Corruption/state capture

The commission of inquiry into state capture to commence its work shortly. The Commission should not displace the regular work of the country’s law enforcement agencies in investigating and prosecuting any and all acts of corruption. Urge professional bodies and regulatory authorities to take action against members who are found to have acted improperly and unethically. Urgently attend to the leadership issues at the National Prosecuting Authority to ensure that this critical institution is stabilised and able to perform its mandate unhindered. Appoint a Commission of Inquiry into Tax Administration and Governance of SARS. Visit every national department to engage with senior leadership to ensure that the work of government is effectively aligned.

Summary of the State of the Province Address 2018

The Honourable Premier of the Province of KwaZulu-Natal presented the state of the Province Address (SOPA) on Wednesday, 28 February 2018 in Pietermarizburg Show Ground made the following remarks/ emphasis on provision of good governance with clear and relevant policies

“Whereas we cannot claim to have control over the global economy, we have no excuse on matters of governance. When we fail in When we fail in providing governance that is responsive to the needs of our people, or if our policies are not aligned or impractical, if we squander state resources, it fails in our hands.”

Furthermore, he said that the people of KwaZulu-Natal must have confidence in governance structures and must be satisfied with the levels of governance and service delivery in our Province. The KZN Cabinet is committed to being a caring and competent government, always placing people at the centre.

It is with pride to pronounce that of the KZN Provincial Growth and Development Strategy and Plan had been aligned with the National Development Plan. It is on this basis that they have been facilitating the development of District / Metro Growth and Development Plans in this Province to provide a context for alignment of Municipal Integrated Development Plans (IDPs) and eventually even Ward Based Plans.

However, he articulated that they were not content with the status of our intergovernmental relations.

A Provincial Framework for improved intergovernmental relations has been developed and will soon be presented to the Provincial Executive Council for adoption. This will assist greatly to ensure that

"Team Government" can function better and in unity, regardless of the sphere of government it represents.

"Team Government" to perform better the province have to step up its ability to manage state’s departments and entities in a manner that will meet the good governance standards measured by the Auditor General. As a province, “we accept that we have to improve on a situation where only two Departments in the Province, namely Provincial Treasury and the Department of Sport and Recreation received Clean Audits in the last financial year.”

KZN Government is committed to effectively combat fraud and corruption and reduce unauthorised, irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure. As a result, a a zero-tolerance approach will be applied in dealing with those who are found guilty of these transgressions.

The KZN Cabinet has agreed on starting lifestyle audits of officials in high risk positions and Supply Chain Management Units will be the starting point to conduct this audit. This will be done in collaboration with SARS. It is equally not impressed that state entities do not meet standards as far as our commitment to have all payments made within 30 days. Special measures are being implemented to improve our reporting on payments and to ensure that appropriate consequence management steps are taken where required.

A culture in our government where integrity is at the core of everything we do will be instilled, through a proactive integrity management programmes in the public and private sectors. The Governement of KZN wants to commit to a public-private coalition dedicated to combatting fraud and corruption and promoting good governance. This does not seek to portray a view that all government officials are corrupt or inefficient. As a matter of fact, the province has and award sterling officials who have been more than willing to go the extra mile to serve the KZN community in the true spirit of Batho Pele.

A different form of rationalisation has unfolded since the 2016 municipal elections where the number of municipalities in this Province has been reduced from 61 to 54. This has resulted in 6 merged or newly constituted municipalities. Under the leadership of the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, the province has been providing special and dedicated support to these municipalities to enable them to becoming fully functional. Suport is provided across all municipalities via the Back to Basics Programme. gee Based on the latest Back to Basics Reports it is understandable that there is a need to urgently attend to the following local governance matters:

• Improving the level of functionality of public participation structures;

• Managing relations between Municipal and Traditional Leadership structures;

• Eliminating unfunded budgets in municipalities;

• Improving revenue collection and debt management;

• Increasing the number of municipalities and entities with clean audits;

• Improving financial provision for Operation and Maintenance of Critical Infrastructure;

• Eliminating municipalities defaulting on payment arrangements with ESKOM;

• Preventing water losses; and

• Improving technical capacity to manage growth and development.

Commitment to accountability

As indicated in the previous State of the Province Addresses, the province is once again committed to be held accountable for delivering on all the programmes and targets in the 2018 State of the Province Address.

• They acknowledge and respect the oversight role of the House as set out in the Constitution and in the Oversight Model adopted by the House which aims to strengthen the oversight function.

They commit to work in strengthening and deepening this this oversight function, because it is the right thing to do.

• They accept that they are ultimately accountable to the people of this Province. They therefore pleased to announce that they have concluded an agreement with Stats SA and that the 2018

KwaZulu-NataI Citizen Satisfaction Survey will start in the following week. This will be a perception survey of 20 000 households in our Province where people will be rating our services as Provincial and Local Government. The outcome of this survey should be released later this year and they undertake to publicise these results widely.

• It was reported that the Provincial Executive Council, as a collective has signed Service Delivery Agreements. All MECs, by signing these agreements with the Premier, expressed their commitment to lead by example and to be held accountable to the achievement of the outcomes expected from their respective portfolios.

• These Service Delivery Agreements are also to be used as a point of departure for the Performance Agreements of Heads of Departments for the next financial year.

4.8. PROVINCIAL GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY (PGDS)

The KZN Provincial Planning Commission has embarked upon undertaking the 5year review of the PGDS. The Revised 2016 KZN PGDS is designed to facilitate sustainable and inclusive economic growth, reduce growing inequality and promote environmental sustainability.

To realise the vision of “KwaZulu-Natal, a prosperous Province with a healthy, secure and skilled population, gateway to Africa and the world”, the following seven long-term goals have been identified to guide policy-making and resource allocation to 2035.

to build this gateway by growing the economy for the continued development;

 the continued improvement of the quality of life of all people living in the Province;

 Ensuring that those currently marginalized have broader socio-economic opportunities.

This Revised PGDS puts forward 31 strategic objectives to achieve seven strategic goals, as indicated in the table below.

The strategy is supported by 151 interventions.

Figure 2: PGDS 7 Strategic Goals

The PGDS is furnished with a provincial development framework that informs the implementation of the prescribed development

objectives and envisaged interventions set within the PGDS. The PGDS takes cognizance of the areas beyond the boundaries of major urban centres, i.e. small services centres that are mainly poverty-stricken areas; it states that these areas should not be marginalized from development. In this regard, Creighton and Underberg in the municipality are identified as a quaternary node, which the PGDS defines as follows:

Table 10: PGDS Strategic Goals & 

Objectives

Adopted from PGDS

Table 11 PGDS Classification of Nodes

Intervention Node Broad Intended Function

Quaternary Nodes These nodes are mainly centres, which should provide service to the local economy and community needs and is represented by 31 towns, such as but not limited to: Nongoma, Nkandla, Bergville, Greytown, Underberg

It serves to highlight that the Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma Local Municipality Spatial Development Framework (SDF) is mindful of the specifications made by the PGDS for spatial development that