Department of Transport

ANNUAL REPORT 1997 - 1998

Chief Directorate Management Services

Contents

• Mission Statement
• Introduction
• Reports from the Directorates:
  • Directorate Human Resource Management & Organisational Development
  • Directorate Administrative Services
  • Directorate Communication
  • Sub-directorate Parliamentary and Ministerial Services
  • Sub-directorate Information Technology
  • Directorate Legal Services
  • Sub-directorate Government Motor Transport
  • Directorate Research and Development
  • Directorate Financial Administration

To lead and support the drive for transformation of the Department of Transport by providing a dynamic and efficient administration and strategic support service to our clients in relation to all line functional responsibilities, policy initiatives and national objectives in a changing environment.

During 1997/98 The Chief Directorate Completed Several Initiatives With Great success. These included:

• A wrap-up of the detailed human behavioural intervention programme which saw the entire Department's staff being exposed to a structured diversity awareness programme addressing the "softer" human resource issues of gender, race, cultural diversity, management style, motivation and the fears and anxieties associated with change. We hope the learning processes - much commented on by participants -will continue to gain momentum and help to ease the anxieties of transition inherent in the Department's restructuring
• The successful operation of integrated planning teams involved in implementing the new arm's length Agencies for Roads, Maritime Safety, Cross Border Transport and Aviation Safety
• Compiling the necessary legislation for the enactment of the Agencies and piloting the Bills through Parliament (The first three Agencies were launched on 1 April 1998; the Aviation Safety Agency is scheduled to open for business on 1 October 1 1998)
• Through a process of natural right-sizing, Security Services have been partially out-sourced, and it is envisaged that this process will be fully completed during the 1998/99 financial year
• The Department will embark on its next crucial phase of restructuring during 1998. This will see a further shaving away of routine operational functions and a decisive realignment of its core business around policy, regulation and promotion To reflect this business-driven shift of emphasis, the Chief Directorate will change its name from Management Services to Corporate Services
• Corporate Services will be responsible for the implementation of the new structure and for ensuring that all employees have job descriptions and detailed performance indicators fully aligned to the newly-defined business functions. Policy and practice frameworks are being designed which fully incorporate the new Public Service Regulations and have the overriding aim of empowering line management to become much more autonomous, accountable and service-orientated

Functions Of The Chief Directorate

• Optimise the use and development of human resources
• Optimise administrative processes and enhance effective administration
• Design and implement communication strategies aimed at effective internal and external communication
• Provide efficient and reliable information technology services;
• Provide sound legal services
• Promote efficient use of government motor transport, within the context of a general move towards outsourcing/privatisation
• Ensure streamlined co-ordination of ministerial and departmental activities in order to enhance the profile of the Minister and his department in the media and the parliamentary sphere

Reports From The Directorates

Sub-directorate Human Resource Management, Training and Labour Relations

Division Human Resource Management

Projects out during 1997

• The Sub-directorate successfully negotiated a memorandum of understanding with the representative trade union involved in the process of establishing the four arm's length Agencies envisaged in the Department's White Paper on National transport Policy.
• It followed up on this agreement by collaborating with various consultants to develop a Human Resource Plan and Human Resource Manuals for the Agencies.
• The Sub-directorate played a vital role in consultation negotiation on the establishment of provident funds, pension and medical benefit schemes for the new Agencies.
• It embarked on extensive research and discussion with winning organisations and labour specialists in order to bring the policy and management practices of the Agencies into line both with international private sector standards of service excellence and with the demands of new national labour legislation.
• The Sub directorate oversaw the smooth transition of personnel to the Agencies and handled numerous questions and queries from various sources in order to keep the process on track; and meet the time-frame set for its completion

  Training of staff

• Approximately 290 members of staff were given training in key procedures related to personnel management, the new Labour Relations Act, second and third notch policy, job performance planning and management, merit assessmentù and career planning

HIV/AIDS policy and programme

The Sub-directorate took the initiative in implementing an HIV/AIDS policy and sensitisation project which involved the Department of Health as well as various private sector organisations. All members of staff, including the regional offices, were catered for in this programme, which was aimed at dispelling myths and creating a culture of responsibility in the face of the national HIV/AIDS crisis. A start was made on developing workplace support systems for HIV-positive members of staff through the training of members of the Aids task team in the skills of HIV/AIDS counselling.

Future projects

The Sub-directorate has six new draft policies in hand which will actively promoted over the coming year:

• Developing flexible departmental policy on matters previously regulated by the Public Service Regulations and Public Service Staff Code and the Personnel Administrative Standards
• Affirmative Action policy
• Completion of a detailed Human Resource Management Manual
• Policy regarding reward for outstanding achievement
• Implementation of the core salary structure
• Implementation of a wide-ranging career planning and career management programme

Division Labour Relations

The major project successfully attended to during 1997 was the training of management and staff in the new Labour Relations Act.

The following functions were performed on an ongoing basis

• Cases with regard to disciplinary hearings (8 cases)
• Cases with regard to grievances (4 cases)
• Conciliation boards (9 cases)
• Cases in me Industrial Court (2 cases)
• Regular negotiation/consultation with organised labour on various subjects.
• Garnishee orders (23 cases);
• Adverse remarks (18 cases)
• Financial assistance through the Destitute Fund (15 cases)

Future projects

• Negotiating the Constitution of the Departmental.Bargaining Council
• Recognition agreements
• Negotiating accreditation by COMA in respect of conciliation mediation and arbitration
• Training of supervisory and management staff In respect of all procedures and relevant legislation
• Policy initiatives to enhance fair and procedurally correct management.

Division Training and Development.

Projects successfully attended to during 1997

• Grade ten and twelve education scheme: 23 grade twelve and 2 grade ten candidates were selected and completed their education during 1997
• ABET training: 28 members of staff were put through ABET training with good results. Ten commenced with literacy and numeracy training and completed the course successfully
• Undertook competency-based training
• Monitored extended training (i.e. occupation-specific training with regard to line management, computer literacy and other external training)
• Improved bursary administration: 58 members of staff are in the process of improving their qualifications (23 bursaries and 35 study aids).

Future projects

The following projects will receive attention:

• Proper induction training of management
• Multi-skilling
• Computerisation of bursary administration
• Establishing a training needs database and an improved system for monitoring occupation-specific training
• Management of training initiatives through outside capacity

Investigations/projects completed during the 1997/98 financial year

• Filing systems across the entire Department were reviewed, and approval for illegal systems was obtained from the National Archive Services. This was done in time to transfer all relevant files in good order to the newly-formed agencies (SAMSA, SANRA and Cross BorderAgency) on 1 April 1998.
• Reorganised functions and work flow and compiled an office manual for Ministerial Services.
• Compiled a manual for the computerised plan document system.
• Involved in the HIV/AIDS awareness project. An AIDS week was launched and questionnaires were sent out to determine departmental knowledge levels regarding HIV/AIDS.
• Implementation of the Rights in Aircraft Act, which involved determining work procedures for a hand system as well as a computerised system. The Aviation Regulations were used as a guideline. Users were supported on a continuous basis during the implementation of the Act.
• Administered and coordinated a large-scale transformation project (diversity workshops). The aim was to take all staff members on a two-day workshop to address "soft issues" (racial, cultural, gender and management-styles). 720 employees (including staff from regional offices) attended the Diversity Workshops at Aventura Warmbaths. Responsibilities in respect of the project included compiling lists of attendants, designing a logo, compiling news bulletins and general information sheets about the workshop, sending out invitations and attending some workshops as co-facilitators to the appointed consultants, Ernst and Young. A final report from the consultants was presented to the Department which will be used to assist in the implementation of a follow-up programme.

Future projects

• Implementing a focussed and flatter organisational structure as well as aligning job descriptions with the revised functions of the Department.
• Implementing follow-up programmes to the diversity awareness workshop and other special programmes.
• Re-engineering of various support systems and compilation of procedural manuals.

Sub-directorate: Human Resource Administrative Services

General Overview of the Department's Establishment

As the Minister notes in his Introduction to this report, the Department's total staff complement stood at 803 on 31 March 1998; some 600 down from the number for 1995. There was a further dramatic fall of 382 on 1 April 1998, when 260 staff members left to join the new agencies (70 to SAMSA, 91 to SANRA,99 to CBRTA),50 were transferred to Intersite and other parastatals,10 were transferred to other government departments and 60 took voluntary severance packages. With a further 2 voluntary resignations, our numbers going into the 1998/99 financial year stood at 421. These will fall further on 1 October 1998, when 110 staff members will transfer to the new Civil Aviation Safety Authority. Over the remainder of the year the process of transferring and placing the remaining 72 staff members supernumerary to the structure of the new department will continue. We should therefore find ourselves at the ideal staff complement of 240 by the time we enter into the 1999/ 2000 financial year.

During the report year meritorious performance was recorded in the following ways:

• 336 Officials were promoted in rank.
• 152 officials were awarded special recognition.
• A total of 70 and 26 officials were nominated for second and third notches respectively during the financial year.
• Long service awards were granted to 9 officials in recognition of 20 years and to 3 officials in recognition of 30 years of loyal service.

Representivity

The Department is committed to the Goverment's policy of Affirmative Action and promoting representivity in terms of race, gender and disability. We are mindful of the fact that we still have a long way to go in increasing representivity, and are developing a more concrete Affirmative Action policy and programme framework to achieve this in the context of restructuring. Graphics and tables appear below giving the breakdown of ethnicity and gender employment figures as at 31 March 1998.

Sub-directorate: Logistical Management

Division Office Services

Purpose: To provide an efficient service to line management in respect of the following functions:

• GG transport - 19 pool vehicles are available to the Department
• Subsidised transport - 143 vehicles were administered on the Subsidised Motor Vehicle Scheme
• Centralised travel arrangements - tender procedures were followed to appoint Travel Corporate Ltd. as the in-house travel agent for the Department. For the period 1 April 1997 to 31 March 1998 the following statistics are applicable:
  • 1 665 bookings for air travel
  • 751 bookings for car hire
  • 974 reservations for hotel accommodation

Due to the centralisation of these functions the Department received credits to the value of R47 887 from SAA. R10 440 was used by 9 March 1998 and the remaining R37 447 will be used before 1 July 1998.

The Sub-directorate is also responsible for the following:

• Official parking
• Day to day maintenance of official accommodation
• Communication (switchboard, Telkom etc) -printouts are distributed each month for control purposes. A substantial saving on the previous financial year's telephone account was achieved
• Reproduction service (an average rate of 11 142 photocopies per day was maintained)
• Registration and messenger service - approval was obtained from the National Archives to transfer filing systems to the respective Agencies
• Food Service Aid
• Secretariat (Advisory Committee on Subsidised Transport)
• Security - an access control system was installed and is functioning satisfactorily. An average of 9 000 visitors per month was recorded;
• Control over conference facilities in the Forum Building -Currently there are 8 conference rooms under the control of the Sub-directorate. These facilities were utilized 99% of the time;
• Accommodation - With the establishment of the various Agencies, accommodation became vacant in the Forum Building. Through pro-active negotiation the Department of Welfare will take this up as from 1 August 1998
• Private parking
• Cleaning services - The firm Expert Cleaning is the current contractor responsible for the Forum Building

Division Provisioning Administration

Purpose: To provide an efficient and effective procurement service to line management in the Department through the following activities:

• Procurement of goods and services according to Tender Bawd and other relevant regulations
• Stock control and inspection;
• Providing a secretariat service to the Departmental Control Committee and Tender Committee
• Co-ordination of budget inputs and expenditure for CDMS (program 1) to assist Responsibility Managers in managing their budgets.

During the report period the following services were rendered:

• A total of 57 tenders to the approximate value of R55 616 155 was invited and finalised according to State Tender Board Regulations
• 926 orders to the value of R38 381 087 were processed for goods and services
• A bar-code system to improve control over office equipment and furniture was implemented.

Future Developments

To further enhance the quality of service that the Sub-directorate provides a program of re-engineering organisational systems will be carried out in the coming year.

As envisaged in the previous report year - and in line with the vision of a redesigned and restructured Chief Directorate: Corporate Affairs - the Sub-directorate Communication became a Directorate during this year, positioning its core activities between the communication needs of the Department (internal communication), the Parliamentary interface, provincial liaison and Ministerial communication activities.

The Directorate set it self a number of specific aims for 1997/1998. These included: cultivating a culture of multi-dimensional communication (print, e-mail, Intranet) within the Department; extending the range of our media and inter-governmental contacts; and projecting the Department's corporate image through better coordination with Ministerial communication initiatives.

In particular, the following projects may be mentioned:

• The creation of a pilot Departmental web-site, prioritised last year from within the Parliamentary Services and IT sections, was carried out with great success. A wide range of information is now carried on the site, including departmental contact details, all major policy documents, Ministerial and departmental speeches, press releases and articles, DoT Bills and Acts and aviation regulations. The site has also developed dedicaed sub-pages for.
  • information on Spatial Development Initiatives (SDls)
  • the Arrive Alive campaign launch speeches, press releases, media comment, statistics and graphics)
  • the Moving South Africa project
  • the CCF Licence project

  Public use of the DoT web-site has been very encouraging - averaging 20 000 file downloads per week, some 40% from outside South Africa - and many favourable comments have been received from users, both nationally and internationally.

• Four successful media days were held. (April, July, November 1997 and March 1998). Their main purpose is to keep the media up-to-date with new policy and developmental issues to which the Department wishes to draw public attention.. But they also provide very useful networking opportunities for officials in the Department to build strong relations within the media
• The internal newsletter has continued to fulfill its function of providing news and a two-way communication link between management and staff, particularly around sensitive issues like internal transformation, diversity workshops and restructuring for the creation of agencies
• Media coverage was managed for a range of DoT projects, including: various Ministerial road openings; intensive activity to project the Arrive Alive campaign in conjunction with the Minister's MLO and the Directorate Road Traffic Education and Communication; and the launches of the Moving South Africa project (October 1997) and the White Paper on the Road Accident Fund (January 1998)
• The process of establishing structured links with provincial transport department offices was initiated.. A communication contacts database was set up and the first formal meeting of national and provincial departmental communicators was held in September 1997.

Future Developments

In the light of the newly-established Government Communication and Information (GCIS) structures, it will be a top priority for 1998/99 to further develop and deepen the links between national and provincial transport communicators.

In conjunction with the IT section, concentrated attention will be focussed on developing the Intranet/lnternet/World-Wide-Web interface into a core element of the way in which the department does business with its clients and staff. Major projects will be to investigate the possibilities of interactive public access to departmental services (application fortes, tender documents etc.), the provision of on-line, GIS-based information on road/traffic conditions and corridor-related developmental opportunities and the transformation of the in-house news bulletin into an Intranet-based electronic publication.

The creation of the new Directorate: Communication and Parliamentary Services, allowed, as envisaged, for tighter integration of the functions of the Communication component, the Parliamentary Office and the Ministry. In particular, a significantly higher degree of co-operation was achieved with the Ministry through joint promotional activities around the Arrive Alive campaign and the improvement of links with provincial communicators.

Legislation

Eight Bills were steered through Parliament in the report year, resulting in the following enactments:

• Shipping General Amendment Act, No.23,1997
• Aviation Laws Amendment Act, No.82, 1997
• Airports CompanyAmendmentAct, No.2, 1998
• Cross-Border Road Transport Act, No.4, 1998
• South African Maritime Safety Authority Act, No.5, 1998
• South African Maritime Safety Authority Levies Act, No.6, 1998
• The South African National Roads Agency Limited and National Roads Act, No.7, 1998
• National RoadTrafficAmendmentAct, No.8,1998

The first Parliamentary semester of 1998 was particularly intense, as it was during this period of two months that the last six Bills on the list above were steered through the two Parliamentary Standing Committees and the two Houses, against very tight deadlines relating to the need to meet the launch date of 1 April 1998 for all three of the new Agencies and the need to conclude negotiations with the preferred strategic equity partner for the part-privatisation of the Airports Company (ACSA) Ltd.

The situation was further complicated by the differing legal opinions which were offered as to whether the Cross-Border Road Transport Bill should be tagged as a section 75 (national legislative authority or section 76 (concurrent national & provincial legislative authority Bill. The difficulties encountered in clarifying the status and mandating route of this Bill threw up some fundamental questions, both of constitutional interpretation and of Parliamentary Rules and process.

The DoT Parliamentary section drew on the experience gained from debate around the passage of the Cross-Border Bill to prepare a paper for the Department of Justice and the Chief State Law Advisor suggesting various modifications to the tagging process.

We hope to be able to Newport on any rule and/or process changes which may have emerged by the time of the next Annual Report.

Questions answered in both Houses:

The pace of questioning continues to intensify. There was a substantial increase (60%) n the number of parliamentary responses given during the report year, building on he 166% increase registered in 1996/97 (see table below):

The Parliamentary questions database enabled us for the first tine to produce a detailed breakdown of these questions. A few of the more significant trends are as follows:

Questions by Party:

Questions by subject area:

Relations with Standing Committees and Study Groups

These continued to consolidate and deepen. The Parliamentary Office provided input and logistical support to various public hearings of the National Assembly Portfolio Committee and organised some 40 committee briefings, both single and joint, on the following issues:

• departmental policy and legislative programmes for the year
• the draft White Paper and final White Paper on the Road Accident Fund
• specific areas of policy development such as the registration, legalisation and economic formalisation processes in the minibus-taxi industry, the Moving South Africa project and the part-privatisation of the Airports Company (ACSA) Ltd
• all items of departmental legislation as they passed through the Committee stages of the legislative process (32 briefings in all)

The office continued to offer information and research support services to a wide range of individual Parliamentarians and maintained a regular presence, on request, in Study Group meetings It organised three Parliamentary Media Briefings on behalf of the Minister. The Chief Parliamentary Officer delivered a briefing on all aspects of DoT policy and operational activities to the newly-constituted Select Committee on Transport of the NCOP and participated in various promotional events, including Editors' breakfast briefings and the three major provincial launches for the Arrive Alive campaign.

Internal developments

The Parliamentary Office delivered on its aim of launching a dedicated DoT web-site, independent of SACS, in August 1997. (See report of Directorate:Communication) Storage and processing of internal information continued to improve, with spreadsheet and database applications being refined and extended and further internal in intermediate and advanced IT skills being negotiated for implementation in June 1998.

The future

The main theme for 1998/99 will be further development of the information services offered to Committee members and Study Groups through the continued restructuring of the departmental communication function and its integration within the framework provided by the new GCIS structures. Allied to this, the Sub-directorate Parliamentary Services has become increasingly aware of the research/information deficit that many Parliamentarians suffer from in the execution of their everyday activities, and will this year prioritise consultation with them and with various NGO and other support services to radically improve their access to relevant information and communication technologies - in particular, e-mail, Internet and web facilities.

Projects successfully carried out

• Developed the Aircraft Registration Systems and Personnel Licencing information system for the Chief Directorate Civil Aviation Authority;
• Developed and integrated the Large and Small Vessel Information System for the Chief Directorate Shipping;
• Developed a Training Registration and Vendor Register System for the Chief Directorate Management Services
• Implemented the Intranet and assisted in the creation of the Departmental web-site.
• Assisted the Chief Directorate Shipping to understand its information technology needs and to implement an appropriate IT infrastructure in the new agency
• Implemented Phase II of the Project Information Technology document. The IT infrastructure is in place to deliver business requirements
• Data capturing services were provided to Moving South Africa and the Chief Directorate Civil Aviation Authority, as well as the normal services to Financial Management

Future Developments:

The restructuring of the Department will have a direct impact on the functions of the Sub-directorate Information Technology. Information management will become the means by which the Department will be enabled to promote its policy, strategy and regulatory functions.

a Master System Plan will be compiled to create understanding of the Department's global information technology needs and the impact which meeting these will have on budgetary and human resources

The Internet site of the Department will become an active/interactive communication tool for ail stakeholders.

Projects successfully carried out

• Due to the restructuring of the Department and a generally intensive programme of legislation, the Directorate was heavily involved in drafting legislation and supporting Parliamentary Services in the tabling and tagging of Bills and in delivering briefings to the Parliamentary Standing Committees on Transport
• Altogether eight Bills were passed within the last year, six of these during the first term of the 1998 Parliamentary session. (See Parliamentary Report for details)
• Assisted in recouping a total of R23 million from the underwriters of the 'Apollo Sea' pollution incident
• Involved in securing a conviction and 5 year prison sentence for a commercial pilot on charges of falsifying a pilot's license obtained in the USA. This entailed liaising with USA Federal Aviation Administration officials and arranging for them to testify in SA
• Involved in Bilateral Shipping Agreement negotiations with representatives of France, Egypt and Germany
• Involved in Memorandum of Understanding negotiations regarding the promotion and development of technical cooperation in air navigation and air traffic control between the US Federal Aviation Administration and Directorate Air Traffic Networks

Officials of the Directorate prepared/delivered papers or represented the Department at:

• The 75th Annual Meeting of the Legal Committee of the International Maritime Organisation in London
• The 1977 Accident Prevention Investigation of the Civil Aviation Organisation
• The South African Human Rights Commission
• The Inter-Departmental Constitutional Litigation Liaison Forum
• Steering Committee of the Review of Aviation Regulations Project

Projects in process

To investigate the Possible implementation of the Vehicle Information Technology (\/IT) system within the government fleet, a task team was launched comprising the South African Police Services (SAPS),Telkom, Post Office, National Defence, Transnet and Wesbank First Auto.

The primary objective of the task team is to reduce government's fuel bill. During the 1996/97 financial year 51% of the cost of Dunning the government fleet was spent on fuel alone - i.e. R 190 million. The VIT is aimed at replacing the current credit fuel card system with advanced computer technology. It is envisaged that a micro-computer chip will be placed in every vehicle's fuel tank, which will be able to monitor kilometres travelled and the quantity of fuel placed in the tank. This information will then be down-loaded to participating financial institutions. To ensure that VIT provides a fully reliable monitoring solution the task team will have to:

1. ensure that the technology chosen is universally acceptable
2. formulate acceptable procedure and protocols
3. jointly negotiate with oil companies and toll companies to ensure effective and appropriate identification of sites and installation of the necessary technology

Projects carried out

• Investigated the feasibility of out-sourcing Goverment Motor Transport
• Restructured the subsidised motor vehicle scheme
• Coordinated the process of developing policies, guidelines and standards in respect of procurement, management and operation of Government Motor Transport
• Administered and/or monitored adherence to and committees in urban areas; effectiveness of policy
• Administered the self-funded insurance scheme for subsidised motor vehicles.

Future projects

• Implement a pilot project with five other National Departments in respect of out-sourcing the provisioning of government transport services
• Implement the restructured subsidised motor vehicle scheme

The major focus of the Directorate for 1997/8 has been the Moving South Africa project.

Progress with projects undertaken in 1997/98

Division Research

The focus of research has been on achieving the goals of the White Paper. The following were the main activities which were funded under this programme (although there were several smaller projects) for 1997/8:

• An investigation into the creation and implementation of the South African Maritime Safety Agency SAMBA). SAMSA officially started functioning on the 1 April 1998
• An investigation into the creation of a Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) which it is expected will come into existence on 1 October 1998;
• Producing the annual Transport Statistics publication
• Tax concessions for the South African shipping industry
• Methods to measure mobility and accessibility
• The applicability of published pavement deterioration mortals for national roads
• Seat-belt wearing rates for South Africa
• The establishment of community-based traffic safety committees in urban areas
• A project investigating the out-sourcing of Central Govemment Department's vehicle requirements (This project has not yet motor vehicles.been completed)
• Some important work in pavement management was completed during the period under review with the publication of Rehabilitation Design of Flexible Pavements in South Africa
•  

Division Human Resource Development

Management and funding of the RAU Postgraduate Diploma in Transport Management for the training of future management for government (central and provincial) and for parastatal institutions. Twenty-three students were registered for the course in 1997. Twenty-one of these students were black. All the students completed the course.

Management and funding of the Centres of Development at tertiary educational institutions. The Centres of Development focus on post-graduate training in all aspects of transport. In 1997, 109 students were funded through this programme (the number for 1996 was 57)

The Directorate also provided some funding towards the Certificate and Advanced Certificate in Transport

Fostering cooperation on transport between universities, technikons and the Department of Transport

Division Information

• Continued provision of a library service for the Department, including the Traffic Safety Division, whose library was amalgamated with the DoT library
• Continued dissemination of research findings through the publications section
• Maintenance of the South African Interchange Node and supply of information on queries received by the Node.

Policy Work

The main policy activity for both 1997/8 and 1998/9 is the Moving South Africa project (previously referred to as Vision 2020). This project aims to develop a long term strategy for transport in South Africa. The Moving South Africa project takes the policy principles from the White Paper as its basis and will develop strategic options for the implementation of these principles.

The project was launched in June 1997 and will run until the end of August 1998. H is anticipated that by mid-September the proposed National Strategic Framework for Transport will be concluded and published with recommendations for implementation. A number of staff from the Directorate are involved in the project which also serves to enhance their policy and strategy capabilities.

Future projects:

• Moving South Africa project will be completed by the end of August 1998. The results of the process are expected to require a change in the other existing functions of the Directorate, specifically the content and focus of the human resource, research and informmation mandates. H is expected that implementation planning for such changes will commence prior to the conclusion of financial year 1998/9.
• With the restructuring of the Department of Transport, this Directorate will become part of the Policy, Strategy and Promotion Branch of the Department.
• The White Paper established a vision for the regulation and operation of monopoly infrastructure and operations. The Directorate is mandated in the coming year to undertake co-ordination responsibility for the development of specific policy regarding the structure and regulation of Ports and Pipelines, on an inter-Departmental basis with Public Enterprises and Mineral and Energy Affairs.

Projects successfully attended to during 1997/98:

• Proper budget contra was achieved during the year, with funds to be shifted identified ahead of time to accommodate the reprioritisation of activities
• A change in the software interface to the Financial Management System was effected, which allowed for the following:
  • Downloading data directly from the mainframe for analysis and management reporting purposes
  • Printing of EMS II reports at local workstations, thus reducing the time taken to obtain necessary management information
  • Facilitating the resolution of incorrect allocations and the earlier closure of month ends through the implementation of improved control measures
• No formal audit queries were received. All informal audit queries were successfully responded to.
• Most suspense accounts were resolved during the year and significant progress was made in resolving major suspense accounts. This progress was due to the appointment of two Chief Accounting Clerks from within the Directorate to oversee the processes of managing suspense accounts
• Due to improved efficiency in processing subsistence and travelling claims, the average amount of outstanding advances was reduced by 50%
• The underlying reasons for duplicate payments were identified and are being attended to. Duplicate payments amounting to R796 000 were recovered
• Financial inputs were supplied to assist with the formation of agencies and certain transitional arrangements were made to achieve a smooth transformation for the agencies
• We caught up with a major backlog in the processing of data for the National Road Fund and the database was stabilised
• A mechanism to facilitate monthly reporting on the National Road Fund was developed and financial reporting to the Roads Board was initiated
• The compilation of Procedure Manuals fur the National Road Fund's financial system was completed

Future Projects:

The Directorate will be focussing on the following objectives:

• Ensure that the format in which the budget is captured on bbe Financial Management System reflects the Business Plan in order to achieve purposeful financial reporting
• Closer cooperation with - and eventual integration of -financial and logistical administration to achieve centralised financial administration within the Department
• Fully utilise the commitments register in the Financial Management System to achieve improved internal control over individual projects, improve the measurement of expenditure against budget and provide up-to-date information for financial reporting to management
• Establish an Internal Auditing section within the Department which will function independently from the Directorate
• Redistribute administrative functions in line with the new structure of the Department to ensure the continued efficiency of financial administration

Annual Report 97/98 - Main Contents    ||    Department of Transport Organogram

Other Directorates:

Shipping    ||    Civil Aviation Authority    ||    Land Transport

SDIs    ||    Road Transport & Traffic    ||    SA Roads Board