Department of the Premier 2022/23 Annual Report

Meeting report

The Chairperson stated the purpose of the meeting and invited the Premier of the Western Cape and the Director-General (DG) in the office of the Premier to deliver their opening remarks.

Premier’s Opening remarks

Premier Alan Winde outlined certain aspects as documented in the Foreword by the Premier in Part A, paragraph 3 of the Annual Report. He stated that the COVID-19 pandemic, fires, and floods had dominated the last four and a half years of the term. What had not been included in the Report was the current devastation, as a result of floods, that wreaked havoc across the province. He added that the number of roads that were destroyed would take time to rebuild, and highlighted that climate change has proven to be a factor that affects people’s lives daily. He indicated that the mentioned part of the Report reflected on the recovery from the COVID-19 period. He expressed that the pandemic was a learning phase, where the province needed to move out of its comfort zone and into an area of taking more risks with innovation.

He embraced innovation as a tool for becoming a more responsive government over time. He commented that creating an innovative environment would reap rewards for the citizens of the province in the future. He said that outwardly, the key focus areas for the provincial government have always been job creation, safety, and dignity. Inwardly, the focus has been on the cultural journey within the administration with the hope of becoming a great place to work and being an office that residents trust. Premier Winde stated that since the writing of the Report, the administration has been nominated for the employer of recognition, and he further congratulated the team for the great achievement.

He reflected on the unemployment rate of 21.6%, as of 31 March 2023, and added that although high, it was still lower than the rest of the country. He mentioned that energy has been a big focus area and mechanisms had to be put in place to deal with the pending energy crisis. The Premier added that loadshedding impacted the unemployment rate and the ability to grow the economy. The energy team, however, had been hard at work to make a difference to the problem.

Department of the Premier Opening Remarks

Dr Harry Malila, Director-General, Western Cape Government, reflected on the Report of the Accounting Officer as set out in Part A, paragraph 4.1 of the Annual Report. He mentioned that the work of the Department is based on its vision with a focus on three key priorities such as growth for jobs, safety and well-being, innovation, governance, and culture. Since the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department has made interventions in the innovation, governance, and culture space to ensure it delivers to its citizens. He indicated that the provincial data office was established to focus on data, technology, and digital transformation. Excellent work was also being done to create an enabling environment through broadband activity, establishing and implementing the Wi-Fi hotspot areas, and offering services through the e-centres. Internally, the Department focussed on reconfiguring the work within the Provincial Training Institute (PTI) and work has been done on the operating model with the focus on working closer with universities to create an innovation centre at the PTI.

He mentioned that awareness had been created around culture interventions focusing on value-based leadership programmes to empower staff. Regarding external reporting, integrated performance reports were created to report to the Budget Committee and Provincial Parliament. The internal governance overview showed that the Department obtained a clean audit, achieved all Annual Performance Plan (APP) targets, and spent close to 100% of the budget. All responsibilities to support, guide, and enable departments such as corporate assurance, innovation, and legal services were met. The Department’s leadership role enabled the establishment of two new departments, for example, Innovation and Mobility. Key government initiatives that the Department focussed on included innovation, particularly in the supply chain environment, promoting issues of diversity and transformation, and engaging with national partners to ensure service delivery to citizens. He expressed his pride in presenting the annual Report on behalf of the Department but acknowledged that compiling the Report was a collective effort of close to 1 000 staff members.

Discussion

Mr C Dugmore (ANC) referred to the statements about crime and violence on page 12 of the Annual Report in the Foreword by the Premier. He asked what the provincial government did during the period under review to deal with gangsterism and extortion, given the number of killings across communities in the City of Cape Town (CoCT).

He asked the Premier to indicate a breakdown of the 21.6% unemployed rate in terms of the demographics.

Regarding the dysfunctional transport system, he asked for the Premier’s view given that the national government had to declare an intergovernmental dispute based on the CoCT’s continued refusal to rezone land for people who occupied the railway line. He wanted to know if the Premier approved of the CoCT’s conduct.

In the context of the floods where communities continue to be flooded out, he requested the Premier to indicate whether the province, during the term under review, had developed a strategy for the release of provincial land because he had not seen a policy for the release of provincially owned land to people living in vulnerable areas.

Mr G Pretorius (DA) commended all the officials who enabled the drafting of the Report and thanked the Premier and officials for the solid grounding on which the work of the Committee could proceed. He added that the annual Report meant that the work that had passed had been accounted for. In terms of the strategic focus and given severe budget cuts, he asked if tools such as artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning could be implemented on an increasing scale to cut costs.

The Premier said that crime is a matter that disturbs him the most and on which he campaigned. He stated that he believed in the devolution of policing power to provinces to bring about effective policing in the country. He said that the crime-fighting machinery of the country, whether policing or the criminal justice system, is not the best within a province. However, the province has been pushing boundaries with the Community Safety Act and Community Safety Plan as additional interventions while advocating for an overall change in policing in the province. He stated that during the pandemic, gangsterism and extortion started to spread in construction and businesses across the board. He expressed his disappointment in the extortion team that the police minister had appointed and felt that a lot more should be done about extortion. According to the Thulare judgment in the Western Cape Division of the High Court, the top-tier police structure has been infiltrated by gangsterism and gangsters. The communities most affected by gangs are afraid to speak out because several witnesses have been murdered. He agreed that citizens in some parts of the province are facing horrendous conditions as a result of gangsterism. He added that the Department offered to pay for lifestyle audits of the police in the province. The police commissioner agreed that it was a good idea but never committed to proceed with the process. He said that the matter appears to be held back at the national level and that he wished for more powers to deal with the issue.

He stated that the racial breakdown of the unemployment statistics would be reported by Statistics South Africa (StatsSA) in the release of the provincial figures.

Addressing the question on transport issues, he highlighted that the problem mostly affects poor people and that it is estimated to cost R200 million to enable the railway system to operate again. He did not want to enter into a discussion about the intergovernmental dispute but stated that the province has to densify at a faster rate because of population growth. He expressed that he was proud of the project being rolled out in Pinelands, although initially the citizens were against the high-density development at the Conradie Hospital site. However, they have since learned to accept the project. He stated that removing people from the railway lines was necessary to get the trains running by the end of the year. The Department would play its part in ensuring that the corridors are opened because mobility is critical. He added that the policy is to make as much land available as soon as possible. Mr Winde said that some projects in Mossel Bay and George have shown that high-density developments can be done. He mentioned that the floods have revealed how desperate people have been illegally occupying areas unsuitable for human habitation. The higher-than-usual rainfall recorded in June 2023 showed that planning needed to be done differently to deal with the effects of climate change.

He said that, similar to embracing innovation, the Department needs to also embrace AI, and discussions are being held to design a policy and framework for managing AI. He acknowledged the concerns raised about AI but said it presented a massive innovation opportunity.

Mr Dugmore enquired about the Safety Plan strategy to deal with gangsterism and extortion issues. He asked if the information could be made available to the Committee. He understood from the Premier’s response that detailed information about the land issue would be available at the Standing Committee.

He asked if the Premier was not aware of the existence of a comprehensive land strategy for provincial-owned land, and inquired about the Department responsible for the land strategy.

The Premier replied that the Department was continuing to push boundaries in terms of the Safety Plan but the strategy remained the same, with the focus on the devolution of policing power. He stated that the system that ran the policing outcomes and crime statistics throughout the whole country was not working. However, the statistics were getting worse and not better.

He was aware of several parcels of land being made available such as the Woodstock Hospital which had already been transferred to the CoCT and Founders Garden in the inner city. He highlighted that the biggest parcel of provincial land is the one at the Waterfront which is being illegally occupied. If resolved through the court case, it would enable the province to develop many opportunities in the inner city. He mentioned that the Department of Infrastructure would be identifying the next round of available land parcels and that in addition to the city and provincial assets, consideration should also be given to national assets such as District Six, which need to be dealt with at all levels of government.

Mr Dugmore sought clarity about the specific Department that needed to be contacted to make the integrated land release strategy available to the Committee.

The Premier said that the Department of Infrastructure is the responsible Department and that the number of land parcels identified for release was evidence that the strategy does exist.

The Chairperson stated that for the purpose of the meeting, Members should raise questions on Parts A, B, and D of the Annual Report.

PART A

Ms D Baartman (DA) referred to the New Foundation Digital Experience Platform (FDXP) on page 15 and said that she wanted to know how far the enhanced communication functionality was in terms of implementation. She stated that feedback was provided to the Budget Committee in June 2023 with the e-governance presentation, but no further progress in this regard was indicated in the Annual Report.

She applauded the increase in the number of Wi-Fi hotspots and asked Dr Malila to indicate the outcome of the skills audit that was conducted for the Future Fit Skills Strategy.

She enquired about the progress in terms of the Service Delivery Index (SDI) on page 17 and asked if a timeline could be indicated for the publication of the results.

Mr Dugmore sought clarity from the Premier on whether the strategy on gangsterism and extortion was contained in the Safety Plan on page 13 that was shared with the legislature in 2020. He questioned the virements and rollovers in relation to the R4.185 million allocated to Programme 4 in paragraph 4.2.3 on page 20. He said this was meant to assist with the overspending in terms of the rand/dollar exchange rate for the Centre for e-Innovation, however, the Centre showed an under-expenditure of R13.392 million in paragraph 4.2.2 on page 19. He asked why other programmes suffered due to the lack of proper budgeting.

He also questioned the rollover of R9.391 million for the Infrastructure Refresh Project (IRP). He indicated he wanted to understand if the IRP was linked to the DG’s comments about establishing the Department of Infrastructure and Mobility on 1 April 2023. He asked what the total cost was to the Department of the Premier for establishing these two departments.

He wanted to know if a concept document was compiled and a feasibility study was done before the announcement was made. He asked if the Committee could be provided with the concept document and feasibility report.

Mr Pretorius requested feedback on the Spatial Development Initiatives (SDI) referred to on page 17.

Response

The Premier indicated that the strategy on gangsterism and extortion is included in the Safety Plan and should be read in conjunction with the violence prevention work and the Provincial Policing Needs and Priorities Report.

Dr Malila said the Department of Infrastructure and Mobility was established on 1 April 2023, and the entire process was followed as set out in the Public Service Act. He added that the Department held consultations with the Presidency and the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA), the budgets were approved and an interim management arrangement was in place.

He indicated that the rollovers regarding the IRP are related to ICT infrastructure and requirements because many ICT products need to be refreshed after a period of time. He added that one major item relates to Microsoft licensing and in this regard, the Department does not have control over the rand/dollar exchange rate. He further explained that the virements and rollovers were subjected to the annual audit process and the Department had complied with all of the rules regulating such transfers.

He thanked Ms Baartman for the comment about the Wi-Fi hotspots which can be found throughout the province, even in rural areas.

Regarding future skills, he stated that the impact of AI on the world of work needed to be considered in the decision-making process, for example, the extent to which data will be used in the future, and the ability to analyse and use data competitively. He mentioned that people being trained should be able to take up jobs within the broader Western Cape Government. For this reason, the rules have been made applicable in the education environment.

He said that the Service Delivery Improvement Plan is based on the Department of Public Service and that a number of the initiatives are in the Centre for e-Innovation space where the biggest impact on the citizens can be made.

Mr Drikus Basson, Chief Financial Officer, Western Cape Government, referred the Committee to page 184 of the annual Report to explain the virements allocated to Programme 4. He said that the Department's extensive database, which contains built-in rules, is used during the last few weeks of the year to ensure that the rules have been adhered to when invoices are issued. He further explained that several earmarked allocations exist within Programme 4 and that money underspent on earmarked allocations cannot be used for other purposes. He mentioned that in the variance column on page 184, goods and services to the total of R3.9 million consisted mainly of Wi-Fi which is an earmarked allocation that must be protected. He added that R9.4 million is an earmarked amount for capital assets. Mr Basson said that, in addition to the built-in rules, the Public Finance Management Act (PMFA) rule does not allow capital amounts to be spent on current expenditures and because more money was spent on broadband, R12 million was shifted and this resulted in the saving of R3.9 million. He clarified that the underspending in the programme was due to the rules but funds had to be shifted in to reach other objectives. He added that the process is complex, however, it has to be done to ensure that the Department abides by the rules.

Mr Hilton Arendse, Deputy Director-General: Centre for e-Innovation, Western Cape Government, replied to Ms Baartman on the FDXP and said that the Department was quite advanced in the development of the platform and was hoping to do a soft launch by the end of November 2024. The Department has been working with national departments, including the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) and the State Information Technology Agency (SITA) to develop an integrated national digital experience platform.

Mr Warren McCann, Chief Executive Officer: People Management Practices, said a skills audit was conducted amongst senior members within the Department of the Premier. A number of competencies, including the Future Fit competencies, were reviewed and these were adaptability, innovation and creativity, collaboration and coordination, agile thinking, data intelligence, and coping with uncertainty. An 84% participation rate was reported and the full skills audit report would be made available to the Committee. He mentioned that the review would be rolled out to all other senior management service members within the province during the current year.

Dr Malila said there were no direct costs related to the Department of the Premier for establishing the two new departments.

The Premier responded to Mr Dugmore concerning the breakdown of the unemployment statistics and said that the number of new jobs created during quarter one to quarter two of 2022/23 totalled more than 87 000. In the white population, the number increased from 451 000 to 461 000. In the coloured population, the number increased from 1 251 million to 1 256 million. The biggest increase was reported in the black population where the number increased from 931 000 to 995 000 which constituted 74% of the more than 80 000 new jobs.

Follow up discussion

Mr Dugmore questioned the irregular, fruitless, and wasteful expenditure in paragraph 4.3 on page 20. He requested details of the fruitless and wasteful amount of R120 362 and sought clarity on why only R25 280 was deemed recoverable.

He enquired about the consequences for those responsible for the R95 082 that was written off and highlighted that three cases of irregular expenditure totalling R787 901 were identified. He asked if the condonement of these expenditures is done to secure clean audits and inquired about the consequences for those responsible for the irregular expenditure.

Ms Baartman asked what the key issues were that were highlighted by the skills audit and which required improvement.

Mr T Klaas (EFF) questioned the virements and rollovers on page 20 and indicated that he wanted to understand the reasons for the rollovers.

Dr Malila said a process to deal with irregular, fruitless, and wasteful expenditure does exist. In addition, a specific process which is governed by the Provincial Treasury (PT) must be followed for the condonement of expenditure. A condonation committee or team makes the final decision on whether an item can be condoned. He stated that irregular expenditure does not necessarily mean fruitless and wasteful or that reasonable care was not taken. He explained that the case set out on page 217 in Part E is a long outstanding matter that had gone through the entire process and that the Department was comfortable with the recoverable amount and the amount written off. He mentioned that the amounts were subjected to rigorous audits as well as consultations with legal services and PT.

He said that consequence management is applied in every fruitless and wasteful expenditure matter and explained to Mr Klaas that the rollover process is governed by PT, where the processes include applications made to PT to roll over any underspending on a particular project to the next financial year.

Concerning the Department of the Premier, he said that the teammate upgrade was started in the previous financial year but is to be completed in the new financial year and that rollovers are only allowed for projects that run over more than one financial year.

Mr McCann explained that a skills audit helps to identify the developmental needs of members, inform the development and training plan of the Department, and identify the skills needed across the province. After the audit was concluded, each member was provided with a report of their skills that needed attention and a list of training programmes to address their specific training needs. He added that the exercise to address areas of improvement was ongoing.

Mr Dugmore said his question on irregular expenditure was specific to the amount of R472 000 on page 20, where it stated that PT had been approached for condonation. He asked for the details of the condonation and an explanation of the R298 000 under investigation.

Mr Basson said that condonation is part of the process and there is no strategy behind it. Once a matter is investigated, the case is sent to PT, who then decides whether or not to condone. He explained that the irregular expenditure of R298 000 was related to a tender that was awarded by a deputy director. He said that changes were made to the delegation of authority and he was under the impression that he still had authority to award the tender. He then added that the raised issue was a normal error and no malice on the part of the official was detected.

Dr Malila said the details of the R472 000 were set out on page 217, and because the matter related to one of the staff members, he preferred to provide the details in writing.

Mr Dugmore asked if there had been consequences for the senior official involved in the matter referred to on page 217 which related to the non-compliance with the people management legislative framework.

Dr Malila said consequence management is dealt with in terms of departmental policy and that the entire process was followed concerning the matter raised by Mr Dugmore. He stated that the matter happened 13 years ago and none of the officials involved are still employed by the Western Cape Government hence PT was asked for condonation. In the interim, the policy environment had been strengthened. He added that he would provide more detail in writing.

Mr Klaas wanted to confirm if his understanding of rollovers was correct. He asked what the process would be in case of over-expenditure and how it is reported.

Dr Malila said any over-expenditure would be unauthorised and that the legislature needs to follow a process to authorise the expenditure. He said that small projects are dealt with in terms of virements rules with an 8% limitation to shift money from one programme to another. If there is still an over-expenditure after applying the virement rules, the expenditure is regarded as unauthorised which is subject to a legislative process. He indicated that no unauthorised expenditure had occurred within the Department of the Premier.

Mr Dugmore questioned the gifts and donations in paragraph 4.9 on page 22. He highlighted that a donation of R1 million was received from the Nahana Communications Group to flight television commercials to combat gender-based violence (GBV). He noted that the Nahana Communications Group’s website was associated with HelloFCB+, a media company awarded a marketing communications tender by the Western Cape Government in 2021. He asked if it was correct to receive free commercials from a company that was linked to another company that was awarded a tender, inquired whether the value of the commercials was R1 million, and requested more details about the association with the Nahana Communications Group.

He asked if the Department had approached the US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) to fund the feasibility study to expand network connectivity in the Western Cape province or if the agency approached the Department regarding this particular donation.

Dr Malila responded and said that the USTDA donation was meant to assist the Department regarding the thinking about Broadband 2.0 and added that the funding would end in a year.

On the Nahana Communications Group, he explained that each Department takes responsibility for its own supply chain mechanism and that the Department of the Premier had no linkage to any service provider appointed by other departments. He said that the rules are clear: monetary donations are subjected to the provincial revenue fund processes and that the R1 million was the cost of flighting the television commercials related to the GBV campaign. He stated that the Department of the Premier had no relations with the Nahana Communications Group nor with the company cited by Mr Dugmore.

Mr Arendse stated that the USTDA approached the Department to determine if some projects required funding and an extensive process was followed to obtain internal approval from the Director-General and PT. The project plans and information were thereafter submitted to the USTDA for final approval before the project was launched.

Mr Dugmore asked if the chief of staff position in the Premier’s office is at the director level, given that post-matric qualifications are required. He then further inquired whether the chief of staff had a degree.

He wanted to know if the Department was in favour of the amendments to the Employment Equity Act which requires regional and provincial demographics to be considered.

Mr Klaas said the rainbow nation meant that all races and colours must be involved. He then questioned the racial demographics of the organisational structure as depicted on pages 30 and 31.

Dr Malila said he firmly believes in diversity and that the Department strives to achieve a work force that is representative of the community it serves. He mentioned that the Department had been experiencing difficulty in filling key positions over the past year.

He replied to Mr Dugmore that the corporate communications budget is located in Programme 5 while the strategic communications budget is in Programme 1.

He stated that over the past year, the overriding theme from polling in communities was the lack of jobs and other concerns were issues around electricity and safety. Several initiatives were implemented to address safety concerns and well-being.

He indicated that the chief of staff was appointed on level 14 and more information in this regard would be submitted in writing.

The Premier said that the chief of staff holds a number of degrees in international relations, political science, media, and writing.

Mr Dugmore drew attention to the unanswered question raised by Mr Klaas about the organogram and his question about the Employment Equity Act. He referred the Committee to the strategic planning document for 2020 to 2025 and asked if Dr Malila or the Premier could point to any detail in their plans about greater representation.

Dr Malila said he would provide the information about representation to the Committee and added that opportunities are being created when people retire or exit employment. He highlighted that three executive management positions have been vacant since the past year and that the Superintendent General, Mr Joemat, retired at the end of March 2023. He explained that the constraints to make appointments lie within the financial environment and that over the past year, the entire management team had stepped up to fulfil the responsibilities of the vacancies in acting positions. Given the retirement of Mr Joemat, he said that the DDGs have had a direct line to the DG and that all the work in the Department fell under the banner of the Office of the Premier. He stated that some of the DDGs started to focus on work with external departments such as the Provincial Treasury and Local Government and since the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department has become leaner and more impactful. He said that his own role was no longer just ceremonial, but was more involved in making sure that the government delivers.

PART B

Mr Dugmore referred to the Values Based Leadership Programme diagram on page 39. He sought clarity on whether the activities at the town hall and citizens' inquiry involved officials meeting with members of the community.

Highlighting Subprogramme 1.2 on page 44, which referred to provisions being made for special advisors, he asked about the number of advisors the Premier had and what they had been advising him on.

He referred to the nine events of social cohesion mentioned on page 54, of which only two were mentioned, and asked for more details about the remaining seven events. He inquired about the Department's criteria to decide which events to support.

Regarding the key policy developments on page 37, Ms Baartman asked about the number of learners who participated in the Shukuma pilot on violence prevention in schools and how many families benefitted from the Nourish to Flourish initiative and the Family Strengthening project.

Concerning the digitally empowered citizens on page 40, she enquired about the specific training opportunities that people participated in and were interested in.

Mr Klaas asked if the Department could broadly explain the paragraph on page 42 which refers to transformed governance resulting in improved service delivery. He asked for an explanation about the causes of the deviation concerning Programme 2 on Provincial Strategic Management on page 52.

Referring to the paragraph on institutional resilience on page 34, Mr Pretorius asked how resilient and ready the Department was for future cyber-attacks given the era of AI and machine learning and the cyber-attack in Parliament in May 2023. He inquired about the risks of moving forward with urgency.

Response

Dr Malila said the necessary processes were put in place to ensure the resilience of the Department and called on Mr Arendse to give more information in this regard.

Addressing Mr Klaas, he said that no additional expenditure was incurred regarding the deviation and that when the APP was compiled, the 2021/22 results were reviewed. As a result, ten new international partnerships were considered. However, at the end of the financial year, only one agreement was signed.

Addressing the question about the remaining seven social cohesion events, he said that these included the Outeniqua Wheelchair Challenge, the Klein Karoo Nasionale Kunstefees (KKNK), the Mitchells Plain Festival, the Cape Town Cycle Tour, the Carnival, Wynberg Family Festival, and support for the Two Oceans Marathon. He said that very strict criteria are applied which are linked to the three key priority areas such as jobs and the economy, wellness, and safety. He indicated that the Department of the Premier had two special advisors, one dealing with strategic communications and the other dealing with energy matters.

Mr Johan Nel, Chief Director: Organisation Development, Western Cape Government, responding to the question on town hall activities and engaging with communities, said that the Culture Journey comprised of a couple of key levers including working with cabinet members and PT members to review leadership journeys for themselves. He added that other levers are the culture bootcamp, values - such as making values come alive and embedding them into the processes and practices of work, the Values-Based Leadership Development Programme, and measurement to indicate whether the work has the desired impact. He elaborated and said that the Values-Based Leadership Development Programme consists of a virtual and a face-to-face element. He said that a town hall brings all the elements together in a setting to discuss the learnings required and how the learnings have been applied, as people must be able to apply the learning to actual projects.

He indicated that the diagram on page 39 depicts three town halls. Town hall 1 is linked to citizen enquiry, where members are required to review improvement projects by visiting service delivery sites and engaging with citizens. He stated that the Department piloted a Culture Bootcamp in the previous year and that the second phase was to visit and engage an identified community to understand their needs, look at practical ways to resolve their problems and integrate with the broader Western Cape Government on these issues. Mr Nel mentioned that Nyanga, Phillipi East, and Crossroads were selected and the engagements are still ongoing. One of the goals is to create a footprint for access to computers that enable interaction from an e-commerce perspective. He added that engagements with the Department of Culture Affairs highlighted the need for sporting activities to keep young people busy and lure them away from gangster-related activities.

Mr Arendse said that cyber-security had been noted as one of the strategic risks in the province and within the cyber-security strategy, three areas had been identified and these included investing in the proper tool sets to monitor, detect, and respond to all cyber risks, monthly awareness campaigns, and regular penetration testing. He said that no security vulnerabilities were found during the annual audit by the Auditor-General of South Africa and that continuous upskilling of the team is taking place to keep abreast with developments in the cyber-security space. He expanded and said that outdated infrastructure increases the risk of cyber-security, making it critical to build proper defence mechanisms internally and externally.

He replied to Ms Baartman on digitally empowering citizens. He said that the Department was not in a position to train learners in coding and web development because of the costs involved. However, it was partnering with universities for free online access to training, and the digital skill training opportunities reported on page 40 related to the Institute of Corporate Learning (ICL) training that the Department had provided.

Ms Hildegard Fast, Director: Policy and Strategy, Western Cape Government, explained that the Shukuma pilot arose from a deep concern about learner-on-learner violence in schools, and extensive surveys were done to understand the attitudes towards violence. Based on international literature research, a programme was developed which was piloted in the first year and expanded on, in the previous year, to thousands of learners. She stated that it creates awareness among learners to understand their emotions and to control their actions. The programme was very successful and therefore it was expanded.

She explained that the Family Strengthening project is based on the assumption that new parents might not be aware of the appropriate tools to care for their disobedient children. International literature was consulted, local content was investigated together with NGOs and a set of norms and standards were developed to strengthen families. The Department also assessed 18 different NGOs to understand how the programme was working. She stated that the project created a community of practitioners cooperating with the Department of Social Development. The Shukuma pilot was done in partnership with the Western Cape Education Department. She added that the Nourish to Flourish initiative worked with children who do not have adequate access to nutrition which is a complex problem. The Department also developed the Five Best Buys programme which would be able to make the biggest impact on creating the best nutritional outcomes for all residents.

Ms Henriette Robson, Deputy Director-General: Corporate Assurance, Western Cape Government, replied to Mr Klaas about how transformed governance increased service delivery and said that the vision to change the mindset about governance was created when the strategy plan was drafted in 2020. It relates to the activities of PT and other government departments. As a rule, proper processes need to be followed for a faster and improved procurement process to ensure service delivery to patients and learners. She indicated that the vision is to change the mindset from compliance to service delivery. She added that the Department has undergone a self-assessment to ensure that service delivery processes are integrated and efficient.

Dr Malila said that everything in the Department is being done through a risk lens and that the fiscal environment is currently the biggest risk to service delivery that government will face in the coming year. He mentioned that the communications from the National Government about revenue shortfalls will directly impact the work of the Western Cape Government. He highlighted that citizens need to understand that the constrained environment would make it difficult for the government to fulfil all the promises made. He assured the Committee that the Western Cape Government is trying to manage the situation.

Follow up discussion

Ms Baartman asked about the number of learners who had been participating in the Shukuma pilot, the families in the Family Strengthening project, and the children in the Nourish to Flourish project.

Dr Malila said he would provide a comprehensive written report about all the numbers requested by Ms Baartman.

Mr Klaas sought clarity to his earlier question on the causes of the deviation regarding Programme 2 on Provincial Strategic Management. He asked if a change in activity caused the deviation.

Ms Baartman said some of the output indicators in paragraph 4.3.2 on page 59 could be stated differently. For example, the number of reports produced on work experience opportunities facilitated for the youth could just be reported as work experience opportunities for the youth. She said she would prefer that the Department report on the details such as the number of participants, the amount of the budget, and whether it was over or underachieved.

She inquired about the number of young people targeted to participate in the internship programme referred to in paragraph 2 on page 63.

Highlighting paragraph 3 on page 87, she mentioned that Legal Advisory and Governance Services attended to approximately 1 400 requests for legal opinions and contract vetting, meaning that each person dealt with roughly 140 requests per year. She was concerned about overloading people, given the amount and nature of the work that needed to be dealt with compared to the number of people in the team.

Mr Dugmore noted that reference is made to the GBV communications campaign on page 82. He drew attention to a Chief Director of the Department of Transport and Public Works who has been appearing in court on charges of sexual assault. Given that the Premier was leading this campaign, he asked if the Department of the Premier had conducted its own investigation into the incident and whether the information could be provided to the Committee. He indicated that he held the view that an official charged in a criminal court should be on suspension pending the outcome of the case.

He questioned the payment of R500 000, referred to on page 91, that was made in terms of a Transfer Payment Agreement to the DG Murray Trust for research on alcohol harms. He mentioned that a new liquor bill was before the legislature and in terms of the Provincial Constitution, the Commissioner for Children is a Chapter 9 institution. However, funding has been earmarked as indicated on page 93. He asked when the Commissioner’s budget would be allocated so that the entity could report directly to the Standing Committee.

He requested a breakdown of the service providers who benefitted from the R25 million that was earmarked for strategic communication, as noted on page 96.

Mr Pretorius inquired about the success rate of the talent attraction and retention strategies concerning the subprogramme on People Management Practices, referred to in paragraph 3 on page 63.

Dr Malila agreed with Ms Baartman on the restatement of the output indicators because the quality of indicators is important. He said that the indicator descriptors in the APP indicate the details that need to appear in reports.

Addressing Mr Dugmore's inquiry, he said the legal matter was being handled in the legal space.

He said it was the duty of Parliament to make funds available for the expenditure of the Commissioner for Children and that the role of the Department is to ensure that the entity complies administratively with the law and supply chain management guidelines. He said that the entity accounts directly to Parliament regarding output and performance. He added that an analysis of the spending plan of the R25 million would be communicated in writing.

Ms Louise Esterhuyse, Chief Director: People Management Practices, Western Cape Government, said talent attraction and retention refers to the whole employee life cycle and that the Department provides different employee-related services to eleven departments. She mentioned that the current turnover rate is 10% for the Department of the Premier and 12% for the eleven departments and according to research, a healthy turnover rate is between 5 to 10%.

An official noted the comment by Ms Baartman that the indicator should change from the number of reports to actual work experience and said that the Report does contain more detail about the work experience gained and the courses attended.

Mr Lukas Buter, Deputy-Director General: Legal Services, Western Cape Government, reminded the Committee that a review of the structure of the organisation was suggested in previous years because the demand was growing but capacity remained unchanged. The review structure has since been signed off and funding was received to fill the additional posts created. Three legal advisors were appointed in the local government space to address the regression in governance and service delivery at municipalities. He indicated that more than 2 000 requests were received during the year under review and the staff complement is adequate to meet this demand. In terms of overloading, he stated that long working hours were identified as a concern in the recent survey conducted but this was being managed through in-house collaborations to ensure seamless delivery. He mentioned that a database of legal opinions was created that could be accessed and flexible working hours had been introduced.

He said that the Department was being proactive by doing an upfront due diligence assessment of a large project through the Legal Governance Unit. He commented that the Department of the Premier was only involved in the disciplinary investigation as it related to the legal matter of the Department of Transport and Public Works. However, it did not yield a decision to charge the alleged perpetrator. He said the matter was before the Commission for Conciliation, Mediation, and Arbitration (CCMA) and an interlocking application was being adjudicated. He further added that it was envisaged that the merits of the case would be heard the following year.

He expressed that he did not have the details about the Liquor Bill which involves two phases and offered to provide the Committee with a summary of the two phases of the Bill in writing.

Mr Klaas wanted to understand the progress of the Centre for e-Innovation, given the number of deviations and asked about the number of Wi-Fi installations that had been done and if the implementation process was continuing.

The Chairperson enquired about the more than 28 000 computer users equipped with modern Microsoft Office 365 software. He asked if all the software licenses had been accounted for.

Dr Malila said the biggest expenditure was related to Microsoft licensing and the vulnerability caused by the exchange rate and that about 28 600 users were being supported on the network. Additionally, 1 300 schools received support.

He replied to Mr Klaas and mentioned that implementation was not done and that the APP targets included the creation of more e-centres and other means of getting improved services to citizens. He added that 15 channels for citizen interaction were created.

He mentioned that the Premier drove the First Thursday initiative which enabled access to and interactions with himself and senior government officials. He said the initiative would be expanded to communities outside the current Wale Street programme.

He indicated that there were currently 1 508 Wi-Fi hotspots, close to 1 900 broadband sites had been upgraded to network speed, and that the major initiative for 2025 is Broadband 2.0. He said the reasons for deviation could result from a change in activity.

Mr Buter confirmed that all licenses had been accounted for and acknowledged that a licence shortage does exist due to funding constraints of the Department but other departments could also fund their own licenses.

Mr Dugmore noted the entry on page 97 that no donor funds were received during the period under review and sought clarity on the donation that was discussed earlier.

He requested a copy of the Government Immovable Asset Management Act input submitted to the provincial Department of Transport and Public Works by the Department of the Premier.

Dr Malila said a distinction needs to be made between monetary donations and donations in kind. He clarified that the previous discussion related to donations in kind, while monetary donations refer to funds that go through the revenue fund. He said all donations received the previous year were in kind.

Mr Dugmore sought clarity on whether the US government appointed its own service providers concerning the USTDA donation and that no money was transferred to the Department.

Dr Malila confirmed that no money was transferred to the Department in connection to the USTDA donation.

PART D

Ms Baartman wanted to understand why the overtime amount of more than R1.3 million for Programme 4 on page 126 was substantially higher than the other programmes. She pointed out that the table on page 132 reflected the reasons for resignations; 30 staff members provided no reason, while 11 attributed the resignation to current remuneration. The age brackets on page 133 reflected that the resignations were mostly from the younger age groups. She wanted to understand why the majority of young people were leaving.

Mr Dugmore said he could not find any mention in the strategic plan on how the Department was planning to become more representative. It was, therefore, not surprising that the table on page 134 reflected only four Africans out of 64 employees in the top management structures. He highlighted that the figure for coloured people was also below the average for historically disadvantaged people. He asked if the Premier would agree that the figures were against the spirit of the Employment Equity Act and that it did not bode well for building trust amongst the Coloured and Black communities.

Mr Klaas enquired about the strategy applied to ensure representation in terms of People Management Oversight statistics referred to on page 124. He referred to the employment changes in tables 3.4.1 and 3.4.2 on pages 131 and 132, respectively, and wanted to understand the turnover rates reflected in the tables.

Response

The Premier indicated that Dr Malila had spoken at length about the strategic plan, and he disagreed with Mr Dugmore on the issue of building trust.

Dr Malila responded to Mr Klaas and said that the number of staff remunerated is based on the organisational structure, that all appointments are reviewed in terms of an organisational development component, and that any deviation must follow a specific process. He highlighted that the different programmes are also linked to the organisational structure. The Department employs about 1 213 people, with most working in Programme 3 which deals with Human Resources, and Programme 4 which deals with the Centre for e-Innovation. He explained that the turnover rate is the net movement of appointments, transfers, and terminations. The biggest concern was the large number of people who enter and exit the system at the lower management levels. However, very limited movement was reported over the past year. He said that staff on the senior management level had been taking considerable strain by either performing two jobs or standing in for positions that could not be filled due to budgetary constraints. He said Ms Baartman was correct in her analysis in terms of the large number of young people who were leaving.

Ms Esterhuyse said that overtime was predominately related to network challenges. She agreed that younger people are more mobile and their understanding of loyalty to an organisation differs from older people. She added that this needed to be embraced because young people are building their careers.

Follow up discussion

Mr Pretorius asked about the personnel expenditure of more than R616 million, which equated to 34.5% of the total expenditure in table 3.1.1 on page 125, compared to other provinces. He regarded 34.5% as a very high percentage for staff payments.

Dr Malila said the percentage differs across departments, highlighting that in the Department of Education, it was about 80%, and around 60% in the Department of Health. He said that a big chunk of the Department’s expenditure is spent on goods and services of which the broadband contract with expenditure between R350 million to R400 million was the biggest. He stated that a wage agreement that exceeds the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and that is unfunded by the National Government puts a lot of pressure on the system. For this reason, it is proposed that the budget be reduced by R160 million and most of the reduction would impact personnel expenditure. He mentioned that the Department was trying not to overload people while at the same time sending signals that times are tough. He added that to be the best employer, the issues of balancing work life, health, and wellness are important.

Mr Dugmore enquired about the outcome of the three disciplinary hearings regarding sexual harassment on page 149.

Ms Esterhuyse said the outcome is set out on page 148, indicating that two individuals were found not guilty and one was suspended without salary and a final written warning.

The Chairperson declared the Annual Report for Vote 1 deliberations closed as Members had no further questions. No member of the public made use of the opportunity granted to give input and the Chairperson thanked the Premier, Dr Malila, and the rest of the team for their input and for attending the meeting.

The Premier thanked the Committee, expressed his appreciation for the team’s hard work, and said that the record showed their commitment to the citizens of the province.

Resolutions and actions

The Chairperson indicated that the minutes of 29 September 2023 needed to be adopted. The minutes were flighted for scrutiny and subsequently adopted by the Committee without any amendments. He proceeded by asking for resolutions for inclusion in the Committee report on the deliberations. He requested the procedural officer indicate in writing the information the Department had committed to providing.

The Procedural Officer indicated the following information requests:

• A copy of the skills audit report
• A breakdown of the condonation of irregular expenditure of R472 000
• A breakdown of the numbers concerning transversal policies and strategies such as the Shukuma pilot, the Family Strengthening project, and the Nourish to Flourish initiative
• A copy of the Corporate Governance Framework.

She asked whether Ms Baartman wanted more information on work experience and opportunities of the youth.

Ms Baartman said she was making a recommendation on the way the information needed to be reported in terms of the strategy plan and how the targets could be tightened. She said that the respective reports should be requested and that she would check the indicators again when the annual strategy is discussed.

The Procedural Officer doubted that information about the sexual assault case could be requested because the matter is before the CCMA.

The next items to be requested were:

• A short summary of both phases of the Liquor Bill
• A breakdown of the service providers concerning the R25 million for strategic communication
• A copy of the input provided for the Government Immovable Asset Management Act to the Department of Public Works

Ms Baartman said the day of the meeting was the first day of the last annual report season for the term and that the Department needed to be congratulated for the clean audit.

Mr Dugmore proposed that the Committee express its concern about the ongoing failure over the past four years to ensure that the Department is more representative of the people of the Western Cape as reflected in the information provided.

Ms Baartman said the table dealing with employment equity showed that the top management comprised 66% coloured people, while the representation at the other levels was, on average, 57.9%. The racial composition of the Western Cape showed that coloured people represented 47.3%. She expressed that her view was that the Department did well in terms of racial composition and, therefore, disagreed with Mr Dugmore.

Mr Dugmore said he was referring specifically to senior and top management but he would understand if his proposal was not seconded.

Mr Klaas noted that Ms Baartman was only counting the statistics of one nation and not the rainbow nation and that emphasis should not be placed on only one race.

Ms Baartman said the concern was raised about the regional demographics and based on the statistics; she disagreed that the regional composition was not representative.

Mr Klaas agreed with Ms Baartman but said the reality of the rainbow nation should not be ignored when issues of a democratic state are being discussed.

Mr Pretorius concurred with Ms Baartman and said that the test in this regard was the findings of the Auditor-General. He stated that while effort is being made to comply with BEE and Employment Equity, the Auditor-General did not make a finding on the matter.

Mr Klaas said it must be brought to the attention of the Department that deviations should not be used as a solution at all times.

The Chairperson said the input received would be covered in the Committee Report on Vote 1 which the procedural officer would be tasked to draft. The Report would be considered and adopted at a later date as per the normal procedure. He thanked Members for the robust discussion.

The meeting was adjourned.