On youth unemployment
Honourable Chairperson,
On the 16th of June we will be in Mangaung for the Youth month commemorations under the theme, “Accelerating youth economic emancipation for a sustainable growth”. We will deliver a more detail report on the work that we are doing in addressing the challenges facing the youth of our country.
In line with the commitment I made in this august House during the Oral Replies Session of 20 April 2023, I led a two-day outreach programme together with the Human Resource Development Council to KwaZulu-Natal Province, on 18 and 19 May 2023.
The focus of this multi-stakeholder Council visit to the province was to assess the impact of the Human Resource Development Strategy in the province and strengthen its alignment with the implementation of the District Development Model in eThekwini and Umgungundlovu Municipalities.
During the Human Resource Development Council meeting of 19 May in KwaZulu-Natal Province, members of the Council recommitted themselves to the skills development objectives by signing two social compacts; one focussed on building the foundations for learning, led by the National Education Collaboration Trust, and the second one focussed on building skills for transformation in the economy and society, led by the National Skills Authority.
We also visited projects that support skills development and job creation in the province. Specifically, we visited:
Westown Precinct
• Westown Precinct is located in the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality’s Shongweni Economic Development Node and is the initial phase of the construction of a new smart city between Durban and Pietermaritzburg.
• It is a collaboration between the City, the private sector and uBukhosi base maNgangeni. It contributes towards increasing the skills levels of the youth, women, persons with disabilities and military veterans in the City.
• The Precinct opened an on-site Technical Training Centre in April this year, which equips people from Shongweni and surrounding communities with the critical skills required to participate meaningfully during the construction phase of the development and beyond.
• It is anticipated that almost 500 community members will be equipped with these trade skills at the end of the current phase of this development, in November 2024.
Cedara College of Agriculture
• The Cedara College of Agriculture, which is located in Hilton in Mgungundlovu District Municipality, is the second oldest Agricultural College in the country.
• The College supports the farming community through services such as Soil Analytics and contributes to food security and employment opportunities.
• At this College, we also interacted with over 80 young and emerging farmers from Kokstad, Amanzimtoti, Mooi River and beyond.
Mgungundlovu TVET College and Education Precinct
• This Precinct has almost 40 partnerships with government departments, municipalities, non-governmental organisations and private sector companies, all of which converge to deliver on its mandate.
• The Department has allocated 182 Million Rands for this Precinct project, and this model will be replicated across the country.
We are convinced that the engagements we have held together with the Human Resources Development Council are yielding the required results. We are going to continue with this work, especially strengthening collaboration between the government and the private sector in order to create the much-needed jobs.
This is the district development model in action.
I thank you.
On land reform and agricultural support
Honourable Chairperson,
When we responded to a similar question on 25 May 2023, we outlined a number of programmes that government has put in place to address both financial and technical support to emerging farmers. These include amongst others:
• The Comprehensive Agricultural Support Programme and Ilima/Letsema, which is aimed at resourcing and equipping producers towards increased food production and other value chain activities;
• The Land Development Support Programme, which supports Land Reform by assisting farmers who acquired farms with infrastructure, farm machinery and equipment, production development/inputs, and provision of technical support, including mentorship;
• The Blended Finance Scheme, which supports commercialisation;
• The South African Good Agricultural Practices Certification Programme, which assists farmers to meet minimum food safety and quality requirements, and thus ease access to the market;
• Collaboration with the Japan International Cooperation Agency, and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation for the implementation of the Farmer Field Schools. Both these interventions enhance the provision of extension services for small-scale farmers towards attaining sustainable food production and market access.
Honourable Chairperson,
As part of the comprehensive farmer support, the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development provides capacity development interventions that is focused on capacitating producers with requisite skills and mentorship, based on their needs at a farm level.
In this regard, we will be implementing targeted programmes to empower the most disadvantaged sectors of our communities including youth, women and persons living with disabilities:
• Through the Presidential Employment Stimulus, we have been able to provide production inputs for the most vulnerable producers for household food security and self-employment;
• Farmer Production Support Units provide a centralised service centre for producers to get production inputs, mechanisation, and technical support;
• The Land Care Programme is aimed a protecting and preserving natural resources and creating employment opportunities in rural communities;
• The Animal and Veld Management Programme provides animal husbandry related infrastructure such as fencing, handling and dipping facilities, and water provision for livestock, including boreholes;
• The River Valley Catalytic Programme is designed to revitalise irrigation schemes in our former homelands;
• The Micro Agricultural Finance Institute of South Africa provides affordable loans for producers;
• The National Rural Youth Service Corps (NARYSEC) Programme targets unemployed rural youth for skills and capacity building for sustainable opportunities in the agricultural sector.
As Government, we are committed to fast-tract the pace of land reform in order to ensure the improvement of our people’s lives for the better, especially those living in rural areas.
I thank you.
On service delivery hotspots
Honourable Chairperson,
Government has identified service delivery hotpots with the aim to improve universal access to basic services such as clean water, sanitation, sustainable energy, refuse collection and other essential services.
An evaluation of the State of Local Government that was conducted in 2022 revealed that the number of dysfunctional municipalities had increased from 64 to 66. Amongst other things, this increase can be attributed to a lack of capacity, poor governance, financial management, corruption, as well as failed coalition arrangements.
Honourable Chairperson,
In this regard, the Department of Water and Sanitation, working together with the elected leadership in municipalities, have agreed on a number of improvement plans to resolve water related challenges. Part of the solution includes the following interventions:
• Financial Support through the Regional Bulk Infrastructure Grant and Water Services Infrastructure Grants;
• Technical advice and management support from the Department of Water and Sanitation and its Water Boards.
Similar interventions have been put in place to resolve the issue of water contamination in Hammanskraal in the North of Tshwane, where, unfortunately, lives were lost due to this crisis.
President Cyril Ramaphosa recently announced that the Departments of Water and Sanitation, Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Human Settlements, the Gauteng Provincial Government, together with the City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality have begun collaborating on a larger scale to revamp and expand the Rooiwal Water Treatment Plant to resolve the water and sanitation challenges in Hammanskraal.
This project is expected to take three years to complete, at a cost of Four Billion Rands (R4 Billion). The Development Bank of Southern Africa has been brought on board to manage this project.
In the meantime, Government will keep on providing clean water to the people of Hammanskraal through water tanks, while Magalies Water builds a "package water system" that will provide water to the people.
Honourable Chairperson,
Through the District Development Model, we are ensuring that not only is the provision of essential services expanded, but also that communities outside of the service delivery hotspots receive dependable and high-quality services.
We strongly believe that through the DDM and Service Delivery Rapid Response Approach, we shall have, in each district, One Plan that is measurable, implementable, and citizen-focused.
Government will continue to implement measures to ensure that communities have access to dependable and high-quality services. Amongst others, these include the following:
• The deployment of technical professionals by the Municipal Infrastructure Support Agent and the implementation of capacity development programmes.
• A focus on professionalization of Local Government, including the publishing of the Municipal Staff Regulations;
• The revival of the Green Drop and Blue Drop certification by the Department of Water and Sanitation;
• The adoption of National Pothole Repair Programme to intensify the fight against potholes and general road refurbishment and improvement.
What is of critical importance to us, is that as we execute these reforms, we are putting communities at the heart of service delivery and organising citizens and members of civil society to contribute towards the development of a brighter tomorrow for all communities.
I thank you.
On challenges in the Kopanong Local Municipality
Honourable Chairperson,
As I committed to this august House on 19 March 2023 that I would undertake an oversight visit to Jurgersfontein, I would like to report that indeed on the 9th of May I led a government delegation comprising leaders across the three spheres of government to visit Jurgersfontein.
The visit confirmed the challenges related to service delivery, financial sustainability and the debt to Bloem Water in that municipality.
The dam disaster of September 2022 has worsened the situation and the recovery is proving to be slower than anticipated.
There are a couple of things that we agreed on together with the Free State Government and the Xhariep District mujnicipality, as well as with the private sector and other critical stakeholders.
The immediate interventions included the Free State Provincial Government subsequently invoking Section 139(1)(b) of the Constitution on 17 May 2023, as part of efforts towards improving service delivery.
The Free State Provincial Executive Council has also appointed representatives to oversee the implementation of the intervention, with a focus on dealing with the water supply challenges experienced by residents and issues related to the financial viability of the municipality, as well as responding to the educational needs of youth in the area.
In ensuring that we respond adequately through a sustainable solution, I have delegated Deputy Minister Tau of the Department of Cooperative Governance and Deputy Minister Majola of the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition, to lead a project management team that will consult with various stakeholders such as National Treasury and Department of Water and Sanitation in an attempt to find solutions to this matter.
This project management team is working closely with the Free State Provincial Department and the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation in ensuring that responses to the above challenges are anchored on ensuring that the District Development Model serves as the foundation for enabling adequate and efficient service delivery to the people, driving infrastructure investment and advancing local economic development.
Honourable Chairperson,
These are some of the citizen-centric efforts that we are providing political oversight over in Kopanong Local Municipality. We will continue to work tirelessly towards ensuring that we deliver on our mandate of ensuring the improvement of life and dignity for all in the municipality, as outlined in the Constitution.
I thank you.
On eradication of fraud, corruption and theft in government department
Honourable Speaker,
The Land Reform programme remains a major part of the work of government. We must not waiver on this task if we are to realise our transformation agenda. We must not allow anyone or anything to defocus us on this task, worst of all the allegations of fraud and corruption.
It is for this reason that Cabinet approved the National Anti-Corruption Strategy in November 2020, which enables the country to step up the fight against fraud and corruption.
As part of investigating allegations of corruption, we are working with various law enforcement agencies and entities to ensure that those responsible for such activities are prosecuted, and to put in place, corrective measures to mitigate against the recurrence of such acts.
In this regard, President Cyril Ramaphosa has signed Proclamation R 114 of 2023, authorising the Special Investigating Unit to investigate allegations of maladministration and corruption in the former National Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Project Ilima/Letsema Support Programme, and to recover any financial losses suffered by the State.
According to the Special Investigating Unit, the Proclamation covers offences which took place between the inception of Letsema and 17 February 2023, or after the date of publication of the Proclamation, but is relevant to, connected with, incidental or ancillary to the matters mentioned in the Schedule or involve the same persons, entities or contracts investigated.
One of the cases that are under investigation by the SIU relates to the concluding of a lease agreement with Cultiver Investments, which the Special Tribunal has recently declared as being irregular and unlawful.
This is one amongst many matters that the department has taken steps to investigate after the emergence of fraud and corruption allegations. Internal investigations have resulted in disciplinary hearings, civil and criminal referrals of employees who are implicated in acts of corruption.
As the Chairperson of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Land Reform, we will continue to work with implementing departments and entities in fast-tracking land reform and the coordination of programmes to accelerate land reform and agricultural support.
I thank you.
On delivery of essential services
Honourable Chairperson,
The government is focusing on strengthening leadership and professionalisation of the public service, skills development, accountability, interdepartmental coordination, intergovernmental relations, and better governance of state-owned enterprises.
On 19 October 2022, Cabinet approved the National Framework towards the Professionalisation of the Public Sector. The Framework was introduced to ensure that only qualified and competent individuals are appointed into positions of authority, in pursuit of a transformed, professional, ethical, capable and developmental public sector.
The Professionalisation Framework has been extended to the national, provincial and local spheres of government, organs of state and the legislative sector. Therefore, recommendations made in the National Framework shall be consistently applied across the public sector, including the Military, State Security, Police and Correctional Services.
Honourable Chairperson,
Our State-Owned Enterprises are at the forefront of economic and social transformation of our country. SOEs are key drivers for the provision of critical infrastructure required for the development of our country’s economy. This includes electricity generation, commuter transport, water provision, freight logistics, technology, and telecommunications, amongst others.
In order to closely monitor the performance of State Owned Enterprises, the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation launched the State-Owned Enterprises Monitoring Framework in March 2023, to strengthen the oversight capacity of departments that oversee Public Entities.
These are some of the measures that government has implemented to maximise the capacity and capabilities of government departments and state entities to ensure greater alignment across the public sector to optimise the interconnection between planning and performance management.
Honourable Chairperson,
The President has delegated us to monitor the implementing of the District Development Model (DDM), which is an operational model for improving cooperative governance aimed at building a capable, ethical and Developmental State. The DDM embodies an approach by which the three spheres of government and state entities work in unison in an impact-oriented way, and where there is higher performance and accountability for coherent service delivery and development outcomes.
Through outreach programmes, and oversight visits that we are currently conducting, we are able to trouble shoot challenges at District level and ensuring that One Plans are developed, and implemented to address service delivery challenges at local government level.
To further maximise the capacity and capabilities of government departments and state entities, the government has forged partnerships with its science councils, namely: The Human Science Research Council, Council for Geoscience, and many others, to establish a Community of Practise for Science Councils Monitoring and Evaluation Practitioners.
The purpose of the Community of Practice is to share lessons learnt on best practices amongst the members to build the planning, monitoring and evaluation capacity and capabilities of government departments and state entities. The Community of Practice will be leveraged to look beyond its current scope of facilitating Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) networking, sharing and peer learning to building state capability to resolve development challenges.
In this regard, the Human Sciences Research Council is working with Government to support local government initiatives to improve service delivery. The initiatives include support to the District Development Model, focussing on:
• Engaging lead departments on a data observatory to enable real-time access to DDM information, which is critical for evidence based decision-making;
• Deploying the Municipal Innovation Maturity Index to assess readiness and strengthen innovation maturity to improve service delivery.
• Harnessing solutions developed by the Department of Science and Innovation entities to support the DDM through the Viability and Validations of Innovations for Service Delivery Programme;
• Submitting the DDM project information to the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) for planning purposes,
Government will continue to build state capacity and capabilities by encouraging continuous learning and professional development through institutions like the National School of Government, TVET Colleges, Science Councils, and Institutions of Higher Learning.
I thank you.
Date:
Wednesday, June 14, 2023 - 16:15
Tags:
.png)
.png)
.png)
