Interim Management Team Progress Report on Eastern Cape: briefing

Meeting report

LOCAL GOVERNMENT AND ADMINISTRATION SELECT COMMITTEE
11 August 2004
INTERIM MANAGEMENT TEAM PROGRESS REPORT ON EASTERN CAPE: BRIEFING

Chairperson: Mr B Mkhaliphi (ANC)[Mpumalanga]

Document handed out:
Reflection on the work of the Interim Management Team: Eastern Cape (11 August 2004)
Reflection on the work of the Interim Management Team in the Eastern Cape (30 January 2004)

Ministerial delegation: Ms G Fraser-Moleketi, Minister of Public Service and Administration; Prof R Levin, Director General: DPSA; Mr M Sikhosana, Director General: Public Service Commission; Mr R Kitshoff, Manager: Public Service Anti-Corruption; Ms V Motalane, Interim Management Team Co-ordinator; and Mr M Mxakwe

SUMMARY
The Interim Management Team gave a briefing on the progress in its intervention in the Eastern Cape following allegations of misuse of government funds in some of the provincial departments. The Committee greatly welcomed the progress of the team in turning around the province and the discussion that followed included the following issues:
- that drastic action should be taken against corrupt officials
- that officials and managers should be trained and developed in all areas so as to avoid set backs
- that strategies be developed to retain scarce skills within the province
- integration strategies for municipal workers with provincial public works
- the advantages of outsourcing the internal audit
- the importance of co-operation at all levels, whether in government or politically

MINUTES
The Chair welcomed everyone in attendance, especially the Minister and her delegation and also congratulated Prof R Levin on his appointment as Director General of the Department of Public Service and Administration. He thereafter called upon the ministerial team to make their presentation.

Reflection on the work of the Interim Management Team: Eastern Cape
Minister G Fraser-Moleketi welcomed the opportunity presented to them by the Committee to give a progress report on the work of the Interim Management Team in the Eastern Cape. She highlighted the fact that this is merely a progress report and not a closure report of the team. She gave a brief background on the formation of the Interim Management Team (IMT) in the Eastern Cape. One of its aims was to ensure that sound management and leadership was provided following a number of problems prevalent in the province. Noting that a preliminary report was provided to the Committee in January, she said that the aim of the present report is to reflect on the final work of the IMT and how the intervention should be taken forward in order to ensure sustainability. Noting the lessons learned in the process, she emphasised the need for very close collaboration whenever the government is called upon to make an intervention of this nature. Finally government would be using the Eastern Cape initiative and experience in developing a model for governance that would be utilised in providing assistance to other provinces and the departments in the country.

Mr M Sikhosana (Director General: Public Service Commission) pointed out that this did not represent a closure report of the IMT, although its members are no longer the sole drivers but are playing more of a monitoring role. The process was still continuing in the Eastern Cape. He took the Committee through the presentation (see document). Before the intervention the province was greatly under managed. However since the intervention by the IMT and the arrival of new Heads of Department, the management and service delivery had improved and given hope for good administration. The Committee was asked to take note of the report which would soon be produced by the Provincial Treasury exhibiting instances of double, and even triple, payments in the province which had resulted in Human Resources backlogs.

Discussion
The Chair pointed out to members the importance of the role that the Committee may play in assisting the department in its endeavours.

Mr J Le Roux (DA)[Eastern Cape] welcomed the report. He stated that it was not enough that the wrongdoers be reprimanded but drastic actions had to be taken against them so as to preserve the conditions on the ground.

Mr Sikhosana acknowledged that although the team might not have improved the province in general however one would appreciate the fact that some progress has been made in improving the image of the province one way or the other. Furthermore a culture of impunity which was closely associated with the province has been eradicated as a number of managers were summoned to explain and account for their actions. A number of disciplinary actions have since been taken against some of them.

Minister Fraser-Moleketi added that it was a fallacy to say that fewer actions had been taken against the wrongdoers in the Eastern Cape considering the number of arrests effected. These arrests contributed to stopping the culture of impunity that had been prevalent in the province.

Kgoshi L Mokoena (ANC)[Limpopo] noting the strides that has been taken by the team in improving the conditions in the province was concerned about future setbacks that might occur. He asked whether the officials have been trained and prepared for the decentralisation.

In his response Mr Sikhosana noted the importance of delegation of powers in improving administration and said that such is not only relevant in the Eastern Cape alone but throughout the country. This had led to the PSC conducting a study on decentralisation of Human Resources functions and its impact as it noted the negative impact which too much centralisation may have on service delivery. Also noted that the terms of the contract with the service providers require them to train people on back office support in procurement cases and a certificate be issued by the internal auditors before a tender can be released.

Kgoshi Mokoena (ANC) noting that the report proposes that the progress report on education be submitted to the Provincial Exco and Cabinet on a three months basis, he thus asked why that should not be done monthly so as to avoid any surprises that might occur.

Prof R Levin (Director General: DPSA) acknowledged that it is feasible to give such reports monthly but however it is more valuable to submit them quarterly, especially for evaluating purposes and to develop a clear analysis.

Minister Fraser-Moleketi added that as the reports would be submitted to the Provincial Exco and the Cabinet quarterly the Committee would also be within its right to place in some reporting mechanisms that fits it so as to follow through all the issues raised in the reports.

Kgoshi Mokoena (ANC) welcoming the fact that all senior mangers should be competency profile however asked what would happen to those who failed to meet the criteria due to the fact that there are untrainable.

Mr Sikhosana noting that the Liberation Act require a person to be incapacitated if s/he is failing to perform in terms of the goals and standards expected from a person in his/her position thus said that the approach of the competency profiling is not about failing or passing. Thus with that in mind a person who failed a competency profile would be developed and all procedures be followed before s/he could be rid off.

Mr A Moseki (ANC)[North West] commended the team on a job well done in turning around the province which was beset with problems of corruption. He asked whether it can confidently be said that the province is now well grounded to run its own administration.

Mr Sikhosana said that one cannot be absolutely certain that the province is in a strong position to govern effectively since what the team has achieved might deteriorate, one way or the other, due to certain developments. Hence it was important that the M & E Unit in the Office of the Premier should function effectively so that it could identify problems before they arise.

Mr Moseki (ANC) referred to Slide 6 dealing with Strengthening Back-office support which stated: SITA was requested to act as Transaction Advisor (TA), and negotiations underway on reducing cost of engagement as TA. Project Team already appointed to assist and monitor TA. Project registered with National Treasury's PPP unit. He asked whether there was any time frame set for the PPP unit registered with the National Treasury.

Mr Sikhosana replied that since they were still awaiting the Transaction Advisor to complete its proposal, in collaboration with the National Treasury, they had not set any time frame for this but hopefully the process would be finalised before the end of the year.

Mr Moseki (ANC) noted that the province was very rural in nature and asked what strategies had been designed to ensure that people with scarce skills did not leave the province for more urban areas.

Prof Levin said that there is a lot of work that has been done in this regard although it would be prematurely to consider policy intervention at this stage. The department wants to ensure first that the people would get to the points were they are mostly needed and that policy would be effective before making such an intervention.

Mr Z Ntuli (ANC)[KwaZulu-Natal] welcomed the report. He said however that they would have appreciated it if the presentation had also captured integration strategies designed between municipal workers and provincial public works.

Minister Fraser-Moleketi noted the comment and said that the department would make time brief the Committee on its national progress in integrating municipal workers with provincial government.

Kgoshi Mokoena (ANC) asked which functions were envisaged to be outsourced in terms of the presentation.

Mr Sikhosana responded that they do not talk about outsourcing as a general principle but only in relation to specific projects such as outsourcing the internal audit of the provincial departments. Although the proposal has already been approved by the Provincial Exco, it would need to be evaluated after a two year period to assess if it bore any positive spin-offs.

Kgoshi Mokoena (ANC) noted that the awarding of tenders had at one time caused much uproar in the province and asked what had been done about this.

Mr Sikhosana replied that the awarding of tenders does not necessarily present a proper barometer for measuring corruption. Like anywhere in the world, South Africa also has bad losers. However while some meritorious people were awarded tenders as proper procedures were followed, there were also genuine cases of irregularities. The team thinks that the internal control measures it has put in place would be able to address the problem of tenders to some extent.

Kgoshi Mokoena (ANC) commented on the wonderful job that the team had done in the province. He asked the Minister if she had received any support from the political parties in the province.

Minister Fraser-Moleketi replied that the initiative in the province was not aimed specifically at gaining popular support of political parties in the province but rather that of the provincial legislature in terms of co-operative governance. Thus this report was being presented by the Premier to the Provincial Parliament at this moment. She acknowledged that for the team to have a sustained success in its work, all provincial political parties needed to be involved and committed to the process. Hence comments made by them through the media were noted. This report was being presented to both Houses in Parliament, which are multiparty in representivity, so all parties would have an opportunity to engage with it. She added that government would draw lessons from this initiative upon which to develop a national model for present and future interventions. She noted that they have been approached by some provinces in this regard.

Ms P Hollander (ANC)[North Cape] also welcomed the report of the IMT. She sought clarity on the slide reflecting the impact of HR backlogs and if there are any time frames made for the payments.

Mr R Kitshoff (Manager: Public Service Anti-Corruption) said that the reason why the value of claims for the Department of Health is not calculated is that the department only calculated those claims which were processed, verified and certified as regular payments paid out. The draft reflects the figures as they were on April 2004, but since then the SocDev and Roads and Public Works departments have started paying out their backlogs and they could not be reflected here since the teams did not have those figures.

The Minister and her team were thanked for informing the Committee about the state of the Eastern Cape Province. The Committee noted that its doors were always open should the team require any assistance in its endeavours.

The meeting was adjourned.