuit of basic fundamentals with a specific reference to:

i. A people-centred state machinery;
ii. Promotion of sustainable development by bridging the gap between the first and second economy;
iii. Intervention in the economy to promote growth; and
iv. Co-operative governance and popular participation.

It is a policy view of government that this strategy be applied in the three distinct, interdependent and interrelated spheres of government (national, provincial and local government), as articulated in the Constitution, which are wholly responsible for delivery of services to the people. These spheres of government ought to work together more closely to provide the services required by the people. The primary objective of this initiative is to ensure an efficient, effective, responsive, accountable, fair and transparent public service delivery system while at the same time ensuring good human resource management, thereby eliminating a wrong door effect at service delivery sites. We are of the view that an integrated public service will lead to improved service delivery.

At present, we have created a project team under the auspices of the G&A Cluster of Cabinet, which is comprised of relevant stakeholders in government, to take this project forward. The comparative study that was conducted on remuneration and conditions of service between Local Government and public service in 2001/02 and 2004 will enable us to harmonise these important aspects in our endeavour to implement our strategy of a seamless public service delivery system. The rationalisation of macro-benefits in the local government sphere is another indication of the preparatory work done in anticipation of the realisation of our objective.

The government intends introducing an overarching legislative framework that will:
* Cover all three spheres of government;
* Determine norms and standards for public administration;
* Provide for sector differentiation; and
* Provide for the migration/transfer of staff and function between the spheres of government.

This developmental process will be followed by the finalisation of the migration plan and consultation on the Municipal Employment Bill. A cost analysis of the options for implementation will also be undertaken to ensure sustainability of project outcomes. This will be accompanied by the implementation of the Inter-Governmental Relations (IGR) legislation that addresses the interface between the spheres of government. Our social partners in the public service, which constitute an important element in the transformation of government, will be consulted and engaged through the collective bargaining process in due course.

Work intended to consolidate the governance framework for public entities has been completed. The governance framework is being aligned with other initiatives aimed at contributing to the achievement of unified public administration since public entities will form part of unified public administration. This framework 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. The framework will be finalised soon.

Integrated service delivery

The aim of integrated service delivery is to bring as many services as possible in one place that is convenient for the service-users. The Batho Pele Gateway, which provides information on government services wherever there is Internet access, is an important element of this strategy. Language editing of the information on the services website (accessed via www.gov.za) and translation of the website content are underway. The Call Centre (1020) handles an average of 51 000 calls per month and there are 1 100 visits to the website every month. A Communication Strategy to popularise the information portal is under development.

Sixty-six MPCCs were operational as at March 2005. General Service Counters (GSCs) which offer the Gateway facility have been established at nine MPCCs and 18 new GSCs are under development. There are 624 Public Information Terminals in Citizens’ Post Offices. There are currently 1367 CDWs in the CDW learnership programme. Twenty-nine learner CDWs recently underwent training in India. Five hundred CDWs who have completed the learnership will be absorbed into the public service system by May. A national launch of the CDW programme is planned.

Batho Pele

Recommendations to amend the performance management and development system for the SMS have been drafted. These include the requirement that the implementation of the Batho Pele principles be a factor in assessing managers’ performance. The Batho Pele Change Management Campaign is under implementation in departments. SAMDI is offering training programmes for SMS and levels 1 - 12. Batho Pele learning sessions are held to share best practices on service delivery improvement.

PLANNING, IMPLEMENTATION AND MONITORING AND EVALUATION

Planning

Proposals on the harmonisation and alignment of the provincial and local planning instruments with the National Spatial Development Perspective (NSDP) have been approved by Cabinet. Hearings on the municipal Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) are planned for the next two months. Measures will be taken to strengthen the role of the district councils in the IDP process.

Project Consolidate

Project Consolidate is a hands-on engagement by national and provincial departments with local government aimed at strengthening implementation capacity. Seven national departments and all provinces have made dedicated personnel available to support the Project Consolidate initiative. A monitoring and evaluation system for Project Consolidate has been developed. Audits of the capacity of municipalities to sustain Project Consolidate are being undertaken.

An analysis of municipal services debt in the seven worst affected municipalities has been undertaken. Strategies to reduce and manage the debt in these municipalities are being finalised. Partnerships have been created with the providers of municipal billing systems. The review of the equitable share and formula was completed in December 2004. A National Local Economic Development Action Plan and policy guidelines have been prepared.

Eighty-five percent of the total Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG) allocation was transferred to 88 municipalities by the end of February 2005, of which 61% has been spent. Seventy-eight Project Management Units (PMUs) have been established to assist with programme management at local level.

A model for public and community participation was developed at a conference held on 29 - 30 March 2005. A multi-stakeholder forum has been established to refine the model and develop an action plan. A Presidential Imbizo was held in the Northern Cape in March 2005. By the end of March 2005, 300 events had been planned for the April Imbizo Focus Week. A Municipal Imbizo Programme is being developed to align Izimbizo with Project Consolidate.

Government-wide monitoring and evaluation systems

Late last year, the G&A Cluster convened a Monitoring and Evaluation Task Team to develop a proposal for addressing this issue. As part of preparation for the proposal research was undertaken that showed that monitoring and evaluation is a relatively underdeveloped area of management in the South African public service and that there is room for improvement.

The proposal for the development of a Government Wide Monitoring and Evaluation System is now complete and needs to be consulted upon before being presented to Cabinet for approval and implementation. The System will draw on a wide range of existing and planned reporting and assessment systems to collate and present useful information to various users, including the heads of national, provincial and local governments. It will also need to be aligned with various other initiatives including efforts to improve performance management and for the public service to become more effective as well as processes such as reporting on the Millennium Development Goals and other national targets.

The process of implementing the proposal is seen as a long-term initiative. It will require the completion of a number of preliminary steps and the adoption of clear norms, standards and practices across government in order to be successful.

African Peer Review Mechanism

Cabinet has established the Focal Point (the Minister for the Public Service and Administration) and a Ministerial Committee to lead the African Peer Review Mechanism in South Africa. Consultations have been scheduled for May 2005 to July 2005. The first draft of the Country Assessment Report and Programme of Action are being completed and is expected to be finalised by July 2005.

Conclusion

Good initial progress has been made, March 2005 and April 2005 deadlines have been met, specifically, the FOSAD report has been submitted to Cabinet for consideration, a Presidential Imbizo was held, personnel have been allocated to Project Consolidate, the proposal on the government-wide M&E framework has been developed and initial work for the establishment the APRM in South Africa has been done.

Issued by: Department of Public Service and Administration
3 May 2005

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