Issued by: Ministry for Safety and Security
PRESS RELEASE December 14, 1995
The national RDP Office is to pilot a unique concept aimed at reducing costs and enhancing service delivery by integrating areas of commonality of government departments.
Minister in the Office of the President, Jay Naidoo, said fund- ing emphasis had to be given to programmes which not only encouraged change and financial reform, but also cut across departments.
"The initial focus of the RDP was on programmes such as the Presidential Lead Projects which addressed immediate and basic needs. Now we have these up and running, we are looking at broader objectives."
In order for the RDP to be more effective in the future, RDP funds needed to be allocated in support of long-term strategic plans being drafted by the various government departments.
"To this end, we are looking at programmes where we can utilise this concept of cross-cutting. For example, in the criminal justice system at the moment, the SA Police Services (SAPS), Correctional Services, Justice and Welfare all have common interests, yet they work independently. We want to identify programmes that will get the SAPS to interact more closely with Correctional Services which, in turn, needs to integrate some of its programmes with the Department of Justice which, in turn needs to find ways of linking with the Department of Welfare and other departments," Naidoo said.
Cross-cutting will allow the RDP Office to take an integrated approach to programmes, enabling common interests to be identified, with planning and funding focusing on common needs and objectives.
"We have identified the integration of the criminal justice system and the establishment of community safety centers as the areas in which cross-cutting programmes should be initiated. Fuller details of these programmes are expected to be handed to the RDP Office in the first quarter of next year, he said.
Inter-departmental meetings regarding the establishment and funding of community safety centres are already underway. One model proposed for community safety centers is a multi-purpose building housing a variety of government services, from a police station, social and welfare services, to medical, health and emergency services.
Around R200 million from the central RDP fund has been earmarked for the construction and equipping of these centers. Participating departments will all contribute money from their budgets to fund these centers, and so increase their services and reach, but at a significantly reduced cost, he said.
A further R200 million has been earmarked for a unique programme which will ultimately see the common interests between five government departments (Welfare, Education, Health, Justice, SAPS) streamlined and integrated. An example of this is the development of an integrated information network.
"The most important part of this cross-cutting concept is that RDP funding for these programmes is not intended to be permanent, but only to facilitate kick-starting the processes," he said.
ISSUED BY: Mandy Jean Woods Director Communications Ministry in the Office of the President (Reconstruction and Development Programme)
Phone: (012) 341-5569 Fax: (012) 341-5569 ext 203 Pager: (011) 804-2777 code 71799