SPEECH BY MEC NKOMFE AT THE GAUTENG PROVINCIAL LEGISLATURE DURING THE TABLING OF THE 2012/13 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE
MADAM SPEAKER AND DEPUTY SPEAKER;
HONORABLE PREMEIR;
MEMBERS OF THE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL;
MEMBERS OF THE GAUTENG PROVINCIAL LEGISLATURE;
LADIES AND GENTLEMAN;
We are pleased to present to you the 2012/13 Annual Report for the Gauteng Department of Finance. This presentation is not ordinary or like any other one we have delivered before. The report comes at the end of our political term of office. This is also an important period in the history of our democracy as we celebrate 20 years of a democratically elected government.
As we proceed in doing all in our strengthen to improve the lives of our people, we need to bare the following quote from one of the greatest writers and philosophers this African continent has ever produced, Ben Okri . He says: “The most authentic thing about us is our capacity to create, to overcome, to endure, to transform, to love and to be greater than our suffering”
Honourable members, regardless of the terrible past and pain experienceswe emerged from,we have managed to overcome many obstacles on our way and create hope for our people. We have delivered on critical services and created opportunities for our people and established a better society. Concrete actions might have built bridges for communities who used to be trapped during flooding; building clinics in the most rural parts of our country; the provision of water and electricity to those who have never tasted drinkable water and those who only knew of candle light.We have sincerely made a difference in the lives of our people.In this past 20 years, we have been able to deliver services that have built and taken this country to unimaginable levels. Yes, the journey is still long, as the National Development Plan envisions, and as articulated in the Vision 2055 discussion document.
We need not shout nor expect accolades for our work, but when we see our people smile, when school children are bussed to school, when old women are given houses after waiting all their lives, then the socio economic transformation is not in vain.
Madam speaker,
During the financial year under review, the Department of Finance (GDF) became a standalone Department. This development was necessitated by the prescript from National Treasury, to standardise the organisational structures of Provincial Treasuries, and as a result the Gauteng Provincial Treasury was separated for GDF and established as a full-fledged department. In order to improve operational efficiencies and deliver on key provincial priorities, the Provincial Executive Council(PEC) under the leadership of the Honourable Premier Mokonyane, redefined the mandate of the new GDF, hence forth to deliver on the Provincial ICT strategy, and to provide limited back office support to GPG Departments. Essentially, the Department is tasked with implementing a hybrid shared services model, whose primary objectives are to be roll out the ICT infrastructure, provide internal audit services, forensic services, transversal procurement services, and transversal human resources services.
In short, the GDF’s revised mandate is to focus primarily on building and maintaining an efficient ICT infrastructure for the GPG. In order to comply with this requirement, we have revised our organisational structure, and this structure has recently been approved by the DPSA. We are now in the process of filling strategic vacancies.
To contribute to the province wide strategies, as well assupporting the GDF’s strategic plan, the department has adopted the ICT Strategy Framework to drive transformation ICT initiatives in Gauteng. The roll out of Gauteng Broadband Network (GBN) is central to the implementation of key elements of the GPG ICT Strategy. The implementation partner will be tasked to roll out the network infrastructure from 2014 – 2015. To this end, our Broadband network infrastructure will be implemented in a phased approach, where the e-Learning network will receive first priority. This will be followed by connecting Government buildings, e-Services to other Departments, and the 20 Priority Townships. We have also awarded the e-Learning contracts which include the supply of tablet devices and connectivity. Implementation will commence in earnest in the beginning of 2014 calendar year.The e-Learning solution will provide the core network which will comprise Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity to all 2 200 Provincial public schools, to name a few.
One of our other key ICT strategic objective and initiative,is to provide innovative, integrated and interoperable systems by introducing a fully managed Data Centre for the province and which will result in the reduction of server rooms within GPG, and also, reduce ICT operational costs by forming strategic partnerships with key service providers .
We have managed to achieve 96% availability of WAN, ensuring that internet is available in all GPG departments. It is worth noting that 2 of our ICT processes where issued with an ISO 9001 Best Practice Certification (Provincial Administration Services in GT, and Procure to Pay in GDF).
Madam Speaker
In our quest to automate the manual human resource processes, the department will roll out the automated termination system to four additional GPG departments.
Maponya Mall Professional Job Centre provided access to job opportunities to over 3000 job seekers. Furthermore, we will avail GPG vacancies to our communities through the launch of 10 mobile recruitment campaigns during the 2013/14 financial year.
We have managed to achieve substantive progress in the thorniest issues that have created a lot of media interest;30 day payments. The average GPG performance for the 2011 / 12 financial year was 27% improving to 51% in the 2012 / 13 financial year. We are pleased to report that this figure has grown significantly to 91% for the first quarter of the current financial year. This significant growth is an indication of the success of the various interventions that were implemented to enhance the Province’s performance in this critical area. The Procure to pay unit continues to make strides on key service delivery milestones: Some of the success stories include, processing 99, 5% of all invoices received within 4 working days, registering vendors on the GPG database of suppliers within 12 working days SLA a, registered 100% (1,245) of Individual vendors on the GPG database of suppliers within 4 working days SLA. In addition, 100% of all GPG transversal contracts were loaded in the contract management system within 30 days.
In line with the above the Department also paid most of its service providers within the stipulated 30-days, and as a consequence, reduced its accrued expenses to R18m (2012: R118m and 2011:R336m) at year-end. This is a significant achievement which demonstrated the efficacy of our prudent financial management practices.
The Forensic Services Unit in their effort to combat fraud and corruption will continue to provide forensic services, which includes the prevention, detection and investigation of fraud and corruption in all GPG Departments. This will be achieved through conducting investigations into reported incidents of fraud and corruption, fraud detection reviews, fraud risk assessments, assistance in dispute resolution arising from recommendations, and through heightened awareness, online, and interactive fraud and corruption awareness campaigns. To proactively detect fraud committed through the use of any computer devices, the organisation will be resourcing the unit with data mining and computer imaging capabilities. (Digital evidence management).
In 2014, Gauteng Audit Services (GAS) will continue to perform internal audit services throughout the GPG in the specific areas of risk and compliance, computer and performance audits. The unit will undergo an external quality assurance assessment to evaluate conformance with the International Standards for the Professional Practices of Internal Auditing as prescribed by the Institute of InternalAuditors. We will continue to upgrade the knowledge and competencies of the internal audit staff through focused training and the updating of our audit practices and methodologies.
Finally, in assisting the GPG Departments to achieve the target of clean audits by 2014, the unit will continue to monitor progress on the implementation of audit findings across the departments, and on a regular basis, will report non implementation to Heads of Departments and Audit Committees for their intervention. In addition, GAS has planned to conduct quarterly reviews on interim financial statements, key controls and performance information.
In Okri’s words, our efforts and determination has made us move beyond the suffering.A better South Africa is realised.
Thank you