Media briefing by the Governance and Administration Cluster

Briefing

25 Feb 2014

A briefing by the Governance and Administration Cluster on a post State of the Nation address was followed by a question and answer period. Minister for Home Affairs, Ms Naledi Pandor, Minister for Sport, Fikile Mbalula and Deputy Minister of Sport, Gert Oosthuizen, attended the briefing.    
Minister Pandor read out the statement.
 

Minutes

Journalist: How exactly does the application for the smart cards work when people were asked to come in the month of their birthday but the birthday had passed and only certain Home Affairs offices were offering the service?

Journalist: Would the Cluster comment on the Uganda Homosexuality Bill passed? There is resounding silence from government on this flagrant abuse of human rights and given South Africa’s human rights record over the past years and the fight for human rights, it’s quite phenomenal that there hasn’t been a statement from government on this law which would put homosexuals in jail for life. Would you comment on this?

Journalist: following up question to Minister Pandor- can you assure that gay Ugandans would be granted asylum status now that they were being persecuted in their own country?

Minister Pandor: None of the questions are related to the briefing. I'm intrigued with all the questions on Home Affairs – usually there are none. The smart card application process was currently being implemented in 28 offices and what we announced was a pilot of the system. Not all South Africans were invited to apply because we knew that the system was not at a level to deal with such large numbers. Up to today I believe we can produce, I think, up to 70 000 applicants which means by target of 100 000 applications by March 31 will quickly be reached. We wanted to stress-test the system that’s why we’ve segmented the way the invitations have gone out. I have naughtily whispered to offices which were not terribly overwhelmed to take on applicants who fall outside the date but I don’t want to say that too loudly as I have noted some of our offices were really struggling with just the pensioner numbers. I have been absolutely astounded at how our senior citizens have come forward. They have been very very excited about the card. I spent the whole day with them yesterday in Acacia, Pretoria and some of them said “we came last week but there was a problem with the system”. We had cable theft in the Acacia office which caused our system to close but we have now repaired the office and studiously they came forward. What will happen is that in April we are working hard to add 42 new offices so from April I will have 72 offices and I can invite broader than the pilot pool we have attempted to use. The process of application is entirely paperless. We are still accepting applications for the paper book so you shouldn’t stop applying if you’ve lost your ID but I am keen to broaden the pool of applicants to persons beyond the pool of pensioners. There were a few young people coming forward but those over 60, the January/February population, had come out in large numbers to our offices and this is really exciting.

To the reporter from Beeld: governments release lots of laws and SA doesn’t comment on it so I don’t know why there would be a special comment by government on this. We don’t comment on other government’s legislation. The position of SA and the rights of equality are very clear both in our Bill of Rights and the legislation passed in this country so our position is very clear and is not changed by any policy adopted in any other country. It is not our practice to comment on the legislation of any other country or government and the position of SA is very clear. We have the Civil Marriages Act, the Bill of Rights, Promotion of Equality in employment and other areas and I don’t think we as SA have moved away at all from any of these positions.

The Minister of Home Affairs does not grant asylum as an official. Asylum processes are managed through the Committee on Refugees. If there were appeals they were dealt with through our appeal body and the Refugee Appeal Board.  No applicant approached the Minister for asylum – this was not what the Refugee Act provides. So I can’t assure anyone whatever person seeks asylum, I can’t give assurance that it would be provided. There were processes in the Refugee Act and the asylum seeker must follow these processes and the decision would be made accordingly. I cannot give a particular component or a particular sector of society assurance, from me as Minister, that they would be granted asylum.

Journalist: Minister can you tell us how much was the return of the investment of R250 million last year. Secondly, of the R2 billion that was spent on refurbishing libraries, how much of that went to rebuilding libraries torched by tsotsis?

Journalist: on the centralisation of disciplinary cases, I just wanted to know, Minister, would you have one structure to deal with disciplinary affairs across government nationally only or also in the provinces? There are hundreds if not thousands of disciplinary cases at any given time and if this was going to be the case, when would this structure be set up? Secondly, on the Public Administration Management (PAM) Bill, Parliament rises on 13 March which gives us about two and a half weeks left. I wonder if this Bill would be finalised by the NCOP in time.

Journalist: Minister, can you tell us the progress made on the Ministerial Handbook and will it be finished before the elections?

Mr Sibusiso Xaba, Arts & Culture DG: the current rate of return on the R250 million invested meant that 25 000 jobs that have been created in the film sector. It was important to state that the libraries were burnt by tsotsis. Seven libraries have been renovated through the grant which the Department made available to provinces and municipalities in the Free State, Gauteng and Mpumalanga.

Minister Pandor: It’s important to communicate to our public that the destruction of public institutions like schools and libraries takes away from our ability to provide further services and all of us should guard our public institutions with real strength and jealousy. Because if we destroy public institutions, public funding that could have gone to other services have to go toward the rebuilding of these institutions.
 
Mr Mashwahle Diphofa, Public Service & Administration DG: in fact the two questions were related because the PAM Bill provided for the unit dealing with the centralised disciplinary structure. It would deal with both national and provincial. The practical experience on the ground was that assistance is required in basic things such as the drafting of charters for presiding officers and all things that go into the finalisation of disciplinary charges. The unit would be there for both levels of government to speedily finalise disciplinary cases.

The PAM Bill right now was before the NCOP. These processes were not managed by the executive - it was Parliament managing these processes at the moment. From our side the expectation is that it would be finalised before Parliament rises but the process is in the hands of Parliament at this stage.  

The large chunk of work needing to be done on the Ministerial Handbook had been done. A Ministerial Committee was established for this purpose and the Committee had reported to Cabinet on the progress done. The intention in this case was to ensure approval was obtained by the end of this Parliament.

Journalist: Minister Mbalula, we’ve had three World Cups- cricket, soccer and rugby, we’ve won rugby. If you could go back, would you have done things differently because it seems to me the premium of three World Cups in SA was not efficiently utilised. Did we waste those three opportunities? 

Journalist: I have a question for the three Ministers in the front, could any of you say what the cost of a ticket to Robben Island was at the moment? It was R250 per person and I want to know, 20 years after democracy, could any family of four or two afford R250 to visit Robben Island. I personally think it’s disgraceful and I wondered if the Ministers were aware of this.

Minister Pandor, I wonder if the Department of Home Affairs has any figures of the number of foreign work permits handed out over the past 20 years and how many foreign workers are working in SA today. Do you have an idea of the foreign workers working, perhaps, illegally in SA. I’m sure you must have some indication and I’m sure you know the context of the question. Minister Mbalula, recently SA had one athlete qualify for the Winter Olympics, I’m just wondering why he was refused permission to go.

Journalist: You’ve said the statement that we’ve shown that we can host successful international events which have lifted the profile of the country, what are we looking for in the future? Are we eyeing out the Olympics? Are we looking to add to our event profile? Are there any future plans?

Minister Mbalula: the hosting of bigger events was not just for exposure but it was about what characterised the injection of sports tourism and sports economy and as SA we achieved what many countries could not during the recession because we were cushioned by the financial injection during the FIFA 2010 World Cup so it was not just a razzmatazz without substance. Today SA was voted number one destination in the world despite our competition with people in the Arab Emirates who were busy hosting everything but we with our money beat them hosting important events in the world. We have superstars in our country not because of money here or oil but they came here because they like this country – they like the hospitality of South Africans. Can we do something different? No, we should just keep going and hosting and ensure the infrastructure that was there must be expanded to the disadvantaged – our legacy must remain with the people in the townships. In future, investments should look to boost the reconstruction and development programme in SA.

We are not big on the Winter Olympics, this was just a hullabaloo about one athlete but the matter was basically attended to by SASCOC and those were the structures to deal with the matter. Even yesterday when they closed, where have you ever heard of Finland being number two in the Olympics or Russia number one, it was because that was their terrain. Even Australia did not feature there. The countries that were big in this particular Olympics have proven themselves but we have supported every athlete. What I can tell you now is that we are looking to Rio and we are preparing our team but some of the secrets we have we can’t reveal them now including government's interventions and our big discussions to support our athletes. We want to do better than we did in London. This is what we did – we supported our athletes through a programme - Operation Excellence which every athlete from Chad Le Clos was on in preparation for Rio to get more medals. You didn’t go to Rio on a free ticket – you have to compete and excel. There were standards to meet and bigger competitions to take part in. Your ticket didn’t come on the eve of the Olympics – you had to compete and beat others to go and compete.

 There were future plans which the President had announced in Japan. We do want to host the Olympics it was just a question of time and space. We just hosted the 2010 World Cup and came from a recession. Government priorities would not allow us to get another event of that magnitude. Look at what happened in Brazil – people did not understand spending money on stadiums when they were unemployed. So if President Zuma’s government was not conscious of the priorities we would have just gone ahead and hosted the 2020 Olympics. All nations in the world agreed it was Africa’s time but government said no, let’s wait so 2024 is what we are looking at. The next administration would take this matter forward as the Olympics is one event not yet hosted on the African continent.

Minister Pandor: with respect to the cost of a ticket to Robben Island, I really can’t answer on that but I do know that the board that oversees all the policies and practices with respect to Robben Island, does provide assistance to small communities to visit the Island and makes resources available for free travel. I am aware of this because on Valentine’s Day we officiate weddings on the Island and couples are provided with support if they did not have the resources to purchase the ticket or to be part of the ceremony. So I know there is some subsidising and support for poor communities but if what your saying is that we should do more I probably would agree with you because I think everybody should have that history and experience and I’m sure the DG of Arts and Culture heard you loudly and would look at what I’m assuming is what you’re saying that more should be done that the poorer parts of our community get to know this history and experience the Island. 

I cannot definitively give you figures. I was reading the Stats SA Census Report just last night and the number of foreign permits granted was fairly substantial in the over 100 000 figure. On illegal migrants working in SA, as a Department this was an area we did not have a proper grasp of and was one of the big challenges we face, I think, as a country. It resulted primarily from, what I call, an abuse of the asylum system in SA in that our law is written in such a progressive manner that you essentially cannot deny anyone asylum seeker status due to a number of precedents set by rulings by our courts and a number of clauses in the Refugee Act. Economic migrants are actually abusing the Refugee Act in order to have status in SA because unlike many jurisdictions our refugee law allows you to be an asylum seeker and gives you the right to work while having that temporary status. Many countries do not do that. We are bedevilled to some degree by our law but our human rights jurisprudence would prevent us from making changes that detract from the core of the human rights character that we have in our Bill of Rights. Added to that is the fact that I think the government of SA must realise is that it must fund Home Affairs properly particularly in the immigration domain so that it has a proper inspectorate because what’s happening is that many employers are employing illegal foreign nationals and abusing them. An inspectorate of a few hundred people as we have in home affairs today is ridiculous to do the task and challenge the country faced. Hear me well, I am not saying we should not employ foreign nationals but we can’t have a system where people are abused because they are foreign which many people in this country are doing.

Journalist: in terms of the legacy of the soccer Wold Cup, how many stadiums currently meet their operating expenses out of the operating income?

Journalist: Minister Mbalula, just about the Winter Olympic issue, so you’re saying that South Africans should forget about trying for the Winter Olympics because we are not into it? So if you’re interested in it you should kind of forget about it because you would not be supported – is that accurate or not?

Minister Mbalula: No, you will know that part of the problems of the stadiums created for 2010 was that many were not designed for the future after the 2010 World Cup. In terms of maintenance and revenue there was a big challenge as many of them were not busy most of the time, except for FNB Stadium, and sometimes if there was a Justin Bieber concert in Cape Town. But most of them were not that busy. Durban was outstanding because they built a flea market/shopping complex so it was fairly busy, it did not have to wait for Justin Bieber. Every day that stadium is busy. FNB largely depended on concerts and big soccer matches like Orlando Pirates and Kaizer Chiefs. This was unlike the Chinese where after the Olympics they just demolished everything and turned it into a flea market. In future, everything created, even for the Olympics, must be designed in such a way that there was sustainability in terms of revenue distribution in the stadium. This was part of the challenge addressed with stadiums throughout the country and with local government people. To use the Cape Town stadium or any of the 2010 stadiums was very expensive and not easily accessible which was a huge challenge. Some of the stadiums had agreements with the Premier Soccer League (PSL) and the South African Rugby Union (SARU) to use them for purposes of sustainability.

I am saying we are not big in terms of Winter Olympics. Our programme is not focused on the next Winter Olympics to take place in China and so on. We don’t have a group of athletes focused on winning medals at the Winter Olympics – there was only one or none at all. The case of somebody training somewhere and made a lot of noise saying “no I’m not taken care of, I want to go to the Olympics” would be referred to SASOC as our objectives was not to focus on the Winter Olympics. We are focusing on the Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympics and even our national sports plan does not direct us to prepare athletes for Winter Olympics, it directs us to prepare our athletes for Rio Olympics. It’s not like we are not interested. If SASOC saw a need for us to be preparing athletes for the Winter Olympics it would be done but I don’t want to lie to you and say it was focused on in the strategic plan. We are not big on this and we are not disappointed and we can’t call anybody a loser if we don’t emerge because really this was not our terrain. We must focus on what we can accomplish with athletes in Rio and a lot more can be said about that.

The briefing came to an end.
 


Speaking notes for Minister of Home Affairs Naledi Pandor at the Governance and Administration Cluster Media Briefing, Imbizo Centre, Parliament, Cape Town
25 Feb 2014
Thank you very much for joining us.
I am accompanied by my colleagues in the Governance and Administration Cluster.
This briefing expands from the State of the Nation Address delivered on 13 February 2014 by President Jacob Zuma. We will cover the work of the Governance and Administration Cluster and also elaborate briefly on achievements of this Government for the past five years.
When we look at what has been achieved in the past twenty years and what has been achieved in President Zuma’s first administration we can say without fear that South Africa has a very good story to tell; an amazing story about great triumph over adversity.
What this government and its people have achieved is nothing short of a miracle. No developing country of the size of our economy can claim what we have done; only those who suffer from permanent ignorance will disagree with us when we say South Africa is a much better place to live in now than it was in 1994.
Since our democracy the public service has been faced with an enormous responsibility to provide access to government services to previously disenfranchised individuals and to restore dignity and bring to life the spirit of our Constitution. This administration committed itself to broadening access to services and ensuring that all South Africans have access to basic services.
As we celebrate twenty years of freedom, we are able to declare that all our people today are closer to institutions that provide government services.
A number of successes have been witnessed in the implementation of the delivery agreement for Outcome 12 which is implemented by the G&A cluster.
These include:
The resolution rate for calls to the Presidential Hotline improved to 94.7 percent as at December 2013, from 39 percent in November 2009 when the hotline was established.
The average time to fill vacancies in the public service improved as at December 2013 from 9 months in 2010. The target of 6 months for 2014 has been achieved.
The percentage of the vacant posts in the public service has decreased to 9.1 percent as at December 2013 and the target of ensuring that vacancies are below 10 percent, at any given time, has been achieved.
During the 2012/13 financial year, there was no single department that received an adverse audit report. The number of departments that received a disclaimer audit opinion was reduced to 5 during the 2012/13 financial year from 10 in 2009/10.
Procurement turnaround times at the State Information Technology Agency (SITA) for preferred list of Request For Quotations (RFQs) improved from 80 days to 62 days as at 31 December 2013. Procurement turnaround times for ad hoc RFQs improved from 30 days to 10 days as at 31 December 2013.
The President highlighted our commitment to fight corruption, mal-administration and unethical behaviour.     We are building capacity to centralise the management of disciplinary cases to ensure that cases of misconduct are investigated by competent people and that all three spheres of government are supported to finalise cases as speedily as possible. We will pay special attention to cases of irregular expenditure, unauthorised expenditure and other financial misconduct.
To date a total of 6 043 practitioners have been trained through the anti-corruption capacity building programme. The percentage of National Anti-Corruption Hotline cases closed by departments increased by more than 10 percent as at 31 December 2013 compared to 23 percent in August 2011.
Our strategy is to ensure that we develop a modern ICT system to prevent corruption and those who are caught must be punished and the punishment must be painful.
In our work to build a public administration grounded by professional ethics, integrity and discipline, the Public Administration Management (PAM) Bill is currently before the National Council of Provinces. The Bill provides for the establishment of the Office of Standards and Compliance which will set national standards and systems for the entire public service. The office will also monitor compliance with public service and administration standards.
The PAM Bill also introduces a significant policy change in prohibiting public servants from conducting business with the State. Through its introduction government is intervening to curb opportunities and incentives for corruption. It complements the establishment of the single procurement office for government located in the National Treasury.
The turnaround of the Department of Home Affairs and the improved delivery of services to our people is another good story we share today. It is a story we tell everyday because we know where we come from. This department was tasked in 1994 with integrating all TBVC states (Transkei, Bophuthatswana, Venda and Ciskei) and the old South Africa into one nation with a single national population database.
Today we can tell you that project was very successful, so successful that those agents who used to assist people to get IDs, passports and birth certificates are going out of business; it is so successful that many other countries have asked for our assistance.
Our good story is better told as follows:
It now takes 7 days to get your identity document,
It now takes 2 days to register and receive a grant. In an effort to make services more accessible, on average 70% of our people have a Home Affairs office within 25 kilometres from their residences,
Over 75% of our people have access to a SASSA pay point within 5 kilometres of their homes,
Over 80% of our people have a primary school within 5 kilometres of their homes,
Over 80% of our people have a secondary school within 5 kilometres of their homes.
Since the beginning of February 2014, the Department of Home Affairs has begun rolling out the Smart ID card to citizens as part of efforts to consolidate the restoration of citizenship, identity and dignity to all South Africans. 28 offices across the country have been earmarked to process applications for the Smart ID.
The Smart ID card is an integral part of the department moving away from outdated systems as it builds digital systems that will help improve access to services for citizens. We call upon all citizens who have applied for Smart ID cards and have been informed by sms to collect them from the respective Home Affairs offices of application.
Informed by the unfortunate incidents that happened in 2001 at the Ellis Park Stadium, where 43 lives were lost, during the soccer derby, government passed the Safety at Sports and Recreation Events Act to avoid such incidents.
The state of sport and recreation infrastructure and participation activities mirrors the societal disparities created by the apartheid regime.      Numerous efforts to address these imbalances have been made since the advent of the democratic dispensation.     The Department of Sport and Recreation has completed 138 sport and recreation facilities projects.     These were implemented through the funds from Reconstruction and Development Programme and include the upgrading of the existing facilities.
Again, through the National Treasury Grant, we managed to construct 364 sport and recreation facilities.      The funds for sport and recreation provision have since been incorporated into the Municipal Infrastructure Grant (MIG), programme, where over 3200 sport facilities have been built post 1994.    
We have successfully hosted Rugby, Cricket and Soccer World Cups.     Through the hosting of these major events, we have successfully profiled the country’s abilities to host and manage major events.     The economic spin offs of these events, mainly with the 2010 FIFA World Cup, have seen the reconstruction of stadia and stretched into tangibles like road construction, airports construction,      social cohesion, national pride and to being part of the African family peace caravan for the youth of the continent.    
We are proud that our resources have truly represented us with lessons learnt from hosting of these major events, by assisting other countries like Brazil in hosting the 2014 FIFA World Cup.     We assisted Mozambique in hosting the All Africa Games, in terms of material and human resource.      We helped Mali in hosting the African Nations Cup. Recently, in solidarity with the people of Libya, we hosted the 2013 and 2014 AFCON and CHAN tournaments.    
For the first time post 1994, in 2012 government approved the National Sport and Recreation plan which amongst other aspects deals with transformation, grassroots development and high performance.

In our effort to bring to life the Constitution’s obligation in ensuring quality education to all we have invested over R2 billion in the three spheres of government in modernising the old libraries and building new state of the art libraries. Central to our strategy to deepen democracy is a reading nation.
The implementation of Mzansi Golden Economy (MGE) strategy yielded more than 50 000 jobs since its implementation in 2012.      The film industry contributed R3.5 billion to the GDP and created over 25 000 jobs. In 2012 alone, the DTI and DAC have invested an estimated R250 million in film projects.
Government has played a significant role in supporting the film industry over the last few decades. The significant increase in locally produced films between 2004 and 2012 is attributed directly to government support to the sector. Over and above the DAC’s commitment of over R80 million per annum to the development of film through the National Film and Video Foundation, the DAC has contributed millions to the sector.
The DAC has partnered with the Department of Basic Education for the programme of placing Artist in Schools with over 300 artists placed to date. The department has also partnered with the Department of Correctional Services to roll-out the Arts Access programme which uses the arts and culture as a tool for social re-integration and rehabilitation of marginalised persons and persons in conflict with the law.
In conclusion, I want to quote from the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) National Governing Council report recently adopted by the AU Heads of State Report on what our people think of their Government:
“South Africa is the greatest country on the continent.      Nowhere else has democracy been so embraced by its people.     Overcoming our great evil – apartheid – has left our citizens better off than ever imagined.      As a nation, we hold a torch for our beloved continent for what can be accomplished through the efforts of a committed government, committed people, committed business and committed civil society sector.     The people of South Africa have a way out of poverty in a land where opportunity is for all.      And if that way does not work government stands as a safety net for its people.”
I quote from the APRM Report which was tabled in Addis Abba by President Zuma to demonstrate the achievements South Africans have made, in all sectors of life. This report was compiled by all South Africans, from civil society and business. We all agree that despite our remaining challenges, South Africa is a better place to live.
Enquiries:
Department of Public Service and Administration:
Ndivhuwo Mabaya
Cell:     083 645 7838

Department of Home Affairs:
Ronnie Mamoepa
Cell:     082 990 4853

Department of Arts and Culture:
Mogomotsi Mogodiri
Cell:     071 687 4984

Department of Sports and Recreation:
Paena Galane
Cell:     079 509 9833
Media briefing background document
Introduction

South Africa has a good story to tell, an amazing story about great triumph over adversity. 2014 is a momentous year for government and the people of South Africa as we tell the story of our democracy; a young democracy lauded the world over for bringing to one a once bitterly divided nation.

Since our democracy the public service has been faced with an enormous responsibility to provide access to government services to previously disenfranchised individuals and to do so in a manner that restores dignity and upholds Constitutional order.

Today we tell a good story of the past 20 years. It is a good story, all things being equal.

Access to Public Libraries

In South Africa libraries provide basic facilities like study areas, community activity rooms, children’s sections, internet facilities, photocopiers, faxes, and book material collections especially educational material that are available to communities to assist them to develop their skills and their education.

Users become computer literate in libraries, they seek and find jobs in libraries, and since the new libraries are mostly built in close proximity to schools, the learners benefit greatly by finding educational material that assist them in their studies, safe and quiet reading and studying space in these buildings. Students use libraries for the same purpose. Older people for instance come to libraries to socialise, to read newspapers and magazines, which keeps them up to date with the news.

To champion, promote and reflect important democratic values as part of our communities’ political life, we have invested a great deal in libraries. Public libraries are essential components of a modern democracy, enduring agencies uniquely tasked with providing for education, culture, literacy and information provision to reach all citizens free of charge.

Statistics for spending on public libraries by the three spheres of government in 2011/12 reveal that      provinces spent R407 778 million, municipalities spent R1 320 890 and national government spent R569 934 million.     There are about 1408 public libraries in the country, excluding community book units. The Department of Arts and Culture (DAC) is currently administering a conditional grant to provinces in terms of which funds are transferred to provinces to support the roll-out of library infrastructure.

Artist in Schools

The DAC has partnered with the Department of Basic Education for the programme of placing Artist in Schools with over 300 artists placed to date. The department has also partnered with the Department of Correctional Services to roll-out the Arts Access programme which uses the arts and culture as a tool for social re-integration and rehabilitation of marginalised persons and persons in conflict with the law.

Mzansi Golden Economy

The implementation of Mzansi Golden Economy (MGE) strategy yielded more than 50 000 jobs since its implementation in 2012.

The MGE implementation included:
Supporting the Cultural Events and Regional and Local Festivals
Implementing the      Public Art programme including the “Infecting The City” project
Roll-out of the “Artist in Schools” with more than 150 Artist placed in schools.
Implanting the “Touring Ventures” programme which yielded a      total of more than 20 productions that have been rolled-out through our Performing Arts Institutions
Establishment of the Art Bank is underway.
Sourcing Enterprise: Portal is under construction. Launch envisaged in March 2014.
Cultural Observatory as a research and data collection instrument for the creative and cultural industries is under progress.
Through the MGE the DAC is implementing the cultural precinct project.      This is aimed at using the arts for urban renewal and rejuvenation. DAC is working with civil society in Gugulethu to renovate and refurbish the Ray Alexandra Simons Centre into an anchor for urban renewal in Gugulethu.

Language Development

Work on language development includes the continued provision of bursaries for applied language studies with 45 post-graduate and 555 undergraduate degree students benefited. Learners are enabled to receive tuition in their mother tongues; citizens to receive voter education in the language of their choice using the multilingual Elections terminology booklets; and technical terminology glossaries provide a reliable point for translators and language practitioners in general.
The Use of Official Languages Act

Last year we enacted the “The Use of Official Languages Act”, we also worked on Cultural Laws Amendment Bill; Community Library Information Bill and South African Language Practitioner’s Bill. These legislatures will go a long way to further promote access to services and information to the vast majority of South Africans. The enactment of these Bills will mean a structured focus by the department on the implementation and delivery.
Social cohesion

The Department of Arts and Culture successfully convened a national social cohesion summit on 04 – 05 July 2012. The theme of the national summit was “!KE E: /XARRA //KE: CREATING A CARING AND PROUD SOCIETY:      It was attended by close to two thousand delegates from across South Africa and the world, representing government and civil society, business and labour, political parties, cultural and religious groups. Some prominent South Africans were appointed as Social Cohesion Ambassadors and a few of them accompanied us when we presented the report to the President on 27 November 2012.

Renaming of geographical features

The renaming of geographical features in South Africa is part of the process of the transformation of the South African Heritage Landscape in order to redress past imbalances and forge a common national identity and nationhood. To date we have approved more than 1300 geographical names including those of three Presidential Guesthouses (Kings House to Dr John Langalibalele Dube in KwaZulu Natal, Durban: Presidential Guesthouse to Sefako Makgatho in Gauteng Province: Pretoria); Renaming of Bloemfontein International Airport to Bram Fischer International Airport in the Free State province.

Flags in Schools

To date the DAC has installed more than 6244 flags in schools since the launch of the Flag in every School project launch in 2005. Various publications on National Symbols have been developed and distributed including the book on National Symbols, a pocket sized booklet and a National Anthem Toolkit to enable singing the Anthem.

The Film Industry

It is imperative to emphasise that government has played a major role in supporting the film industries over the last few decades. In fact, the significant increase in locally produced films between 2004 and 2012 is attributed directly to government support to the sector. Over and above the DAC’s commitment of over R80 million per annum to the development of film through the National Film and Video Foundation, a targeted incentive mechanism, the Film and Television Incentive, administered by the DTI has contributed millions to the sector.
In 2012 alone, the DTI invested an estimated R250 million in film projects.
The industry contributed R3.5 billion to GDP and created over 25,000 jobs.
Government through targeted investment mechanisms and development institutions investment was the largest single investor in the sector, making over R300 million available for film.
The film sector has grown 14% per annum over the last five years, well above general growth figures elsewhere in the economy.
South Africa maintains co-production relations with a number of countries including Canada, Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, New Zealand, Ireland and Australia. Since the signing of the first co-production agreement in 1997, over 50 films have been produced under the auspices of these agreements.

The country has recently produced a number of industry firsts, such as the tshiVenda film Elelwani, as well as internationally acclaimed films including, amongst others:
Yesterday, which was nominated at the Academy Awards in the Foreign Language category in 2004.
A Lion's Tale won a non- fiction Emmy in 2006.
U Carmen E Khayalitsha, a Xhosa- language film which won the Golden Bear award at the 2005 Berlin Film Festival.
Tsotsi, which won an Academy Award for best foreign language film in 2006.
District 9 was nominated for four Academy Awards, including best picture in 2010.
Fanie Fourie’s Lobola which won awards in 2013 at the Seattle International Film Festival and the Sedona International Film Festival in the United States.
Of Good Report, which won the Best Feature Film Award at the Africa International Film Festival in 2013.
The Long Walk to Freedom in 2013 which attained a number of nominations and garnered a Golden Globe Award in 2014 and has also been nominated for an Academy Award.
South African films have featured at major international festival like Cannes, Rotterdam and the biggest African film festival, FESPACO in Ougadougou Bukin Faso. There have also been a large number of international productions film in the country including Lord of War, Fury Road, the fourth Mad Max film; Blood Diamond, Invictus, Safe House, Shadow Recruit and most recently the Avengers.
Another significant success story is the turnaround of the Home Affairs department and the improved delivery of services to our people which we want to share with you today. It now takes 7 days to get your identity document. It now takes 2 days to register and receive a grant. In an effort to make services more accessible, on average 70% of our people have a Home Affairs office within 25 kilometres from their residences, over 75% of our people have access to a SASSA pay point within 5 kilometres of their homes, over 80% of our people have a primary school within 5 kilometres of their homes, and over 80% of our people have a secondary school within 5 kilometres of their homes.
Smart ID Card

Beginning 1 February 2014, the Department of Home Affairs has begun rolling out the Smart ID card to citizens as part of efforts to consolidate the restoration of citizenship, identity and dignity to all South Africans. 28 offices across the country have been earmarked to process applications for the Smart ID.
The Smart ID card is an integral part of the Department moving away from outdated systems as it builds digital systems that will help improve access to services for citizens. We call upon all citizens who have applied for Smart ID cards and have been informed by sms, to collect them from the respective Home Affairs offices of application.

Voter Registration Services

The Department of Home Affairs rendered services to the citizenry during the final voter registration weekend of 8-9 February 2014 as declared by the IEC.

As a consequence:
19 862 IDs were issued
2 081 Temporary Identity Certificates were issued
100 001 ID applications received.
4 540 smart ID cards processed
22 prisons across were visited in which 32 IDs and 9 Temporary Identity Certificates were issued
315 Home Affairs offices were opened on both days from 08h00-17h00.
The work of the offices was complimented by the deployment of 73 mobile trucks to reach out to those areas where the department does not have a footprint. In addition senior managers from Pretoria were deployed to Home Affairs provincial offices to assist.

The Presidential Hotline

The resolution rate for received calls to the Presidential hotline improved to 94.7 percent as at December 2013 from 39 percent in November 2009 when the hotline was established.

Filling of vacancies

The average time to fill vacancies in the public service improved to 5 months as at December 2013 from 9 months in 2010. The target of 6 months for 2014 has been achieved.

The percentage of the funded vacant posts in the public service has been decreased to 9.1 percent as at December 2013 and the target of ensuring that vacancies are below 10 percent, at any given time, has been achieved.

Audit reports

During the 2012/13 financial year, there is not a single department that got an adverse audit report. The number of departments that got disclaimer audit opinion was reduced to 5 during the 2012/13 from 10 in 2009/10.
Procurement turnaround times

Procurement turnaround times at the State Information Technology Agency (SITA) for preferred list of Request For Quotations (RFQs) improved from 80 days to 62 days as at 31 December 2013. Procurement turnaround times for ad hoc RFQs improved from 30 days to 10 days as at 31 December 2013.

Anti-corruption programmes

To date a total of 6043 practitioners have been trained on anti-corruption capacity building programme. The percentage of National Anti-Corruption Hotline cases closed by departments increased by more than 10 percent as 31 December 2013 compared to 23 percent baseline in August 2011.

The Public Administration Bill

In our work to build a public administration grounded by professional ethics, integrity and discipline, the Public Administration Amendment Bill is currently before the National Council of Provinces. The Bill will set national standards and systems for the entire public service and also respond to service delivery challenges to enable a coordinated public administration.
Key areas of the Bill include:-
Mobility of staff within the public administration which may involve secondment of employees where there is skills shortage.
Prohibitions employees on conducting business with the state and disclosure of financial interest.
Capacity development and training of employees by providing for establishment of National School of Government.
Building a public administration grounded by professional ethics, integrity and discipline.
African Peer Review Mechanism

President Jacob Zuma tabled the African Peer Review Mechanism report at the 22nd African Union Summit in Ethiopia. Compiled by different sectors of society the report reflects on progress made by the South African Government in the last ten years on a number of aspects which include economic development, governance, social security, health and infrastructure development.

The report is a product of a broad and inclusive participatory process, that saw the National Governing Council of the APRM – who are the custodians of the national APRM process – travel the length and breadth of South Africa convening stakeholder consultative conferences in all the provinces during the 2012/13 financial year.

Conclusion

“South Africa is the greatest country on the continent.      Nowhere else has democracy been so embraced by its people.      Overcoming our great evil – apartheid – has left our citizens better off than ever imagined.      As a nation, we hold a torch for our beloved continent for what can be accomplished through the efforts of a committed government, committed people, committed business and committed civil society sector.    
The people of South Africa have a way out of poverty in a land where opportunity is for all.      And if that way does not work government stands as a safety net for its people.” - African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) National Governing Council Report.
Issued by: Government Communication and Information System (GCIS)

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