Department on Transformation: briefing

Meeting report

PUBLIC WORKS PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE
10 September 2003
DEPARTMENT ON TRANSFORMATION: BRIEFING

Chairperson Inkosi M Hlengwa (IFP)

Documents handed out:
Department on Transformation Powerpoint Presentation

SUMMARY
The Committee was briefed on numerous transformation processes initiated in the Department. The primary cause of the Departments malaise was the lack of leadership continuity and consequently of strategy. Establishing the State Property Management Agency was a key priority to remedy poor service delivery to client departments. The Department was in the process of recruiting much of the direly needed skills into its fold.

MINUTES
The Department's transformation process had been plagued by various difficulties over the last few years. It was one of the departments in South Africa with the most Director-Generals and Deputy Director-Generals. Deputy Director-Generals held their positions for an average of two years. The Department's whole leadership structure was plagued by discontinuity, which resulted in inadequate transformation and a serious a skill deficit.

The Departments' employees suffered from transformation fatigue as a result of the various attempts at transformation by successive Directors-General.

Please refer to attached presentation on Transformation.

Discussion
Mr Blanche (Federal Alliance) expressed concern over the Department's increasing use of consultants.

Mr J Maseko, Director-General Department of Public Works reassured the Committee that the Department had a proper strategy which would unfold timeously. He explained the need to differentiate between management consultants, and engineering and other consultants required in the Built Environment. A report was sent to the Standing Committee on Public Accounts to clarify that the amount spent on consultants was between R 250 to R 300 million per annum and not R 1,5 Billion as mentioned by the member.Historically the Department employed experts in the Built Environment, until it converted to using consultants thus allowing the private sector to grow.
The Department currently needed to develop its internal capacity to manage consultants as indicated in Acacia Park recently, when a water pipe broke and consultants were contracted to institute repairs. The Department's project manager did not have the skills to examine the job requirements necessitating additional consultants be contracted to complete this task before repairs could start.

Mr B Radebe (ANC) said it appeared that transformation had started from scratch in 2003. He asked whether the parties responsible for the irregular appointment of Labat Anderson Consultants had been held accountable.

Mr Maseko said he had no answer as this occurred before his tenure.

Mr Radebe said the State Property Management Agency should be an urgent priority, as departments could not manage their property portfolios as they pleased.

Mr Maseko said the implementation of the State Property Management Agency (SPMA) was delayed by leadership discontinuity and poor governance, he reiterated the Department's need to stabilize its leadership.
Managing a property portfolio was a difficult task and it was not feasible for every department to manage its own, even the Department of Public Works (DPW) had difficulty optimally managing its property portfolio. The Department of Foreign Affairs, which was managing its own portfolio, recently requested the DPW to assist in building their German embassy. The embassy was now one of the most prestigious embassies in that area, built largely with homegrown South African skills.

Mr K Moonsamy (ANC) said there were perennial problems of people, with narrow perspectives limiting a holistic outlook, that should be urgently resolved. He asked very agitatedly, what skill levels the Department required, insisting there were many unemployed people eager to work. It was unacceptable that consultants consumed half the Department's budget.

Mr Maseko said the best he could do was keep the committee informed, the strategic plans were already being implemented, and they needed only to run their course. Many client departments had already noticed improvements and could attest to the preliminary success of current strategies. Previously the Department was not very aware of skills requirements and some employees did not posses the skills required to perform their mandated functions. The Property Management section had probably the lowest level of skills required for their functions.
The Department had now identified skill and experience requirements for vacancies and was recruiting accordingly he added the new key accounts' management process would allow for detailed understanding of the specific needs of clients. The number of vacant or under utilized army bases was symptomatic of improper planning.
Senior management positions comprised 10 % of the total vacancies whilst Middle- and importantly Project Management for varied and diverse tasks were required for the bulk of outstanding vacancies.

Inkosi M Hlengwa (IFP) asked how the department attracted and retained required skills.

Mr Maseko said they experienced great difficulty recruiting suitably qualified candidates. The Department was considering selecting highly skilled individuals and requesting special dispensation to employ them on a contractual basis, even at higher remuneration levels to obtain sorely needed skills.

Mr S Opperman (DA) asked whether a proper policy was in place to ensure continuity of strategy despite inevitable leadership changes.

Mr Maseko said the objective of the current recruitment drive was to ensure appropriate skills were incorporated into the department and internal capacity rebuilt. A legacy with entrenched support from Department employees should be built, to ensure a new Director-General could not simply change strategies at a whim.

Mr Opperman asked if the Committee's London Report was implemented in the Department.

Mr Maseko was not familiar with the London Report, but would investigate further.

Mr Radebe asked what was being done to implement the work culture changes required in the Department. The establishment of the SPMA would alleviate many current difficulties and should be an urgent priority.

Mr Maseko said they interact on many different levels such as education and lobbying key decision makers in various departments. Cabinet support would be very helpful in this regard. The reason for such problems was the poor service delivery of the DPW. Poor organizational culture was a long standing issue which would take time to improve.

Mr Blanche suggested establishing a bursary scheme for students of the Built Environment with a compulsory employment period requirement to ensure the department's skills deficit was filled and disadvantaged students were financially assisted. The Department should devolve certain functions to local authorities.

Mr Maseko said the Department had such a program and suggested it should possibly be expanded. The department had a 'mixed up mandate' and functions varied widely. Devolution of certain functions to Department of Public Works' regional offices was already taking place.

Inkosi Hlengwa suggested the committee invite all client departments to Parliament and allow the Director-General DPW to make a joint presentation to all relevant departments.

The meeting was adjourned.