Public Services & Government

The mission of the Eastern Cape Department of Community Safety is to build safer communities through civilian oversight of the police and community participation. The Department's strategic goals are to ensure efficient and effective governance and administration of the Department; exercise oversight over the South African Police Service (SAPS) and Metro Police Services in the Eastern Cape; and build safer communities through effective partnerships. The Department's legal mandate is to: monitor and evaluate the implementation of policing policy in the province; evaluate and monitor police conduct in the province; develop and evaluate safety models and monitoring tools; assist the Civilian Secretariat with any monitoring and evaluation projects; promote community police relations and establish and promote partnerships; and manage the enhancement of community safety structures within the province. Furthermore, the Department must: monitor the implementation by SAPS of the recommendations made by IPID; provide the Minister with regular reports on SAPS compliance; report on the implementation of the Domestic Violence Act of 1998, dealing with SAPS applications for exemptions, etc.; strengthen communities against crime; prevent violence; prevent corruption; and strengthen the criminal justice system.

The mission of the Eastern Cape Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs is to promote a developmental local state and traditional institutions that are accountable, focused on citizen's priorities, capable of delivering high quality services consistently and sustainably through cooperative governance and participatory democracy. The Department's strategic goals are: to be an enabling environment to enhance service delivery through integrated support services; to strengthen municipal institutional capacity to promote governance and effective service delivery; effective and efficient planning and development in municipalities; liveable integrated cities, towns and rural areas that provide basic income security; to have enabling viable sustainable developmental municipalities that deliver basic services; and an enabling service environment in traditional leadership institutions to improve socio-economic development through integrated support services.

The vision of the Eastern Cape Department of Economic Development, Environmental Affairs and Tourism is of a province where economic growth and sound environmental management underpin sustainable development. Its main strategic goal is innovation for sustainable development, with the strategic objectives being to improve organisational performance, local economic participation, emission reduction, carbon reduction and green economy initiatives, and to secure the provincial conservation status. The primary mandate change resulted from the formalisation of the 12 key outcomes identified and agreed to by the National Cabinet. The Department had to adjust its strategic plan to demonstrate the following outcomes: decent employment through inclusive economic growth; an efficient, competitive and responsive economic infrastructure network; environmental assets and natural resources that are well protected and continually enhanced; an efficient, effective and development-orientated public service; and an empowered, fair and inclusive citizenship.

The vision of the Eastern Cape Department of Education is to offer a quality education and training system that transforms schools into centres of community life and promotes shared moral values, good governance and sustainable development. Its mission is to provide quality education for sustainable development by providing socially relevant and economically responsive programmes that address the human resource needs of the province and the country; enhancing the skills base for agrarian transformation, manufacturing diversification and tourism in order to meet the needs of the second economy; providing quality programmes to build the capacity of all employees; and encouraging participatory decision-making processes that strive to empower the whole community at all levels. The following are the strategic goals of the Department: access to basic education, and equity in opportunity and educational achievement for all learners regardless of race, gender, disability, geographical location and socio-economic status; empowerment of all learners to become responsible citizens through equipping them with skills, knowledge and values; improved quality of teaching and learning at all educational institutions; improved institutional efficiency through enhanced management systems and integrated service delivery; economic, effective, efficient and equitable resourcing within the education system; and cohesive and sustainable communities built through cooperation with all stakeholders in education.

The mission of the Eastern Cape Department of Health is to provide and ensure accessible, comprehensive, integrated services in the Eastern Cape, emphasising the primary health care approach, optimally utilising all resources to enable all its present and future generations to enjoy health and quality of life. The primary business of the Department and health care service delivery is based on the following five strategic goals: facilitate a functional, quality-driven public health system that provides an integrated and seamless package of health services and is responsive to customer needs; combat and reduce the impact of TB and HIV/AIDS, with a special focus on preventing the emergence of drug-resistant strains; improve and strengthen the mother and child health services; combat and reduce diseases of lifestyle and mental conditions; and enhance institutional capacity through effective leadership, governance, accountability, and efficient and effective utilisation of resources.

The mandate of the Eastern Cape Department of Human Settlements is to create integrated sustainable human settlements with improved quality of household lives. The Department has identified four outcomes that encompass all its core functions and responsibilities: good governance, evidence-based integrated plans and policies in line with the district development, empowered and integrated sustainable communities, security of land tenure and affordable residential and rental services. These outcomes are intended to provide a credible multi-year housing development plan and budget through a participation process with stakeholders; promote consultation in the housing policy and legislative framework development and review process; review and roll-out the provincial medium-term Sustainable Human Settlement Research Agenda; provide outcomes-based monitoring and evaluation of integrated plans; facilitate and coordinate the upgrading of informal settlements in the province; facilitate and promote the integration of communities utilising social and rental housing; provide planning, project management, technical and quality assurance expertise to sustainable human settlement projects; acquire land and facilitate the issuing of title deeds to promote homeownership; provide political and strategic leadership and management leadership to the Department; provide assurance and consulting activities on internal controls, risk management and governance processes, and fight fraud and corruption; effectively manage financial resources to achieve an unqualified audit opinion; provide streamlined procurement processes and effective contracts management; and enhance the organisational performance through a well-aligned organisational transformation programme, capacitated employees and sustainable ICTs.

The mission of the Eastern Cape Provincial Treasury is to provide strategic and technical leadership in the allocation, management and utilisation of financial resources in order to improve quality of life in the province. The Department's strategic goals are efficient and effective management of financial resources; sound financial accounting; allocative efficacy; sound stakeholder relations; and well-functioning department legislatures and other mandates. The Department is mandated to fulfil the following functions: prepare and exercise control over the implementation of the provincial budget; promote and enforce transparency and effective management in respect of revenue, expenditure, assets and liabilities of provincial departments and provincial public entities; ensure that its fiscal policies do not materially and unreasonably prejudice national economic policies; enforce the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) and any prescribed national and provincial norms and standards; comply with the annual Division of Revenue Act and monitor and assess the implementation of that act in provincial public entities; possibly assist in building capacities for efficient, effective and transparent financial management; possibly investigate any system of financial management and internal control; intervene by taking appropriate steps to address a serious or persistent material breach of this act; and promptly provide any information required by the National Treasury in terms of this act.

The mission of the Eastern Cape Department of Public Works and Infrastructure is to be a custodian of provincial government immovable assets and a provider of sustainable infrastructure, resulting in socio-economic reforms, sector transformation, and development. The Department's strategic goals are to promote sound corporate governance by providing continuous sound leadership in strategic and operational planning as well as monitoring and evaluation of the Department; improve management systems in order to offer efficient and effective services to client departments and the public by monitoring the annual audit plans and continually improving management systems, policies and procedures; lead transformation and development in the construction and property industries by ensuring that a percentage of departmental expenditure on infrastructure is procured through broad-based black economic empowerment; reduce poverty and unemployment by creating sustainable job opportunities; and ensure effective management of immovable and movable provincial assets by ensuring full implementation of the Government Immovable Asset Management Act (GIAMA).

The mission of the Eastern Cape Department of Rural Development and Agrarian Reform is to strive to create vibrant, equitable, sustainable rural communities and food security for all. The Department's strategic goals are: coherent and coordinated rural development for improved quality of life; and good governance and clean administration.

The Eastern Cape Department of Social Development is faced with the inescapable reality that the poor, the vulnerable and the marginalised groups of the Eastern Cape continue to exert pressure and demand for the provision of comprehensive and quality development of social welfare services. Its mandate is aligned with the Social Protection Chapter of the NDP Vision 2030, which is aimed at ensuring protection against vulnerability by creating and enabling an environment for the provision of comprehensive, integrated and sustainable social development services. Social protection is recognised as a basic right in terms of Section 27(1)(c) of the Constitution, Act 108 of 1996, which provides for the right of access to appropriate social assistance to those unable to support themselves and their dependants. Section 28 (1) enshrines the right of children with regards to appropriate care, basic nutrition, shelter, health care services and social services. The core functions and responsibilities of the Department are to provide developmental social welfare services to individuals, families, groups and communities through the following social protection measures: protection - measures are introduced to save lives and reduce levels of deprivation; prevention - acting as an economic stabiliser, helping people avoid falling into deeper poverty and reduce vulnerability to natural disasters, crop failure, accidents and illness; promotion - aiming to enhance the capabilities of individuals, communities and institutions to participate in all spheres of activity; transformation - tackling inequalities and vulnerabilities through changes in policies, laws, budgetary allocations and redistributive measures; and development and generation - increasing consumption patterns of the poor, promoting local economic development and enabling poor people access to economic and social opportunities.

The mission of the Eastern Cape Department of Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture is to develop and promote sport, recreation, arts and culture for spiritual, intellectual, physical and material upliftment of the people of the Eastern Cape. The Department's strategic goals are: effective service delivery through leadership, good governance, accountability and efficient resource utilisation; development, promotion and transformation of arts, culture, museums, heritage, and language services in order to contribute to sustainable economic growth and opportunities, nation-building, good governance, and social and human capital development; provision of a free, equitable and accessible library and information service, and proper management and preservation of public and non-public records; and improvement of quality of life through sport and recreation.

The mission of the Eastern Cape Department of Transport is to provide, facilitate, develop, regulate and enhance a safe, affordable and reliable multimodal transport system that is integrated with land uses to ensure optimal mobility of people and goods in support of socio-economic growth and development. The Department's strategic goals are to promote good governance and transportation excellence by providing enabling business processes for the core functions of the Department of Roads and Transport in relation to management, corporate and financial services; maximise mobility and accessibility through public transport by planning, regulating and facilitating the provision of public transport services and infrastructure, through own provincial resources and through cooperation with national and local authorities, as well as the private sector, in order to enhance the mobility of all communities, particularly those currently without or with limited access; integrate traffic management in order to enable and ensure that all road users consciously use the roads in a lawful and safe manner; create economic empowerment opportunities in the transportation sector and alleviate poverty by ensuring delivery of accessible services through integrated, socially just, developmental and empowering processes in order to improve the quality of life of communities by way of community development programmes.

The mission of the Free State Department of Agriculture and Rural Development is, by partnering with relevant stakeholders, to leverage available resources and technologies to optimise productivity and accelerate economic growth in the agriculture sector. Its vision is ‘prosperous agriculture, farming our future'. The strategic goals of the Department are: increased profitable production of food and fibre products; effective regulatory services and risk management; transformed and demand-based education, training and development; sustained management of natural resources; improved, effective and efficient governance and stakeholder relations; and coordinated creation of vibrant, equitable and sustainable rural communities.

The vision of the Free State Department of Community Safety, Roads and Transport is to contribute towards the creation of a prosperous Free State through the facilitation of the provision of sustainable community safety, mobility and road infrastructure. This is achieved by monitoring, overseeing and assessing police service delivery; promoting integrated crime prevention initiatives; and ensuring road safety and an integrated transport system and networks. The following are some of the key strategic objectives of the Department: monitor and evaluate the effectiveness and efficiency of service delivery by the South African Police Service (SAPS); develop and execute social crime prevention programmes at provincial and local level; build an efficient public transport infrastructure network; implement the contractor development strategy; focus on the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) grading; develop a public transport centre; ensure a culture of proper road traffic law compliance by road users; and enhance improved service delivery capacity by employing contractors utilising local labour.

The vision of the Free State Department of Economic, Small Business Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs (DESTEA) is to be a transformed economy and a prosperous society that is living in harmony with its natural resources. DESTEA's mission as a leading developmental institution is to drive environmentally sustainable economic growth and transformation for the benefit of the Free State province and its citizens through: the creation of a conducive environment for trade and investment, including the establishment of a progressive policy framework to promote wealth creation and equitable wealth distribution for economic transformation; preservation and sustainable use of natural resources; and being a capable, ethical and responsive organisation. The department's constitutional mandates require it to oversee and administer the following: trade; tourism; casinos, racing, gambling and wagering, excluding lotteries and sports pools; consumer protection; environment; industrial promotion; nature conservation; pollution control; provincial public enterprises; soil conservation; and liquor licenses and control of undertakings that sell liquor to the public. Furthermore, the department's constitutional mandate emphasises that everyone has the right to an environment that is not harmful to their health or well-being and to have the environment protected, for the benefit of present and future generations, through: reasonable legislative and other measures that prevent pollution and ecological degradation; promotion of conservation; and securing ecologically sustainable development and use of natural resources while promoting justifiable economic and social development.