Department & State Information Technology Annual Reports: briefing

Meeting report

PUBLIC SERVICE AND ADMINISTRATION PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE
12 October 2004
DEPARTMENT AND STATE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AGENCY ANNUAL REPORTS: BRIEFINGS

Chairperson: Mr B Mthembu (ANC)

Documents handed out:
Department Annual Report 2003 - 2004
Department PowerPoint Presentation
SITA Annual Report 2003 - 2004
SITA Financial Statistics 2003 - 2004

SUMMARY
The Department of Public Service and Administration and the State Information Technology Agency presented their Annual Reports to the Committee. Both summarised their successes and the events and programmes leading to these successes. They also listed their current activities, plans and challenges to be overcome. Members questioned the presenters on how these programmes were affecting the public, particularly in their constituencies.

MINUTES

Department briefing
The Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) presented its 2003 - 2004 Annual Report on leading the transformation of the public service since 1996. The Department also presented a brief summary of the first decade of operation and asserted that it was proud of contributing to the transformation of the public service. The second decade of operations, international programmes and major projects in different Provinces were highlighted in the presentation as well.

DPSA programmes summarised included administration, integrated human resources, information and technology management, service delivery improvement, anti-corruption and auxiliary and associated services. Implementing some of these programmes was hampered by financial constraints because the Department was operating on a limited financial budget.

However, the DPSA was able to achieve most of it targets despite financial problems. All internal audit units within the Departments had become fully functional by the end of the 2003 - 2004 Annual Report years. During the above period the transformation and restructuring of the public service also took place. A number of people engaged in corrupt acts were identified and brought to justice. The Department concluded by giving some highlights on its finances.

Discussion
Mr R Sikakane (ANC) referred to the meeting with SAMDI the previous day, and commented that during that meeting, SAMDI stated that it could not take any interventionist role in its operation because it was not part of its mandate.

He then asked DPSA about the Department's decisions to make interventions in some of its dealings. He wanted to know who took the decision for intervention and where was it taken.

The presenter responded that the decision was taken by the Cabinet for intervention to take place within the various Departments that were identified in the presentation. It was important to indicate that this was not in accordance with Section 100 intervention. Section 100 intervention would have to be through the legislation.

Ms P Mashangoane (ANC) was concerned about service delivery, information and technology management and integrated human resources. She asked about the language that was used in the completed handbook during the presentation.

She further asked about the call centres and wanted to know how it success was measured. She concluded by asking DPSA about its intentions to extend programs that were implemented in Gauteng, such as the competency profiling and additional programs to other Provinces such as Limpopo, North West and other provinces.

The presenter answered that the handbook was in one language and that was English. He stated that it was difficult to translate to other languages.

The Department also stated that it was difficult to evaluate the success of the call centre because there were no successful results reported by the people using the centre. The Department would meet SITA on this issue.

The Department further stated that the issue of extending programmes to other Provinces needed to be approved by Cabinet before doing so. The initial programs were only a pilot project.

Mr R Ntuli (DA) was concerned about the on-going problems in education and the issue of excess employee. He was also concerned about Department financial management as well as its social plan. He asked about the consideration that the Department was giving to cost its social plan on HIV/AIDS. He also asked about the benefits of the Pan African Parliament for South Africa in particular and Africa in general.

He wanted to also know the gap between mid-management and senior management in terms of salaries and finally he asked about the Department's earlier statement on a 50% vacancy in senior management and stated that he was concerned about where the senior managers leaving the Department were going.

The presenter responded that they were concerned about the ongoing problem in education. There was a team that had been established to look into the situation but the Department had recommended that the Department of Education take the lead in solving the problem and they are doing something about it. There was hope that at the completion of the project that the Department of Education was leading, there would be a turnaround.

The social plan was going to be implemented extensively. Considering the high unemployment rate, it was very important for a responsible government to look into all necessary options before taking action on the issue of excess employee. The Department believe that there were a lot of places that needed administrative support or cleaning services that should be able to absorb most employees and recommendations had been made to other Departments to take this into consideration.

Many of the above employment situations were within the Eastern Cape. Most of the Department's funding was deployed within the Eastern Cape. Presently, the Province owed the Department about R11 million. Lots of the Department's money that was allocated for other purposes was spent in the Eastern Cape. However, the intention was to train people and then the other Departments were going to take the process forward.

DPSA continued that the Pan African Parliament was a leadership program that was being developed. This program had been adopted in Uganda. Also, there was the issue of sharing experiences. The transformation of the public service was everyone's challenge. South Africa could be more advanced than other African countries, but there was a lot to be learn from those countries. There could be a special presentation arranged for expanding on this issue.

There was a plan in progress to address the gap between mid-management and senior management. It was not clear as to how far this plan was going to affect the salary issue based on the fact that there were various education levels amongst those concerned.

There was a target put in place in 1998 and the review was questioning the relevancy of that target. Currently, that target had been able to ensure that 30% of senior management should be Women, Disabled and Blacks. These targets were given to departments for consideration when carrying out employment.

Page 72 of the annual report asserted most of the managers leaving the DPSA were going to other Departments. The DPSA was repositioning itself for this issue of people coming and leaving.

Mr C Saloojee (ANC) asked about attempts that were being made to train post-graduate students to place them at senior levels of management in government.

The presenter answered that interactions were being made with various universities on a regular basis and that the government was subsidising programs. Universities were not interested in dealing with programs that had to do with direct training for specific purposes in government. The Department further stated that those who came to government had already done their studies and were only interested in being trained in specialised programs to improve their skills.

The Chairperson asserted that the question raised about encouraging people for specific training in the public sector was important. He stressed that it was important for people to join the public sector at the first stage and not as a second choice.

He asked DPSA about the internal audit unit not being fully functional. He also asked about the challenge for the growth and development strategy. He requested clarification about money that was transferred to SITA that was mentioned in the presentation.

The presenter responded that the internal audit unit was a matter of capacity issue. It was not fully functional but there was plan to outsource the function to the private sector.

SITA needed R95 million for the 13 different area networks in government and for that DPSA approached National Treasury and they allocated R45 million and R50 million respectively. That was the money that was transferred to SITA.

State Information Technology Agency briefing
SITA emphasised that significant progress had been made and the Department had been able to build a strong institutional foundation. SITA's broad mandate and founding legislation that supported the continuous consultation of stakeholders was defended in the presentation as well.

The Department's operations and business highlights were also stated. SITA stated that its revenue had gone up from R1.9 to R2.3 billion. It briefly commented on its 2004 - 2007 strategic planned and turnaround strategy that had been approved by the SITA Board.

SITA's operations, regional performance, research and development, integrated financial management system and human capital, were also highlighted during the presentation.

The Department stated that it was in a relatively strong financial position. It asserted that the financial year ended in a strong cash position. SITA had revenue growth of 34% in the previous year and a growth of 17% in the current year.

Discussion
Mr R Sikakane asked about the Department's comment about lowering the costs for other departments and the ensuing result of the decision. He also asked whether SITA was charging higher prices than the private sector.

The presenter stated that the Department had over time dropped costs. The situation was a two-way issue: perception of high cost and the reality of high cost. The Department had established a ceiling on how much would be collected from other Departments and that they would be charged according to their work.

SITA was also working on a pricing model to benchmark itself in the industry. The fiscal model needed to be considered. There was need to develop a mechanism for setting prices at a certain level.

Ms P Mashangoane asked about the issue of equity. She wanted to know about the percentage of people with disability who were benefiting from programs and if there were not any, why was this the case and when were they going to be considered?

SITA was not sure about the number of Disabled people benefiting but the Department was going to work on the statistics on equity and make a report in next presentation.

The meeting was adjourned.