State Information Technology Agency, & Public Administration Leadership and Management Academy Strategic Plan & budgets 2010/11
Meeting Summary
The Public Administration Leadership and Management Academy (PALAMA) briefed the Committee on its Strategic Plan and budget. It was undergoing a process of further transformation and it was hoped that that would result in an organisation that was better aligned to the twelve outcomes-based government priorities, as set out in the Medium Term Strategic Framework (MTSF). The Strategic Plan should be seen as a “document in transition”. It included a new focus on frontline services and local government training. It also addressed the programme of unemployed youth training through interventions facilitating entry into the public service environment. The deliverables sought to complete the commitment made in the last financial year to continue training public servants in junior and middle management services, senior management service, and current commitments. PALAMA’s role in the President’s call for “working together” would be crucial in building the developmental state. It would be building the technical capacity of the public service, and inculcating service ethos and citizen centred values and attributes. It would ensure professional competence in the public service, including local government, through building public sector cadres who could deliver services to the people, show a caring attitude in dealing with citizens, earnestly listen to people’s concerns, truthfully reflect the wishes of the people, sincerely address their hardships, and do more to speed up effective services to the people. The challenges were outlined as the Academy having to work hard to meet performance targets, against the impact of the FIFA World Cup on training bookings, the expensive cost-recovery model, which could reduce training uptake and revenue generation, and the fact that there were no course fees increase this financial year. Members raised concerns about PALAMA’s role in relation to unemployed graduates, many of whom were probably unemployed because they simply did not have the right skills. Government, before hiring them, should ensure that they could actually improve delivery on the ground. Members commented on the apparent focus on senior and middle management, stressed the need to instil Batho Pele principles in front line support staff, asked whether PALAMA would be offering courses to Parliamentarians, and who would be facilitating training. Members were worried about duplication with other institutions, suggested that PALAMA also needed to play an advocacy role and ensure that those trained were being offered internships or other employment, and proposed that promotions should be awarded only after completing prescribed courses or demonstrating real competence before a peer review. Members felt that challenges to the public service related to lack of commitment, xenophobia, lack of patriotism, and lack of understanding and appreciation of the relative roles of government and civil society, and asked what PALAMA would suggest to deal with this. Members felt that the presentation had not addressed the real questions of training, nor set out sufficient financial details, and suggested that the Committee should visit it, and set up further sessions to discuss delivery.
The State Information Technology Agency noted that it currently had eleven board members and three vacancies, and the staffing was outlined. The Strategic Plan intended to refocus SITA in order to fulfil its mandate, and was informed by SITA needing to become a trusted advisor and ICT implementation partner to government. It must observe the government programme of action and macro-economic environment, and recognise ICT trends and best practices. It must improve service delivery, using information technology and information systems that were maintained in an information systems secure environment, and promote the efficiency of government functioning. SITA had identified a number of areas in which it could participate, but these had still to be funded. Its financial challenges included the need to improve investment capital, agency services, service level management, and stakeholder relationships (which was the reason for appointment of a Stakeholder Manager). It must reflect the partnership model, drive the new turnaround, and develop technical and learnership skills.
Ms van Schalkwyk commented that in the previous year leaks to the industry from within SITA had resulted in the cancelling of a large tender for the Smart Identity Cards, and questioned whether those had been identified and investigated and whether the Auditor-General’s report on procurement practices would be made available. No reply had been received to questions to the Minister on this issue, nor the risk assessment report. Members raised concerns about pricing, as SITA was sometimes more expensive than private suppliers, questioned the CEO’s appointment, and commented that it was difficult to relate the Vision 2025 document to the one, three and five year plans. Furthermore, Members felt that they needed further information on the Turnaround Strategy, possible contradictions in the legislation and questions that remained unanswered from previous years. It was agreed that another meeting would be arranged at which these issues could be fully aired, and that the Strategy Plan and budget would not be approved at present.
Meeting report
Public Administration Leadership and Management Academy (PALAMA) Strategic Plan and Budget 2010/11
Professor Solly Mollo, Acting Director General, Public Administration Leadership and Management Academy (PALAMA or the Academy) gave a brief overview of PALAMA, which was undergoing a process of further transformation. PALAMA aimed to be more in line with government priorities. It needed to be a focused and appropriately resourced organisation with key people to play its role in developing the public sector cadre required by the South African developmental State. Engagements with the Ministry were aimed at finalising PALAMA’s further transformation, through the development of a framework for developing the public sector cadres, which would then lead to development of a new curriculum model, financial model, and ultimately the final organisational form that would allow the Academy to deliver its mandate. The Strategic Plan should therefore be read as a document in transition.
The strategic plan contained deliverables and outputs that were outcomes-based, in line with the government thrust. They began to anticipate the direction of the organisation, based on signals from the President and the Minister of Public Service and Administration. There was a new focus on frontline services and local government training. In addition the plan addressed the programme of unemployed youth training through interventions facilitating entry into the public service environment. The deliverables sought to complete the commitment made in the last financial year to continue training public servants in junior and middle management services, senior management service, and current commitments. The completion of the further transformation would therefore lead to the mid term review of PALAMA’s strategic plan.
PALAMA, governed by the Public Service Act of 1994, was a Schedule 1 national department under the control of the Minister of Public Service and Administration. It should provide or facilitate training and issue certificates. Its mandate must be seen in the context of the five priorities of government, as well as the two additional priorities of human settlements and local government.
2010 was declared to be the Year of Action, where the President had emphasised that ‘working together we can do more’ in order to make a government that was more caring, more responsive and more interactive. The role of PALAMA was central because of its developmental role of building the technical capacity of the public service, ensuring professional competence and inculcating service ethos and citizen centred values and attributes. Building and strengthening local government was important. Professional competence would only be obtained by building public sector cadres who could deliver services to the people, show a caring attitude in dealing with citizens, earnestly listen to people’s concerns, truthfully reflect the wishes of the people, sincerely address their hardships, and do more to speed up effective services to the people.
PALAMA’s focus was on achieving an efficient, effective and development-oriented public sector. It would therefore establish a comprehensive funding model for public sector training linked to skills development, and implement legislation to replace the cost-recovery model, which was an expensive model. It would set minimum standards of training for public sector officials in specific competency areas each year. It would identify required core skills and introduce mandatory development-oriented training, introduce a national integrated public sector training system for government, covering the three spheres of government, and streamline the government wide public sector training.
Professor Mollo noted the ten-point priorities set by the Minister of Public Service and Administration for PALAMA. PALAMA was to design and develop courses in relation to the public sector cadre development, administrative justice, management and leadership development, Break to Entry programmes for the unemployed graduates, and human, financial, project and programme management. It would also build capacity of public servants to implement programmes though skills development and deployment through Project Khaedu for middle and senior managers, attend to frontline and support staff training. It would design and develop a capacity building programme targeting local government, and build partnerships with national, provincial and local government department. It would also monitor and evaluate training courses. It was also to convene three capacity building workshops for better implementation of donor-funded projects, and champion continental capacity building programmes (see attached presentation for full details).
Professor Mollo tabled the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) figures for 2010/11 (see attached presentation for full details). The total revenue was R117.1 million, of which R61.6 million was from course fees was R61.6 million, and R55.5 million from the budget vote. The total expenditure was R115.9 million, which anticipated a surplus of R1.1 million.
Professor Mollo outlined the challenges. There was a risk of the Academy not being able to meet its performance targets due to the FIFA 2010 Soccer World Cup impact on training bookings, although departments had been advised of the need to book early. The current cost recovery model was expensive and could reduce training uptake and revenue generation. There was no course fee increase for 2010/11.
He reiterated that further transformation of PALAMA was under way, to align the organisational strategy and the business model to government priorities.
Discussion
The Chairperson highlighted that PALAMA, as an institution of Public Service and Administration had been high on the agenda for the Cabinet Lekgotla, because of its impact ad implementation on all departments. She wondered whether some of the issues raised in the presentation were quite correct. There were some outstanding issues from the last meeting. The Committee would have loved to see training in practice in one of its institutions, it was unfortunate that Parliament had so many programmes running at the same time and did not get the opportunity. There was also the issue of who was doing the training and how it was conducted. The cadreship was an issue to be interrogated, as were the issues of meeting the budget vote, and the capacity to deliver on the programme, as well as whether the issues of the developmental State were correctly identified.
Prof Mollo responded that PALAMA was looking forward to a visit by the Committee, and had made preparations for it.
Ms F Bikani (ANC) supported the issue of practical training. She felt that the Committee would need to undertake an oversight visit, as a priority for Members to understand and deliberate further on matters concerning PALAMA.
She noted that in the last year, there was an issue around how PALAMA was to integrate itself into Human Resource development as a way of ensuring proper coverage of relevant employees for training, and to ensure that the programmes they were implementing were aligned to the capacity needs of government. She noted that the presentation seemed to indicate that PALAMA was mainly prioritising senior management for training, and she wondered if that was still relevant, saying that there would be a greater need to go down to lower management levels in government, because capacity problems were found throughout.
Mr Maja Botshabelo, Deputy Director General: Junior Middle Management Service Programme, PALAMA, explained that that was one of the areas where the Agency anticipated quite a major shift as it moved into further transformation. Thus far PALAMA had been focusing on senior managers and junior and middle managers. The President had repeatedly raised the problem of frontline services, where there were people below middle and junior management, and the Agency had already intervened in that area. The issue of frontline services and public servants below senior management services and also below junior and middle management services was an area in which PALAMA intended to intervene in the coming year.
Ms Bikani referred to the risk involving FIFA, and asked what the link was between training and the FIFA Soccer World Cup.
Prof Mollo explained that the whole focus and mood in the country related to soccer, and if PALAMA was not proactive, people would tend to forget about it. PALAMA had written to remind people to book accommodation and training needs early to avoid a crisis. Usually, many courses would be booked for the second half of the year.
Ms Bikani said the current cost covering model was expensive. She asked PALAMA to briefly summarise the advantages and disadvantages, as it was considering that the current model be shelved.
Prof Mollo acknowledged there was a need to establish a comprehensive funding model in order to do away with the cost recovery model. Since those new plans of further transformation were not yet approved it had declared a moratorium on any increment in funding.
Ms J Maluleke (ANC) was disappointed to see that there was still an Acting Director General.
Mr Jeremiah Mela, Deputy Director General: Corporate Affairs, PALAMA, responded that interviews had been conducted in February regarding the vacant position of the Director General in PALAMA, and the Minister was expected to table proposals to Cabinet in this month.
Ms J Maluleke (ANC) recalled that during last year’s presentation on the budget vote, there was a suggestion that courses be made available for Members. She asked for clarity on the forms or other requirements for Members to attend those courses.
Dr Sal Muthayan, International Relations: PALAMA, replied that PALAMA was in the process of working with a task team from the Speaker’s Forum to develop a programme for Members of Parliament and legislatures. PALAMA was meeting with the reference group that afternoon to finalise the details. The introductory programme for that course was due to be rolled out in April, and would be followed up by a postgraduate certificate in governance and leadership. The primary purpose of the introductory course and the certificate was to improve the practical skills of Members in their work.
Ms Maluleke also asked what criteria would be used to select the unemployed graduates for training. She appreciated PALAMA training local government and hoped this would centre on issues of finance, as there did not seem to be competent financial personnel in many municipalities.
Mr Rufus Mmutlana (Deputy Director General: Transformation, PALAMA, responded that as far as local government was concerned, PALAMA had been working with local government for years, but this time it was collaborating within the framework of the local turnaround strategy led by Department of Cooperative Government and Traditional Affairs (COGTA). Two senior managers were assigned to the implementation team, as part of the strategy approved by Cabinet. PALAMA’s role was in capacity building. It was also working with other approved partnerships, and was hoping that PALAMA would formulate a comprehensive approach to local government capacity building, rather than the previous ad hoc approach. About a year ago PALAMA, in partnership with National Treasury, trained all 283 municipalities on supply chain management, quite apart from the bigger programme of capacity building with local government.
Mr Mollo added that COGTA was comfortable in discussing the training needs with PALAMA.
Ms H van Schalkwyk (DA) understood that PALAMA was in the process of transforming from being a service provider to being a facilitator. She asked who would be the service provider for the local government mass induction programme.
Mr Mmutlana replied that over 1000 trainers had been trained to present programmes in their various provinces, on induction programmes. That training was informed by a Ministerial directive issued in 2008, which made the programme that new public servants’ probation would not be confirmed until they had undergone that programme. However, PALAMA may wish to have more of those directives to ensure that public servants did undertake training. The Ministerial directive targeted provincial and national departments, but was not specific about local government. It was hoped that a new Bill would be able to extend that training and make it compulsory.
Mr L Suka (ANC) had expected more information on the strategy. He understood that PALAMA was going through further transformation in terms of its approach, and wondered what the impact of that would be in relation to the budget.
Prof Mollo said Slide 8 of the presentation was a window as to how PALAMA intended conducting its business. It also covered some of the input that Hon Rasool had made, and referred to the missing hard edge and the integration mentioned by the Chairperson. The slide spoke to the cadre development, the funding models of the public sector, making orientation training mandatory, and integrating the national public sector across all spheres of training.
Mr Suka noted that PALAMA was operating under legislation dating from 1994, and asked if this would have to be amended to fall in line with the transformation agenda.
Prof Mollo reminded Mr Suka that the Act of 1994 had been amended several times, and the current Bill covered some of the issues that might need attention.
Mr Suka appreciated the intense training envisaged for the various categories, including unemployed graduates. He asked which institutions PALAMA would be working with, to do the training in the various regions, since the Committee wished to monitor and evaluation. He also noted that some departments had their own training programmes. He saw that COGTA and South African Local Government Association (SALGA) were also conducting training at local level, and asked if there would not be duplication.
Prof Mollo responded that a number of competencies were available within government. One of the arguments concerned whether it was necessary for a Chartered Accountant to train on the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) or whether it should not rather be recognised that there were people within National Treasury or other departments who had the necessary skills and experience to impart their knowledge successfully. The model would be looking at the in-house skills, and certain generic models would be entered into with institutions. The criteria for sourcing those institutions were that they understood and supported government’s outlook.
Mr Suka noted that there were many unemployed people, including graduates and undergraduates. He asked if PALAMA was working closely with the Further Education and Training (FET) Colleges, so that some of those unemployed could be redirected and become self sustainable. He wondered if there was a marketing strategy to invite the unemployed, or if access was a closed issue.
Mr E Rasool (ANC) said the issue of unemployed graduates was important, given that government wanted to improve service delivery. PALAMA had a database of 3 000 unemployed graduates, but the two did not necessarily meet, because some of the unemployed may have trained in areas such as theology, or teaching, or science. He asked whether government was being regarded as an “employment agency” that could absorb them, and what would be done to actually improve the public service in attitude, skills and reaching the objectives of government. Merely reaching the objective of employing 1000 unemployed graduates did not necessarily improve the public service. The challenge to the 3 000 unemployed people on the database, and the many thousands outside, was to take the initiative to transform their existing skills that made it difficult to employ them. He asked whether government would be happy to absorb those who were “at the bottom of the list” in the sense of not having skills that would make them competitive in the market. He believed that PALAMA had an advocacy, rather than an absorption role to play. He suggested that PALAMA could design short courses for the skills that government needed in order to improve service delivery.
Prof Mollo agreed that PALAMA needed to play an advocacy role. In relation to the question about the 3 000 people who had been trained, he said that if those people had not, for instance, been hired to teach in another training institution, they could go into the pool of qualified teachers who could be chosen for the public service. PALAMA suggested that anyone wanting to join government should undertake training courses. The business model was not finalised as to what would be the best-case scenario, but a pool from which to recruit was being suggested. He was mindful that government did not want to be left with the “chaff”, and was working with the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) database. A member of PALAMA was represented at NYDA.
Mr Rasool questioned what made it compulsory for people to undertake training. The first opportunity for training came when entering the public service, with the three months’ probation. He asked how PALAMA interacted with government to make the regulations, so that training in the first three months was a precondition for the probation being transformed into a permanent post.
Mr Rasool also suggested that there should not be promotions in government simply on the basis of having held a post for a number of years, but rather on the basis of completion of a set number of prescribed (not voluntary) courses and Khaedu. He noted that Deputy Director Generals and Directors General were equivalent to professors at university. A professor, within two months of his or her appointment, had to deliver a lecture to his or her peers to demonstrate expertise. PALAMA, in his view, should insist that within a certain time after appointment, and as part of the probation, a Director General should have to go through induction and present a demonstration of knowledge to peers He believed that the “hard edge” was missing from cadre development in the public service.
The Chairperson asked how seriously one was to take a person working for government. If delivery was required in the developmental State, then a certain kind of cadre was required. She gave an example that a person, before being employed, might be asked about the training and how these people were approved to deliver services. She asked if people understood the five overall objectives, the developmental requirements, and the deliverables required by the State, even before being evaluated. The challenge in this country was also a lack of commitment. She said that unfortunately many people were already in positions. She asked if there was commitment on how to work with civil society and who would look into that. Other challenges included xenophobia, lack of patriotism, and lack of understanding and appreciation of what the country was, and who was in partnership with government in order to deliver. She asked how these issues could be approached.
Prof Mollo agreed that the Chairperson had raised a very fundamental issue about the role that PALAMA had to play, especially in the developmental state. In order to have a dynamic public service there was a need to have PALAMA well focused and well resourced, so it was able to feed those technical capacities to the public service. Without technical capacities the dream of a developmental state might be elusive. The skills were hard skills, but were also the basis behind inculcating systems and ethos. Creating a new cadre would be achieved by changing mindsets. If the way that people thought was not changed, then there would be no change to the way they acted. The major challenge was to understand that this was the responsibility of serving the people. PALAMA would try to inculcate that spirit of patriotism and sow the seeds that would permeate across society. He stressed that the role of other organs of society was very important. PALAMA would be focusing on public servants to improve their attitude. He noted that there was much to be learned from countries like China and Korea.
The Chairperson sought clarification on the difference between PALAMA and PSETA (Public Service Sector Education and Training Authority).
Prof Mollo responded that stakeholders from various institutions, many of them being institutions of higher learning, had been invited to participate in a strategic planning session last December, when the need to reconnect with the past to understand current conditions was discussed. PSETA had given a presentation, setting out its role, so that there was no overlap, and this led to calling of a workshop to define the roles all stakeholders played, so that there was not a multiplicity of programmes and delivery methods to address the core issues of unemployed graduates. The presentation showed that there had been compliance overall, but the critical issues were around delivery.
Ms Bikani was concerned that the strategic plan, although it looked good, did not speak to what should be happening within PALAMA in terms of the real training and how it was being done. The name “Academy” suggested some form of education. The financial allocations did not talk to exactly how people were to be trained. There had merely be mention of the 3 000 graduates. She would have expected PALAMA, as an entity of government, to be a negotiator, which was why she asked about the links to human resources and development. Often, people were trained with a view to going into internships, but this did not happen. She believed municipal training must be aligned to skills development to ensure that the trainees were given learnerships or practical training to make them ready for employment. She believed that PALAMA should undertake the key function of ensuring that, after training, government was actually placing the trainees. She did not think there was any improvement on the financial allocations from last year. Last year, there had been criticism that too much was spent on travelling, but this year that item had simply been removed, without anything further being said. She did not feel that enough was being said about the actual training.
Ms Bikani reiterated that there was a need for the Committee to visit PALAMA urgently, to see what it was doing, and to act. She wanted the Committee to establish whether it was a worthwhile entity rather than merely duplicating what was already happening in terms of skills development and human resource development in the public sector.
Mr Suka said the document spoke of “cadres” when it was in fact “public servants” being discussed.
He wondered if the Batho Pele principles were being taken across, especially to front line desks of staff in government institutions, because he did not believe those principles were being observed.
Mr Suka had also expected some measure of time frames in the strategic plan, and believed it was too open.
Prof Mollo said all the details were set out in the main document.
Mr Suka said that although the Committee was expected to vote on the budget, there was insufficient information, and too much was lumped under “goods and services” with not enough detail. He would have liked to have heard what the budgetary challenges were.
The Chairperson asked if PALAMA wished to respond now, or revert to the Committee. She noted that the Department of Trade and Industry (dti) identified key areas where skills were required, and the Department of Higher Education and Training did the training accordingly, and the Committee wanted to hear about similar issues.
Prof Mollo responded that PALAMA had considered those matters and the fundamental question was whether PALAMA had the capacity – which was one of the issues behind the transformation. He said that further answers would be given later.
The Chairperson added that she appreciated that rearrangement, in light of the budget, would be challenging, but the Members needed to fully understand the budget in order to do its proper oversight.
Ms Bikani added that the Committee must assist in processes, especially around training, because government was crying out about the need for capacity building, but nobody was giving effective input. She also wished to know where PALAMA stood in relation to employment equity, the Skills Development Act and Human Resource development and management, since the perception was that they were standing aloof, not involved with what should be happening. She requested that a session be set up to ensure that there was full coordination.
State Information Technology Agency (SITA) Strategic Plan and Budget 2010/11 budget
Mr Moses Mtimunye, Chief of Strategy Services, and member of the CEO’s Team, State Information Technology Agency, tendered apologies from the Chairperson of the Board and the Acting Chief Executive Officer, who were hosting a Chief Whips Forum in Pretoria.
Mr Mtimunye noted that Cabinet announced last week that new board members had been appointed. State Information Technology Agency (SITA) now had eleven board members and three vacancies. An induction session for them would be held on the following Thursday and Friday, during which the Strategic Plan would be presented, and possible adapted after their input. The Minister of Public Services and Administration was at the helm of the entity, and there was a Board of Directors, with four subcommittees. The Chief Executive Officer, Company Secretary and Chief Audit Executive reported to the Board. Positions still to be filled were those of Chief of Procurement, a replacement Company Secretary (to fill a recent resignation) and appointment of a permanent Chief Audit Executive. These appointments should be made in the coming months.
The presentation spoke to Vision 2025. The corporate strategy referred to the three year cycle. The operational plan related to 2010/11.
He noted that Vision 2025 was essentially taking a long term view of how SITA should look in 2025. Every three-year plan must work towards achieving that long term plan.
SITA, as of April 2009, had been in operation for ten years, and had shown successes as well as challenges and failures. Strategies were developed to deal with some of the opportunities, as well as the challenges and threats. The current strategic plan intended to refocus SITA in order to fulfil its mandate. The plan was formed by SITA’s need to become a trusted advisor and ICT implementation partner to government, whilst observing the 2009 Medium Term Strategic Framework (MTSF), the government programmes of action (POA), the recessionary macro-economic environment, current trends in the ICT landscape and best practices that governments were applying in the adoption and utilisation of ITC. SITA’s vision was to become a high performance ICT service provider of choice to the public sector. It must use ICT to achieve the challenges faced by the developmental state and to keep in mind what government wanted to achieve.
SITA’s mandate was set out in the founding Act. The critical part of its work lay in planning for how the principles and outcomes of ICT must be achieved, then in acquiring the ICT, and finally in operating and running the technology. All systems must be secure, be interoperable, aim to reduce duplications, conform to economies of scale, and must be inclusive of those who were previously disadvantaged. ICT must lead to convenience to the citizens, which would then champion increased productivity by the public sector employees in dealing with the day-to-day requirements more quickly. In addition, the costs of providing those services must then become lower.
SITA set out the values to which it subscribed (see attached presentation). The strategic plan listed eleven areas in which SITA must act, and eight in which it could act, in accordance with the governing legislation. It subscribed to a value system of service excellence, transparency, integrity of the organisation and of the individual; fairness, prudence in exercising caution in using monies that belonged to the State, and innovation in resolving problems in government requiring ICT.
The mandate was still to improve service delivery using information technology and information systems that were maintained in an information systems secure environment, and to promote the efficiency of government to function. SITA’s mandatory and alternative actions were located across four critical service offerings of full outsourcing, value-add services, systems integration and solution development and support and transaction services.
Mr Mtimunye set out the recent stakeholder inputs. SITA had had long engagements with the Minister of Public Service and Administration on where SITA should be in future, and a Ministerial Task Team. It had held meetings with a number of executives and stakeholders. The Turnaround Strategy was to be implemented, and specific resolutions were taken at workshops. Presentations and input on the areas where SITA was felt to be successful or failing were taken. There was a need to revisit what SITA provided, from a service portfolio perspective. The Government’s Programme of Action (POA) must be taken into account. SITA Account Managers spoke to clients on a day to day basis, the SITA Management team had engagement with clients, had discussions with the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (GCIO), engaged with shareholders through the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) and the Information Technology council and provincial shareholders. SITA had generally performed well, according to stakeholders, except that in 2008/09 it had not improved on its operational excellence.
Vision 2025 was that SITA should be proactive and agile, driven by the mandate, aligned to government, and providing holistic end-to-end business solutions to departments. It should be a user of latest generation technologies such as virtualisation and communication convergence, should deliver services on demand, and take responsibility for its growth and creativity imperative. That was quite a departure from its current position, where it depended entirely on the requirements of government departments. It had to work upon becoming a trusted partner of government.
SITA had identified a number of areas in which it could contribute to executing the Government POA. However, those identified areas still had to be funded either through a budget vote or through any other mechanism that conformed to National Treasury guidelines.
Mr Mtimunye described what SITA was doing to meet the twelve outcomes of Government. SITA currently helped in the quality of education through the Learner Unit Record Information Tracking System(LURITS), but planned to improve this so that the relevant departments could plan and fund for learning institutions. SITA wished to become a primary service provider for the Integrated Examination system (IECS) National Senior Certificate (NSC). In regard to Health, SITA provided telecommunications to rural clinics and extended the functionality of telemedicine, provided electronic Health Record systems and continued to provide the maintenance and support of the Medical Supplier Administration System(MEDSAS).
With regard to Security, SITA ensured participation in the integrated Justice System as a strategic partner, and introduced anti-corruption and anti-fraud systems. In relation to the provision of decent employment, SITA would improve job satisfaction and maintain Employment Equity targets, and improve job opportunities for young graduates. To support a skilled and capable workforce to support an inclusive growth path, SITA was proposing the design and development of a national skills database and forecasting system.
In relation to the desire for an efficient, competitive and responsive economic infrastructure network, SITA extended unified communication for government (video and voice over Internet protocols), and extended the SITA National Government Network (NGN) to all spheres of government, which allowed government to become more productive and enable a competitive environment. It was contributing to having equitable and sustainable rural communities, contributing to food security for all, by deployment of Thusong Centres in an additional 70 sites, and the deployment of a geographic information system to improve planning and decision-making, particularly at local government level.
In relation to sustainable human settlements and improved quality of household life, SITA wanted to support the implementation of the National Integrated Social Information System (NISIS), to enable verification of those applying for indigent grants. ICT full functioning at local government levels should improve accountability. SITA was introducing a green ICT programme, relating to electronic waste and water saving. Finally, there were a number of SITA initiatives around creating an efficient, effective and development oriented public service and empowered, fair and inclusive citizenship. These included work on the Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS) and governance in IT services, extension of unified services for government, and collaboration with PALAMA to provide skills from an ICT perspective.
SITA then set out some aspects of the Turnaround Strategy. The eleven board members were appointed. The three new Executive Members (CEO, COO and CFO) should be appointed shortly. There would be a review of the legislation, and proper oversight. The Turnaround Strategy was also looking at how to improve procurement and what this was about. SITA had to become more stringent in introducing outcomes-based performance management, and was already implementing a Quarterly Performance Review Mechanism. It was reviewing the pricing and funding model in line with the challenges, was setting standards for effective service delivery along quality principles, and thought it prudent to appoint a Stakeholder Manager to deal with stakeholders, particularly at political level, in the provinces and local government.
In future, SITA would consolidate. It was envisaging an IT skills development plan, review of the current business model, development and building of a shared service model around the country, trying to reduce its overhead costs, and the development of a cost and pricing model based on activity based costing (ABC).
SITA was making a concerted effort to include local government in the ICT strategy, in the context of a single public service, and was providing for legislation to extend SITA services to all spheres of government. It would also amend the regulations to strengthen government departments’ capabilities for ICT planning, ICT programme management and ICT service management.
SITA conceded that in some areas it had not performed well in 2010. It would be improving on education, and had identified the need to improve investment capital, agency services, service level management, and stakeholder relationships. It was restating to reflect the partnership model. It would continue to drive the new Turnaround and develop technical and learnership skills. It was also aiming to improve its long term financial sustainability, optimise revenue streams, leverage assets optimally (both people and resources), optimise working capital, improve cost structures, and improve investment capital.
For 2010/11, SITA was projecting revenues of R4.3 billion. Cost of sales was anticipated to be R3.4 billion. This would give a gross surplus of about 19%. It was working hard to ensure that overheads were kept low, so that the cost of services from government became less. It anticipated that the revenue growth would be 5.5% and the net surplus was estimated at 3%. Mr Mtimunye said any inputs to improve the submission would be welcome. The Strategic Plan would continue to be a work in progress until the transformation was settled.
Discussion
Ms van Schalkwyk commented that the values of SITA were to be applauded, but she did not think the employees of SITA “walked the talk”. Last year leaks to the industry emanating from SITA linked to the cancelling of R5 billion to R6 billion tender for the issue of the Smart Identity Cards for the Department of Home Affairs. She had submitted a question to the Minister last year but had not received a reply, and asked SITA to clarify whether those leaks had been identified and investigated, and whether the Auditor General’s report on procurement practices would be made available soon.
She noted that SITA was supposed to meet with Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) at the beginning of March but that must have been postponed.
Mr Mtimunye said the Ministry was working on a response to those questions, and SITA had provided input, so the reply should be given to Parliament very soon.
Ms van Schalkwyk said that in the previous week the Public Service Commission (PSC) had given a presentation to the Committee setting out the requirements to be met in procurement processes. These included the need for evidence of an invitation for quotation, an appropriate quotation, and an evaluation of the quotation. She asked if SITA met with those requirements, as she felt that its procurement process was “in crisis”.
Ms van Schalkwyk further noted that a 613 page risk assessment report was handed to the Minister, which further accentuated the critical state of procurements in SITA, about ten months ago, but the Portfolio Committee had not had any access to that report. This had also formed the subject of a written question.
Ms van Schalkwyk had concerns on pricing related issues, as sometimes SITA was found to be more expensive than the private IT industry, when directly approached by departments. It seemed that price negotiation processes with suppliers were loose arrangements. She asked what SITA was doing in relation to pricing.
Ms van Schalkwyk asked if the CEO of SITA was a permanent appointment.
Ms Bikani said that the one, three and five year plans had been mentioned, whilst SITA’s Vision 2025 looked at fifteen years, and she did not feel that the Committee could accept this without seeing all phases properly outlined.
Ms Bikani commented on the substantial “makeovers” in SITA. She noted that the Committee still had questions unanswered from the previous years, including the issue of the Smart Card, “Who am I Online” and issues around the proposals in the Amendment Bill. The Articles of Association seemed also to be in contradiction with the legislation.
Ms Bikani agreed that pricing was also of concern.
Ms Bikani therefore suggested, especially in light of appointment of the new Board, that the Committee should stand all questions over to another meeting. It did not know how the Turnaround Strategy, which was yet to be presented, would affect Vision 2025. She did not find the arguments for the budget to be convincing as they had been presented. Every year, the Committee tended to approve SITA’s budget, but continued to have queries. This year, rather than letting those queries run forward, she suggested that all questions be consolidated, and that another presentation be given, during which the Turnaround Strategy was presented, so the Committee could compare SITA Vision 2025 and the new strategy. Without that insight, she did not think that the Committee could approve the Strategic Plan and budget.
Mr Suka supported that suggestion. He added that although he accepted the apologies, he was disappointed that the Board Chairperson and Accounting Officer did not present the budget.
Mr Suka said that most of the document presented did not go to the heart of the issues but spoke merely of intentions. He would not be happy to vote on that budget. He would have liked more information on the challenges and how SITA intended to address them.
Mr Rasool also supported the proposal that SITA return to brief the Committee on the Turnaround Strategy. SITA must inform the Committee how it was protecting itself against corruption, whether there was one preponderant procurement client, and why, and about obsolescence. Most lay people would not question when told to spend billions upgrading systems that were put in only recently. SITA should tell the Committee where the risks lay, in terms of corruption, what danger signals might present themselves, and how the Committee’s oversight could ensure that the Turnaround Strategy was not just structural and financial, but was protected SITA against potential corrupt practices.
The Chairperson said the Committee appreciated the new developments and the current challenges around synergising the structure, but said that past interactions were aimed to improve the way in which SITA functioned. She asked if SITA would like to respond now.
The Chairperson said that the Committee had not been happy about the “interchange” of Acting CEOs in the past, and she understood that SITA had requested another date so the CEO could be present, but had hoped that either the CEO or the Chairperson of the Board could have tried to be present.
Mr Mtimunye clarified that the three representatives were part of the CEO Team. He appreciated that the input and comments made were very valid. He had understood that more stakeholders than merely the new Board would be involved in the induction session. He noted that the Turnaround Strategy also focused on procurement, because SITA acknowledged the challenges in that environment, and this would come out clearly when the Turnaround Strategy was presented. He suggested that all the issues could be profitably engaged with in another session.
The Chairperson announced that all meetings in the following week had been cancelled.
Ms Bikani noted that the issue around PALAMA and Public Service Commission’s vote being incorporated within the DPSA vote was raised again in relation to SITA. There were challenges around funding that might not have been considered being channelled into a particular vote. She was concerned about the independence of those entities, and the fact that they might not receive the necessary attention when incorporated into the DPSA vote. This should be raised as preparation for this sector moving to Governance and Monitoring.
Ms Bikani also wanted the issue of how SITA operated in terms of the Act to be investigated, and whether the Act needed amendment to help SITA improve its status. That, too, should be taken over to the Governance and Monitoring Cluster.
The Chairperson agreed these were valid issues, and time should be set aside for the Committee to discuss them. She agreed that the Committee must be very cautious before simply passing a budget, especially as an Activist Parliament. The Committee needed sufficient time to reflect on the issues and map the way forward.
The meeting was adjourned.
Professor Solly Mollo, Acting Director General, Public Administration Leadership and Management Academy (PALAMA or the Academy) gave a brief overview of PALAMA, which was undergoing a process of further transformation. PALAMA aimed to be more in line with government priorities. It needed to be a focused and appropriately resourced organisation with key people to play its role in developing the public sector cadre required by the South African developmental State. Engagements with the Ministry were aimed at finalising PALAMA’s further transformation, through the development of a framework for developing the public sector cadres, which would then lead to development of a new curriculum model, financial model, and ultimately the final organisational form that would allow the Academy to deliver its mandate. The Strategic Plan should therefore be read as a document in transition.
The strategic plan contained deliverables and outputs that were outcomes-based, in line with the government thrust. They began to anticipate the direction of the organisation, based on signals from the President and the Minister of Public Service and Administration. There was a new focus on frontline services and local government training. In addition the plan addressed the programme of unemployed youth training through interventions facilitating entry into the public service environment. The deliverables sought to complete the commitment made in the last financial year to continue training public servants in junior and middle management services, senior management service, and current commitments. The completion of the further transformation would therefore lead to the mid term review of PALAMA’s strategic plan.
PALAMA, governed by the Public Service Act of 1994, was a Schedule 1 national department under the control of the Minister of Public Service and Administration. It should provide or facilitate training and issue certificates. Its mandate must be seen in the context of the five priorities of government, as well as the two additional priorities of human settlements and local government.
2010 was declared to be the Year of Action, where the President had emphasised that ‘working together we can do more’ in order to make a government that was more caring, more responsive and more interactive. The role of PALAMA was central because of its developmental role of building the technical capacity of the public service, ensuring professional competence and inculcating service ethos and citizen centred values and attributes. Building and strengthening local government was important. Professional competence would only be obtained by building public sector cadres who could deliver services to the people, show a caring attitude in dealing with citizens, earnestly listen to people’s concerns, truthfully reflect the wishes of the people, sincerely address their hardships, and do more to speed up effective services to the people.
PALAMA’s focus was on achieving an efficient, effective and development-oriented public sector. It would therefore establish a comprehensive funding model for public sector training linked to skills development, and implement legislation to replace the cost-recovery model, which was an expensive model. It would set minimum standards of training for public sector officials in specific competency areas each year. It would identify required core skills and introduce mandatory development-oriented training, introduce a national integrated public sector training system for government, covering the three spheres of government, and streamline the government wide public sector training.
Professor Mollo noted the ten-point priorities set by the Minister of Public Service and Administration for PALAMA. PALAMA was to design and develop courses in relation to the public sector cadre development, administrative justice, management and leadership development, Break to Entry programmes for the unemployed graduates, and human, financial, project and programme management. It would also build capacity of public servants to implement programmes though skills development and deployment through Project Khaedu for middle and senior managers, attend to frontline and support staff training. It would design and develop a capacity building programme targeting local government, and build partnerships with national, provincial and local government department. It would also monitor and evaluate training courses. It was also to convene three capacity building workshops for better implementation of donor-funded projects, and champion continental capacity building programmes (see attached presentation for full details).
Professor Mollo tabled the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (MTEF) figures for 2010/11 (see attached presentation for full details). The total revenue was R117.1 million, of which R61.6 million was from course fees was R61.6 million, and R55.5 million from the budget vote. The total expenditure was R115.9 million, which anticipated a surplus of R1.1 million.
Professor Mollo outlined the challenges. There was a risk of the Academy not being able to meet its performance targets due to the FIFA 2010 Soccer World Cup impact on training bookings, although departments had been advised of the need to book early. The current cost recovery model was expensive and could reduce training uptake and revenue generation. There was no course fee increase for 2010/11.
He reiterated that further transformation of PALAMA was under way, to align the organisational strategy and the business model to government priorities.
Discussion
The Chairperson highlighted that PALAMA, as an institution of Public Service and Administration had been high on the agenda for the Cabinet Lekgotla, because of its impact ad implementation on all departments. She wondered whether some of the issues raised in the presentation were quite correct. There were some outstanding issues from the last meeting. The Committee would have loved to see training in practice in one of its institutions, it was unfortunate that Parliament had so many programmes running at the same time and did not get the opportunity. There was also the issue of who was doing the training and how it was conducted. The cadreship was an issue to be interrogated, as were the issues of meeting the budget vote, and the capacity to deliver on the programme, as well as whether the issues of the developmental State were correctly identified.
Prof Mollo responded that PALAMA was looking forward to a visit by the Committee, and had made preparations for it.
Ms F Bikani (ANC) supported the issue of practical training. She felt that the Committee would need to undertake an oversight visit, as a priority for Members to understand and deliberate further on matters concerning PALAMA.
She noted that in the last year, there was an issue around how PALAMA was to integrate itself into Human Resource development as a way of ensuring proper coverage of relevant employees for training, and to ensure that the programmes they were implementing were aligned to the capacity needs of government. She noted that the presentation seemed to indicate that PALAMA was mainly prioritising senior management for training, and she wondered if that was still relevant, saying that there would be a greater need to go down to lower management levels in government, because capacity problems were found throughout.
Mr Maja Botshabelo, Deputy Director General: Junior Middle Management Service Programme, PALAMA, explained that that was one of the areas where the Agency anticipated quite a major shift as it moved into further transformation. Thus far PALAMA had been focusing on senior managers and junior and middle managers. The President had repeatedly raised the problem of frontline services, where there were people below middle and junior management, and the Agency had already intervened in that area. The issue of frontline services and public servants below senior management services and also below junior and middle management services was an area in which PALAMA intended to intervene in the coming year.
Ms Bikani referred to the risk involving FIFA, and asked what the link was between training and the FIFA Soccer World Cup.
Prof Mollo explained that the whole focus and mood in the country related to soccer, and if PALAMA was not proactive, people would tend to forget about it. PALAMA had written to remind people to book accommodation and training needs early to avoid a crisis. Usually, many courses would be booked for the second half of the year.
Ms Bikani said the current cost covering model was expensive. She asked PALAMA to briefly summarise the advantages and disadvantages, as it was considering that the current model be shelved.
Prof Mollo acknowledged there was a need to establish a comprehensive funding model in order to do away with the cost recovery model. Since those new plans of further transformation were not yet approved it had declared a moratorium on any increment in funding.
Ms J Maluleke (ANC) was disappointed to see that there was still an Acting Director General.
Mr Jeremiah Mela, Deputy Director General: Corporate Affairs, PALAMA, responded that interviews had been conducted in February regarding the vacant position of the Director General in PALAMA, and the Minister was expected to table proposals to Cabinet in this month.
Ms J Maluleke (ANC) recalled that during last year’s presentation on the budget vote, there was a suggestion that courses be made available for Members. She asked for clarity on the forms or other requirements for Members to attend those courses.
Dr Sal Muthayan, International Relations: PALAMA, replied that PALAMA was in the process of working with a task team from the Speaker’s Forum to develop a programme for Members of Parliament and legislatures. PALAMA was meeting with the reference group that afternoon to finalise the details. The introductory programme for that course was due to be rolled out in April, and would be followed up by a postgraduate certificate in governance and leadership. The primary purpose of the introductory course and the certificate was to improve the practical skills of Members in their work.
Ms Maluleke also asked what criteria would be used to select the unemployed graduates for training. She appreciated PALAMA training local government and hoped this would centre on issues of finance, as there did not seem to be competent financial personnel in many municipalities.
Mr Rufus Mmutlana (Deputy Director General: Transformation, PALAMA, responded that as far as local government was concerned, PALAMA had been working with local government for years, but this time it was collaborating within the framework of the local turnaround strategy led by Department of Cooperative Government and Traditional Affairs (COGTA). Two senior managers were assigned to the implementation team, as part of the strategy approved by Cabinet. PALAMA’s role was in capacity building. It was also working with other approved partnerships, and was hoping that PALAMA would formulate a comprehensive approach to local government capacity building, rather than the previous ad hoc approach. About a year ago PALAMA, in partnership with National Treasury, trained all 283 municipalities on supply chain management, quite apart from the bigger programme of capacity building with local government.
Mr Mollo added that COGTA was comfortable in discussing the training needs with PALAMA.
Ms H van Schalkwyk (DA) understood that PALAMA was in the process of transforming from being a service provider to being a facilitator. She asked who would be the service provider for the local government mass induction programme.
Mr Mmutlana replied that over 1000 trainers had been trained to present programmes in their various provinces, on induction programmes. That training was informed by a Ministerial directive issued in 2008, which made the programme that new public servants’ probation would not be confirmed until they had undergone that programme. However, PALAMA may wish to have more of those directives to ensure that public servants did undertake training. The Ministerial directive targeted provincial and national departments, but was not specific about local government. It was hoped that a new Bill would be able to extend that training and make it compulsory.
Mr L Suka (ANC) had expected more information on the strategy. He understood that PALAMA was going through further transformation in terms of its approach, and wondered what the impact of that would be in relation to the budget.
Prof Mollo said Slide 8 of the presentation was a window as to how PALAMA intended conducting its business. It also covered some of the input that Hon Rasool had made, and referred to the missing hard edge and the integration mentioned by the Chairperson. The slide spoke to the cadre development, the funding models of the public sector, making orientation training mandatory, and integrating the national public sector across all spheres of training.
Mr Suka noted that PALAMA was operating under legislation dating from 1994, and asked if this would have to be amended to fall in line with the transformation agenda.
Prof Mollo reminded Mr Suka that the Act of 1994 had been amended several times, and the current Bill covered some of the issues that might need attention.
Mr Suka appreciated the intense training envisaged for the various categories, including unemployed graduates. He asked which institutions PALAMA would be working with, to do the training in the various regions, since the Committee wished to monitor and evaluation. He also noted that some departments had their own training programmes. He saw that COGTA and South African Local Government Association (SALGA) were also conducting training at local level, and asked if there would not be duplication.
Prof Mollo responded that a number of competencies were available within government. One of the arguments concerned whether it was necessary for a Chartered Accountant to train on the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) or whether it should not rather be recognised that there were people within National Treasury or other departments who had the necessary skills and experience to impart their knowledge successfully. The model would be looking at the in-house skills, and certain generic models would be entered into with institutions. The criteria for sourcing those institutions were that they understood and supported government’s outlook.
Mr Suka noted that there were many unemployed people, including graduates and undergraduates. He asked if PALAMA was working closely with the Further Education and Training (FET) Colleges, so that some of those unemployed could be redirected and become self sustainable. He wondered if there was a marketing strategy to invite the unemployed, or if access was a closed issue.
Mr E Rasool (ANC) said the issue of unemployed graduates was important, given that government wanted to improve service delivery. PALAMA had a database of 3 000 unemployed graduates, but the two did not necessarily meet, because some of the unemployed may have trained in areas such as theology, or teaching, or science. He asked whether government was being regarded as an “employment agency” that could absorb them, and what would be done to actually improve the public service in attitude, skills and reaching the objectives of government. Merely reaching the objective of employing 1000 unemployed graduates did not necessarily improve the public service. The challenge to the 3 000 unemployed people on the database, and the many thousands outside, was to take the initiative to transform their existing skills that made it difficult to employ them. He asked whether government would be happy to absorb those who were “at the bottom of the list” in the sense of not having skills that would make them competitive in the market. He believed that PALAMA had an advocacy, rather than an absorption role to play. He suggested that PALAMA could design short courses for the skills that government needed in order to improve service delivery.
Prof Mollo agreed that PALAMA needed to play an advocacy role. In relation to the question about the 3 000 people who had been trained, he said that if those people had not, for instance, been hired to teach in another training institution, they could go into the pool of qualified teachers who could be chosen for the public service. PALAMA suggested that anyone wanting to join government should undertake training courses. The business model was not finalised as to what would be the best-case scenario, but a pool from which to recruit was being suggested. He was mindful that government did not want to be left with the “chaff”, and was working with the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) database. A member of PALAMA was represented at NYDA.
Mr Rasool questioned what made it compulsory for people to undertake training. The first opportunity for training came when entering the public service, with the three months’ probation. He asked how PALAMA interacted with government to make the regulations, so that training in the first three months was a precondition for the probation being transformed into a permanent post.
Mr Rasool also suggested that there should not be promotions in government simply on the basis of having held a post for a number of years, but rather on the basis of completion of a set number of prescribed (not voluntary) courses and Khaedu. He noted that Deputy Director Generals and Directors General were equivalent to professors at university. A professor, within two months of his or her appointment, had to deliver a lecture to his or her peers to demonstrate expertise. PALAMA, in his view, should insist that within a certain time after appointment, and as part of the probation, a Director General should have to go through induction and present a demonstration of knowledge to peers He believed that the “hard edge” was missing from cadre development in the public service.
The Chairperson asked how seriously one was to take a person working for government. If delivery was required in the developmental State, then a certain kind of cadre was required. She gave an example that a person, before being employed, might be asked about the training and how these people were approved to deliver services. She asked if people understood the five overall objectives, the developmental requirements, and the deliverables required by the State, even before being evaluated. The challenge in this country was also a lack of commitment. She said that unfortunately many people were already in positions. She asked if there was commitment on how to work with civil society and who would look into that. Other challenges included xenophobia, lack of patriotism, and lack of understanding and appreciation of what the country was, and who was in partnership with government in order to deliver. She asked how these issues could be approached.
Prof Mollo agreed that the Chairperson had raised a very fundamental issue about the role that PALAMA had to play, especially in the developmental state. In order to have a dynamic public service there was a need to have PALAMA well focused and well resourced, so it was able to feed those technical capacities to the public service. Without technical capacities the dream of a developmental state might be elusive. The skills were hard skills, but were also the basis behind inculcating systems and ethos. Creating a new cadre would be achieved by changing mindsets. If the way that people thought was not changed, then there would be no change to the way they acted. The major challenge was to understand that this was the responsibility of serving the people. PALAMA would try to inculcate that spirit of patriotism and sow the seeds that would permeate across society. He stressed that the role of other organs of society was very important. PALAMA would be focusing on public servants to improve their attitude. He noted that there was much to be learned from countries like China and Korea.
The Chairperson sought clarification on the difference between PALAMA and PSETA (Public Service Sector Education and Training Authority).
Prof Mollo responded that stakeholders from various institutions, many of them being institutions of higher learning, had been invited to participate in a strategic planning session last December, when the need to reconnect with the past to understand current conditions was discussed. PSETA had given a presentation, setting out its role, so that there was no overlap, and this led to calling of a workshop to define the roles all stakeholders played, so that there was not a multiplicity of programmes and delivery methods to address the core issues of unemployed graduates. The presentation showed that there had been compliance overall, but the critical issues were around delivery.
Ms Bikani was concerned that the strategic plan, although it looked good, did not speak to what should be happening within PALAMA in terms of the real training and how it was being done. The name “Academy” suggested some form of education. The financial allocations did not talk to exactly how people were to be trained. There had merely be mention of the 3 000 graduates. She would have expected PALAMA, as an entity of government, to be a negotiator, which was why she asked about the links to human resources and development. Often, people were trained with a view to going into internships, but this did not happen. She believed municipal training must be aligned to skills development to ensure that the trainees were given learnerships or practical training to make them ready for employment. She believed that PALAMA should undertake the key function of ensuring that, after training, government was actually placing the trainees. She did not think there was any improvement on the financial allocations from last year. Last year, there had been criticism that too much was spent on travelling, but this year that item had simply been removed, without anything further being said. She did not feel that enough was being said about the actual training.
Ms Bikani reiterated that there was a need for the Committee to visit PALAMA urgently, to see what it was doing, and to act. She wanted the Committee to establish whether it was a worthwhile entity rather than merely duplicating what was already happening in terms of skills development and human resource development in the public sector.
Mr Suka said the document spoke of “cadres” when it was in fact “public servants” being discussed.
He wondered if the Batho Pele principles were being taken across, especially to front line desks of staff in government institutions, because he did not believe those principles were being observed.
Mr Suka had also expected some measure of time frames in the strategic plan, and believed it was too open.
Prof Mollo said all the details were set out in the main document.
Mr Suka said that although the Committee was expected to vote on the budget, there was insufficient information, and too much was lumped under “goods and services” with not enough detail. He would have liked to have heard what the budgetary challenges were.
The Chairperson asked if PALAMA wished to respond now, or revert to the Committee. She noted that the Department of Trade and Industry (dti) identified key areas where skills were required, and the Department of Higher Education and Training did the training accordingly, and the Committee wanted to hear about similar issues.
Prof Mollo responded that PALAMA had considered those matters and the fundamental question was whether PALAMA had the capacity – which was one of the issues behind the transformation. He said that further answers would be given later.
The Chairperson added that she appreciated that rearrangement, in light of the budget, would be challenging, but the Members needed to fully understand the budget in order to do its proper oversight.
Ms Bikani added that the Committee must assist in processes, especially around training, because government was crying out about the need for capacity building, but nobody was giving effective input. She also wished to know where PALAMA stood in relation to employment equity, the Skills Development Act and Human Resource development and management, since the perception was that they were standing aloof, not involved with what should be happening. She requested that a session be set up to ensure that there was full coordination.
State Information Technology Agency (SITA) Strategic Plan and Budget 2010/11 budget
Mr Moses Mtimunye, Chief of Strategy Services, and member of the CEO’s Team, State Information Technology Agency, tendered apologies from the Chairperson of the Board and the Acting Chief Executive Officer, who were hosting a Chief Whips Forum in Pretoria.
Mr Mtimunye noted that Cabinet announced last week that new board members had been appointed. State Information Technology Agency (SITA) now had eleven board members and three vacancies. An induction session for them would be held on the following Thursday and Friday, during which the Strategic Plan would be presented, and possible adapted after their input. The Minister of Public Services and Administration was at the helm of the entity, and there was a Board of Directors, with four subcommittees. The Chief Executive Officer, Company Secretary and Chief Audit Executive reported to the Board. Positions still to be filled were those of Chief of Procurement, a replacement Company Secretary (to fill a recent resignation) and appointment of a permanent Chief Audit Executive. These appointments should be made in the coming months.
The presentation spoke to Vision 2025. The corporate strategy referred to the three year cycle. The operational plan related to 2010/11.
He noted that Vision 2025 was essentially taking a long term view of how SITA should look in 2025. Every three-year plan must work towards achieving that long term plan.
SITA, as of April 2009, had been in operation for ten years, and had shown successes as well as challenges and failures. Strategies were developed to deal with some of the opportunities, as well as the challenges and threats. The current strategic plan intended to refocus SITA in order to fulfil its mandate. The plan was formed by SITA’s need to become a trusted advisor and ICT implementation partner to government, whilst observing the 2009 Medium Term Strategic Framework (MTSF), the government programmes of action (POA), the recessionary macro-economic environment, current trends in the ICT landscape and best practices that governments were applying in the adoption and utilisation of ITC. SITA’s vision was to become a high performance ICT service provider of choice to the public sector. It must use ICT to achieve the challenges faced by the developmental state and to keep in mind what government wanted to achieve.
SITA’s mandate was set out in the founding Act. The critical part of its work lay in planning for how the principles and outcomes of ICT must be achieved, then in acquiring the ICT, and finally in operating and running the technology. All systems must be secure, be interoperable, aim to reduce duplications, conform to economies of scale, and must be inclusive of those who were previously disadvantaged. ICT must lead to convenience to the citizens, which would then champion increased productivity by the public sector employees in dealing with the day-to-day requirements more quickly. In addition, the costs of providing those services must then become lower.
SITA set out the values to which it subscribed (see attached presentation). The strategic plan listed eleven areas in which SITA must act, and eight in which it could act, in accordance with the governing legislation. It subscribed to a value system of service excellence, transparency, integrity of the organisation and of the individual; fairness, prudence in exercising caution in using monies that belonged to the State, and innovation in resolving problems in government requiring ICT.
The mandate was still to improve service delivery using information technology and information systems that were maintained in an information systems secure environment, and to promote the efficiency of government to function. SITA’s mandatory and alternative actions were located across four critical service offerings of full outsourcing, value-add services, systems integration and solution development and support and transaction services.
Mr Mtimunye set out the recent stakeholder inputs. SITA had had long engagements with the Minister of Public Service and Administration on where SITA should be in future, and a Ministerial Task Team. It had held meetings with a number of executives and stakeholders. The Turnaround Strategy was to be implemented, and specific resolutions were taken at workshops. Presentations and input on the areas where SITA was felt to be successful or failing were taken. There was a need to revisit what SITA provided, from a service portfolio perspective. The Government’s Programme of Action (POA) must be taken into account. SITA Account Managers spoke to clients on a day to day basis, the SITA Management team had engagement with clients, had discussions with the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (GCIO), engaged with shareholders through the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA) and the Information Technology council and provincial shareholders. SITA had generally performed well, according to stakeholders, except that in 2008/09 it had not improved on its operational excellence.
Vision 2025 was that SITA should be proactive and agile, driven by the mandate, aligned to government, and providing holistic end-to-end business solutions to departments. It should be a user of latest generation technologies such as virtualisation and communication convergence, should deliver services on demand, and take responsibility for its growth and creativity imperative. That was quite a departure from its current position, where it depended entirely on the requirements of government departments. It had to work upon becoming a trusted partner of government.
SITA had identified a number of areas in which it could contribute to executing the Government POA. However, those identified areas still had to be funded either through a budget vote or through any other mechanism that conformed to National Treasury guidelines.
Mr Mtimunye described what SITA was doing to meet the twelve outcomes of Government. SITA currently helped in the quality of education through the Learner Unit Record Information Tracking System(LURITS), but planned to improve this so that the relevant departments could plan and fund for learning institutions. SITA wished to become a primary service provider for the Integrated Examination system (IECS) National Senior Certificate (NSC). In regard to Health, SITA provided telecommunications to rural clinics and extended the functionality of telemedicine, provided electronic Health Record systems and continued to provide the maintenance and support of the Medical Supplier Administration System(MEDSAS).
With regard to Security, SITA ensured participation in the integrated Justice System as a strategic partner, and introduced anti-corruption and anti-fraud systems. In relation to the provision of decent employment, SITA would improve job satisfaction and maintain Employment Equity targets, and improve job opportunities for young graduates. To support a skilled and capable workforce to support an inclusive growth path, SITA was proposing the design and development of a national skills database and forecasting system.
In relation to the desire for an efficient, competitive and responsive economic infrastructure network, SITA extended unified communication for government (video and voice over Internet protocols), and extended the SITA National Government Network (NGN) to all spheres of government, which allowed government to become more productive and enable a competitive environment. It was contributing to having equitable and sustainable rural communities, contributing to food security for all, by deployment of Thusong Centres in an additional 70 sites, and the deployment of a geographic information system to improve planning and decision-making, particularly at local government level.
In relation to sustainable human settlements and improved quality of household life, SITA wanted to support the implementation of the National Integrated Social Information System (NISIS), to enable verification of those applying for indigent grants. ICT full functioning at local government levels should improve accountability. SITA was introducing a green ICT programme, relating to electronic waste and water saving. Finally, there were a number of SITA initiatives around creating an efficient, effective and development oriented public service and empowered, fair and inclusive citizenship. These included work on the Integrated Financial Management System (IFMS) and governance in IT services, extension of unified services for government, and collaboration with PALAMA to provide skills from an ICT perspective.
SITA then set out some aspects of the Turnaround Strategy. The eleven board members were appointed. The three new Executive Members (CEO, COO and CFO) should be appointed shortly. There would be a review of the legislation, and proper oversight. The Turnaround Strategy was also looking at how to improve procurement and what this was about. SITA had to become more stringent in introducing outcomes-based performance management, and was already implementing a Quarterly Performance Review Mechanism. It was reviewing the pricing and funding model in line with the challenges, was setting standards for effective service delivery along quality principles, and thought it prudent to appoint a Stakeholder Manager to deal with stakeholders, particularly at political level, in the provinces and local government.
In future, SITA would consolidate. It was envisaging an IT skills development plan, review of the current business model, development and building of a shared service model around the country, trying to reduce its overhead costs, and the development of a cost and pricing model based on activity based costing (ABC).
SITA was making a concerted effort to include local government in the ICT strategy, in the context of a single public service, and was providing for legislation to extend SITA services to all spheres of government. It would also amend the regulations to strengthen government departments’ capabilities for ICT planning, ICT programme management and ICT service management.
SITA conceded that in some areas it had not performed well in 2010. It would be improving on education, and had identified the need to improve investment capital, agency services, service level management, and stakeholder relationships. It was restating to reflect the partnership model. It would continue to drive the new Turnaround and develop technical and learnership skills. It was also aiming to improve its long term financial sustainability, optimise revenue streams, leverage assets optimally (both people and resources), optimise working capital, improve cost structures, and improve investment capital.
For 2010/11, SITA was projecting revenues of R4.3 billion. Cost of sales was anticipated to be R3.4 billion. This would give a gross surplus of about 19%. It was working hard to ensure that overheads were kept low, so that the cost of services from government became less. It anticipated that the revenue growth would be 5.5% and the net surplus was estimated at 3%. Mr Mtimunye said any inputs to improve the submission would be welcome. The Strategic Plan would continue to be a work in progress until the transformation was settled.
Discussion
Ms van Schalkwyk commented that the values of SITA were to be applauded, but she did not think the employees of SITA “walked the talk”. Last year leaks to the industry emanating from SITA linked to the cancelling of R5 billion to R6 billion tender for the issue of the Smart Identity Cards for the Department of Home Affairs. She had submitted a question to the Minister last year but had not received a reply, and asked SITA to clarify whether those leaks had been identified and investigated, and whether the Auditor General’s report on procurement practices would be made available soon.
She noted that SITA was supposed to meet with Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) at the beginning of March but that must have been postponed.
Mr Mtimunye said the Ministry was working on a response to those questions, and SITA had provided input, so the reply should be given to Parliament very soon.
Ms van Schalkwyk said that in the previous week the Public Service Commission (PSC) had given a presentation to the Committee setting out the requirements to be met in procurement processes. These included the need for evidence of an invitation for quotation, an appropriate quotation, and an evaluation of the quotation. She asked if SITA met with those requirements, as she felt that its procurement process was “in crisis”.
Ms van Schalkwyk further noted that a 613 page risk assessment report was handed to the Minister, which further accentuated the critical state of procurements in SITA, about ten months ago, but the Portfolio Committee had not had any access to that report. This had also formed the subject of a written question.
Ms van Schalkwyk had concerns on pricing related issues, as sometimes SITA was found to be more expensive than the private IT industry, when directly approached by departments. It seemed that price negotiation processes with suppliers were loose arrangements. She asked what SITA was doing in relation to pricing.
Ms van Schalkwyk asked if the CEO of SITA was a permanent appointment.
Ms Bikani said that the one, three and five year plans had been mentioned, whilst SITA’s Vision 2025 looked at fifteen years, and she did not feel that the Committee could accept this without seeing all phases properly outlined.
Ms Bikani commented on the substantial “makeovers” in SITA. She noted that the Committee still had questions unanswered from the previous years, including the issue of the Smart Card, “Who am I Online” and issues around the proposals in the Amendment Bill. The Articles of Association seemed also to be in contradiction with the legislation.
Ms Bikani agreed that pricing was also of concern.
Ms Bikani therefore suggested, especially in light of appointment of the new Board, that the Committee should stand all questions over to another meeting. It did not know how the Turnaround Strategy, which was yet to be presented, would affect Vision 2025. She did not find the arguments for the budget to be convincing as they had been presented. Every year, the Committee tended to approve SITA’s budget, but continued to have queries. This year, rather than letting those queries run forward, she suggested that all questions be consolidated, and that another presentation be given, during which the Turnaround Strategy was presented, so the Committee could compare SITA Vision 2025 and the new strategy. Without that insight, she did not think that the Committee could approve the Strategic Plan and budget.
Mr Suka supported that suggestion. He added that although he accepted the apologies, he was disappointed that the Board Chairperson and Accounting Officer did not present the budget.
Mr Suka said that most of the document presented did not go to the heart of the issues but spoke merely of intentions. He would not be happy to vote on that budget. He would have liked more information on the challenges and how SITA intended to address them.
Mr Rasool also supported the proposal that SITA return to brief the Committee on the Turnaround Strategy. SITA must inform the Committee how it was protecting itself against corruption, whether there was one preponderant procurement client, and why, and about obsolescence. Most lay people would not question when told to spend billions upgrading systems that were put in only recently. SITA should tell the Committee where the risks lay, in terms of corruption, what danger signals might present themselves, and how the Committee’s oversight could ensure that the Turnaround Strategy was not just structural and financial, but was protected SITA against potential corrupt practices.
The Chairperson said the Committee appreciated the new developments and the current challenges around synergising the structure, but said that past interactions were aimed to improve the way in which SITA functioned. She asked if SITA would like to respond now.
The Chairperson said that the Committee had not been happy about the “interchange” of Acting CEOs in the past, and she understood that SITA had requested another date so the CEO could be present, but had hoped that either the CEO or the Chairperson of the Board could have tried to be present.
Mr Mtimunye clarified that the three representatives were part of the CEO Team. He appreciated that the input and comments made were very valid. He had understood that more stakeholders than merely the new Board would be involved in the induction session. He noted that the Turnaround Strategy also focused on procurement, because SITA acknowledged the challenges in that environment, and this would come out clearly when the Turnaround Strategy was presented. He suggested that all the issues could be profitably engaged with in another session.
The Chairperson announced that all meetings in the following week had been cancelled.
Ms Bikani noted that the issue around PALAMA and Public Service Commission’s vote being incorporated within the DPSA vote was raised again in relation to SITA. There were challenges around funding that might not have been considered being channelled into a particular vote. She was concerned about the independence of those entities, and the fact that they might not receive the necessary attention when incorporated into the DPSA vote. This should be raised as preparation for this sector moving to Governance and Monitoring.
Ms Bikani also wanted the issue of how SITA operated in terms of the Act to be investigated, and whether the Act needed amendment to help SITA improve its status. That, too, should be taken over to the Governance and Monitoring Cluster.
The Chairperson agreed these were valid issues, and time should be set aside for the Committee to discuss them. She agreed that the Committee must be very cautious before simply passing a budget, especially as an Activist Parliament. The Committee needed sufficient time to reflect on the issues and map the way forward.
The meeting was adjourned.
Follow this committee and get free email alerts whenever we get new information about it.
Audio
Documents
Present
- We don't have attendance info for this committee meeting
Download as PDF
You can download this page as a PDF using your browser's print functionality. Click on the "Print" button below and select the "PDF" option under destinations/printers.
See detailed instructions for your browser here.