Overview of Achievements

Honourable Speaker, the Department will continue to render support to other departments and municipalities in highly specialized fields; it is in this context that we announce that we need political interventions and support from all those who occupy political position in order to address challenges facing the municipalities and the departments. These efforts and mitigations strategies need to be prioritized so that we can achieve our goals for clean audits.

Honourable Speaker, we are aware of the challenges that confront us and we will build on the achievements that we have already realized which include the following:

• We have established a vetting unit and that regularly liaise with intelligence services on matters related to security clearances of officials and preemployment screening of shortlisted candidates which is intended to ensure the credibility of our recruitment processes. Culprits and recruitment fraudsters have already being identified through the vetting and screening process.
• We have outsourced the physical activity program to produce healthy and productive employees in order to achieve our objectives.
• We have contracted a child care facility that assists children in absence of their parents due to official responsibilities and currently we have forty six children registered. Honourable Speak, the outsourcing of the child care facility is not the core function of the department but plays a critical role ensuring that officials both men and women while away from Kimberley they children are cared for by professional people.
• We managed to beat the target vacancy rate by filling all fifty eight funded vacant posts including those posts that became vacant due to promotions. We have set a new record of recruitment by advertising posts at the beginning of a month, arrange and hold interviews in the same month and issue appointment letters in the same month. The recruitment standard for the department is now one month and we challenge other departments to improve on that standard.
• We have managed to award departmental bursaries sixty seven officials who registered and completed degrees, national diplomas and certificates with institutions of higher learning. Honourable Speaker, education is the key to success and this is one of the department’s pillars to capacitate the employees to enhance service delivery. We would like to congratulate all those employees of the department who accepted and use this opportunity given to the by the department.
• Job creation is one the main challenges facing our country and this affect our economy. We managed to appoint fourteen interns that we are training in different fields in the department ranging from human resources management, internal audit, budgets, economic analysis, financial management and others departmental areas of specialization. Some of them their internship comes to an end at the end of the June while others will complete their training period in six months. I would like to assure the interns that they will be favourable considered based on their performance and conduct to fill critical posts in both Provincial Treasury and other line function departments.
• We have filled all senior managers’ posts in in the department and this will enhance department’s compliance with all legislative requirements, including supply chain management.
• Honourable Speaker, one of the biggest challenges that face provincial government and government in general is the payment of service providers within thirty days after the receipt of the invoice. We reported in the main budget speech that improvement is gradual but there are still challenges in other areas of provincial departments. I am happy to report that in April alone, the department paid all its suppliers within 30 days. This clearly shows that it is possible to pay suppliers within 30 days after the receipt of the invoice and that it does not require rocket science. I challenge my all departments to do the same or face consequences.
• In January, the Department held its strategic planning session which strived to realign the strategic objectives with respective budgets. This activity has paved the way for effective and efficient coordinated management approach in the department. The initiative ensures accurate and reliable performance information going forward and thus contributing to the objective of obtaining a clean audit. Honourable Speaker, I must say that I am confident that in this current financial year the department will receive a clean audit.
• We published a Provincial, District and Local Municipalities socio economic review and this review presents analysis with specific focus on demography, economic performance, labour market status and human development. As I stated in Provincial Budget Speech these findings will aid the Provincial and Local Government to achieve effective resources allocation.
• We continue to assess revenue generation and collection capacity of all provincial departments and assist to enhance their revenue collection.
• Three priority areas has been identified for the financial year—capacity building, support, accountability and to drive financial management initiatives that supports the aim of reaching level three of financial management maturity.
• The department established a risk management function separate from the oversight directorate to ensure that departmental risk management matters are given the necessary attention.
• The banking and cash flow management directorate managed the cash resources efficiently and generated interest revenue amounting to R27.3 million.
• The audit of the Revenue Fund for the year ended 31 March 2012 has been completed and the Auditor-General issued an unqualified report.
• The implementation of LOGIS in Health institutions has commenced in April 2013. Two facilities namely the Siyanda Regional Office and Gordonia Hospital have gone live and are in operation on the system.