The National School of Government, which will deliver a theoretical and practical approach to public administration management, was officially launched on Monday.

Speaking at the launch, Public Service and Administration Minister Lindiwe Sisulu said there were no short cuts to delivering operational excellence.

She added that high-quality education, training and development that provide values, skills and knowledge for entry, in service and career progression purposes is arguably the most realistic and viable option for public servants.

Government has been through a number of trials of various forms of institutions to provide training to the public service.

“We’ve come to the realisation that establishing functioning state machinery, the creation of a public service ethos and the creation of a cadre of government is a responsibility that cannot and should not be outsourced.

“What we have today, I am convinced, will stand the test of time, because we have learned from our past mistakes, learned from international best practice, seen ourselves through the mirror through the diagnosis produced by the National Planning Commission,” she said.

The National School of Government seeks to build and to locate the strategic and operational capabilities of public service education and training provision within the State.

According to Sisulu, the School of Government must respond to the “urgency of now” in righting the wrongs that have so far hobbled the public service.

“Put sharply, curricula and programmes will be designed on the basis of a sound understanding of the challenges and realities of the public service environment. It is about unleashing the best in our students to enable reform and performance oriented public service,” she said.

Hands-on, brains-on approach

The Minister further described this as a shift from the current model that focuses largely on building the generic knowledge and skills of individuals.

“The National School of Government and its hands-on and brains-on approach will enable us to apply common norms and standards in the public service.

“This should result in better horizontal and vertical articulation and greater mobility within the public service. In doing so, the School will help to address the unevenness and the poor quality that characterise most of the learning and development offerings in the public service,” she said.

The Minister further said the School of Government will usher in a new South African Government approach to education, training and professional development in the public service and public administration management.

The School of Government will be strengthened by a multidisciplinary team of lecturers, facilitators, trainers and organisational development experts.

“It is through this highly trained and experienced staff, comprising committed and competent retired public servants, current committed, ethical professionals in government and new recruits that understand and have knowledge - based on both the academic and world of work within the public service.

“Our new academic approach to professionalising and making the public service efficient and effective ought to set the new public administration management frontiers to the year 2030,” she said.

Governing of the School

The School will be governed by a Council that is reporting and accountable to the Minister of Public Service and Administration.

This Council functions will be that of governance and determination of policy, norms and standards on education, training and professional development within the public service.

Sisulu said a Principal will be appointed for the School, who will be supported by a number of deputy Principals and a Registrar, to deliver on the overall functions and responsibilities of the National School of Government.

Task team helped set up School

The Minister set up a Task Team of eminent scholars, education practitioners and academics with experience in managing higher education entities, over a period of nine months to help her conceptualise and establish the School of Government.

The Task Team did extensive and comprehensive research, international benchmarking, and finally presented the outcome of their work to the HRD Council, chaired by the Deputy President and also to Cabinet last month. - SAnews.gov.za

Downloads: A new file has been added by TheEd:Gun Run 21km 2013 Results (http://www.time-to-run.com/forums/downlo...=224)David...

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East London - Hard work and dedication have paid off for nine Eastern Cape boxers, who beat some of South Africa’s big guns to secure themselves a seat on the plane to Scotland next year to participate in the 2014 Junior Olympics.

The nine boxers, including four boys and five girls aged between 15 and 18, won their places at the Junior Olympics by beating their opponents at a national youth boxing tournament held in Bethlehem last week.

“The fact that nine of my boxers are going to Scotland shows how passionate Eastern Cape youth are about boxing. It’s further proof that the Eastern Cape always has been and always will be the home of boxing in this country,” said team manager Lulama Menzelwa on Thursday.

He said the nine boxers were part of a 24-member team that went to Bethlehem to compete in the tournament.

The team won 23 medals overall, nine gold, eight silver and six bronze medals, putting them at the top of the leader board. They were crowned the number one team at the tournament.

Menzelwa said he always knew he had a good team, but didn’t expect them to come back from Bethlehem with so many medals.

“My team did this despite overwhelming odds, including not having training equipment and tracksuits. It shows how well-disciplined and dedicated they are,” added Menzelwa.

Team captain Azinga Fuzile (17), one of the boxers that will compete in Scotland, could barely contain his excitement.

“I won gold in 2011 and got to box in Germany. Now I will get to go over again and box in Scotland. I can’t tell you how excited I am right now,” said Fuzile, a learner from Kusile Comprehensive School in Duncan Village.

He said his main goal now was to win a gold medal at the Junior Olympics and be crowned world champion.

Female boxer and gold medalist Thobela Nyanga (16) said this was the first time she had won gold at a national tournament.

“The gold is my ticket to Scotland and it will help me become a better fighter and to be able to challenge for international titles,” said Nyanga, who attends Nyameko High school in Mdantsane.

Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula is on a drive to revive boxing in South Africa. He aims to galvanise stakeholder to resolve the challenges facing the boxing profession and restore the sport to its former glory. – SAnews.gov.za

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In a country where illiteracy among primary learners is a prevalent challenge, there are hints of hope. The 2012/2013 Stats SA report notes that “more than nine-tenths (92, 9%) of South Africans are able to read and write”. This can be accredited to a number of efforts and initiatives established by various organisations to address [...]
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Sports Minister Fikile Mbalula says he wants to see progress on how federations have transformed when the country celebrates 20 years of democracy.

Speaking at The New Age (TNA) Business Briefing on Wednesday, Mbalula also said there will be consequences for those who stand in the way of transformation, adding that the country cannot afford to discuss theories without practical results.

Mbalula also paid tribute to the nominees of the SA Sports Awards 2013, who were announced during the briefing.

“We have put benchmarks from the Sports Indaba. You know that we agreed on the Transformation Charter, we agreed on the score cards. We agreed to maintain the scorecards from the Indaba.

“Post that Sports Indaba, as part of the consequences of the implementation of the National Sports Plan, first and foremost is to entrench the School Sport Programme. But over and above that, we have appointed the Eminent Persons Group that is working with the federations to ensure that people do implement transformation in their different federations.

“And there will be consequences if you don’t implement, and in the long term, it is a question of the legislation. It is not negotiable; it is not a question of luxury. If you don’t implement transformation, there will be consequences,” he said.

Transformation in sport, especially in rugby and cricket, has been a hot potato in the sports industry, which has led to Mbalula meeting with various federations to thrash out plans in partnership with the industry on how transformation can be implemented by all parties.

Mbalula said on Wednesday that bodies tasked with conducting research on transformation were currently hard at work and would soon give him an indication in the form of scientific evidence on the obstacles to transformation.

“In my view, we are celebrating 20 years of freedom, and in those 20 years, there was a lapse and we are catching up on those 20 years. If you look at what we have done in the past two years… you would think that [the Sports Ministry has been working for 30 years] and this only happened in two years,” he said.

“We should be looking back in 20 years and ask what have we achieved with quotas? … We will not be talking theory as if we are not going forward.”

Sports awards nominees announced

Earlier on before his comments, Mbalula observed the announcement of all the nominees for the SA Sports Awards 2013.

Mbalula said this year’s awards ceremony will be yet another “Razzmatazz event” that will prove to be a “humdinger of an event”.

The nominees for the main category of Sports Star of the Year Award includes Kaizer Chiefs and Bafana Bafana goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune; Proteas batsman Hashim Amla; wheelchair tennis champion Lucas Sithole; Olympic and Commonwealth swimming champion Chad Le Clos and middle distance athlete Mapaseka Makhanya.

The winner from this category will walk away with R1 million and a luxury car. All nominees from all categories will get a guaranteed R10 000.

Khune, Amla and world record holding swimmer Cameron van der Burgh were also nominated in the Sportsman of the Year category, while Makhanya also got nominated in the Sportswoman of the Year category, alongside two-time Ladies European Tour winner Lee-Anne Pace and Springbok women’s captain Mandisa Williams.

In the Team of the Year category, The Proteas, Springboks and Kaizer Chiefs were announced as the contenders for the award, while Springbok coach Heyneke Meyer, national swimming coach Graham Hill and Tennis SA coach Holger Losch were nominated in the Coach of the Year category.

Mbalula said sport was the centre of social cohesion and nation building. He said Cabinet was behind the implementation of the National Sports Plan to ensure development and excellence in sports. Going forward, there will be no room for poor performance and mediocrity, the minister said.

Asked about his thoughts on Sithole, who last month became the first African to win the US Open Quad Grand Slam, Mbalula said: “We are, [through] that young man, sitting in the presence of greatness.”

Sithole lost both his legs and his right arm in a train accident in KwaZulu-Natal in 1998.

Eskom and Agence Française de Développement (AFD) are to sign a R1.3 billion loan agreement, the power parastatal has announced.

Eskom on Tuesday said that the loan will go towards the funding of the 100 MW Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) plant near Upington, Northern Cape.

The CSP project is expected to deliver an annual energy production of 525 GWh and will be sufficient to power 200 000 homes.

CSP comprises a family of technologies that concentrate the sun’s energy through large mirrors and utilises that concentrated thermal energy to produce steam to drive a conventional steam turbine for electricity generation. The technologies are similar to conventional power plants in that steam is used to power a turbine and generator, but the fossil fuel combustion is replaced with free, non-polluting solar energy.

“CSP is one of Eskom’s first utility scale projects outside of the existing hydro portfolio and it puts us on a path towards reducing our carbon footprint and investing in a sustainable energy future,” said Eskom chief executive officer Brian Dames.

Eskom and the AFD -- which is a bi-lateral development finance institution that works on behalf of the French government -- agreed on Monday night to facilitate the signing of the credit facility agreement.

Senior General Manager for Renewables at the utility, Ayanda Nakedi, said the CSP project will pave the way for industrial development and job creation by promoting the localisation of the technology.

The AFD is co-financing the CSP plant together with the African Development Bank, Clean Technology Fund (CTF), European Investment Bank (EIB), KfW (a public law institution existing under the laws of the Federal Republic of Germany) and the World Bank.

Speaking about Eskom’s relationship with the AFD, Eskom’s acting Chief Financial Officer Caroline Henry said: “The AFD is a valued partner and has been a key contributing factor to the progress we’ve achieved at both the Upington CSP plant and Sere wind farm. In total, the AFD has concluded €200 million in credit facility agreements, which has gone towards these two renewable energy projects.”

In 2011, Eskom and AFD signed a €100 million loan facility for the financing of the Sere wind farm near Vredendal in the Western Cape. - SAnews.gov.za

Pretoria – Special teams from the Mpumalanga Provincial Treasury and the Office of the Premier will be sent to help three provincial departments to improve their financial management.

This follows a report presented by the Provincial Treasury on budgets and expenditure for all provincial departments, where finances in the Departments of Agriculture, Rural Development and Land Administration (DARDLA), Community Safety Security and Liaison (DCSSL) and Health were found to be in a bad state.

The Provincial Treasury had also recommended that the three departments be given special attention, and that a moratorium be declared at DARDLA, given that the department faced huge financial challenges caused by overspending, amongst others.

Provincial Treasury noted that the department filled posts without the necessary funding and was currently not in a position to even replace the current resignations. The department also regressed on the audit outcome from the Auditor-General.

In the current financial year, the department will not be able to meet its targets, while the budget will be spent in full.

On the other hand, DCSSL’s budget has already been depleted. The provincial treasury reported during a Lekgotla held on Monday that DCSSL had already presented a request for funding to the value of R275 million.

According to the Provincial Treasury, the department is expected to run out of cash in February and March in 2014 because of the security service that had created serious challenges for the management and administration of the department’s budget items.

“Over and above these challenges, payment for security service onwards might not be possible due to unavailability of the budget. Other challenges had been created by monthly payments of the usage of government vehicles, audit fees, communication items, operating leases, property and electricity payments.

“The situation might create challenges not only for the department but for the entire provincial government because most of the security officers will not get salaries in time. These problems would further affect the department in honouring its contractual obligations in paying the service providers within the 30-day period as per the requirement by the Public Finance Management Act,” Provincial Treasury reported.

The Department of Health was sent back to reprioritise its budget, as it had cash flow problems. The department’s accruals, which amounted to R247 million, would make it impossible to achieve their plans. The department had also budgeted R364 million for overtime.

The Lekgotla decided that the department should review its budget and use the money to pay for accruals.

Mpumalanga Premier David Mabuza has instructed that the three departments be given an intensified support.

Mabuza said the departments’ chief financial officers should explain themselves before the provincial budget and finance committee, as their monetary situations were out of hand.

“What happened in these departments was nothing but carelessness. The three chief financial officers must explain themselves, if need be, they must leave the departments. It cannot happen that the situation could be out of their hands … Prudent financial management must be implemented across all costs,” said Mabuza.

The intensified support by the teams will strengthen financial management directorates by monitoring the spending of these departments and provide spending plans.

Financial transactions will now be administered by the Provincial Treasury and would be assisted to reprioritise until they can function on their own. – SAnews.gov.za