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Policy development process in Butterworth
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Speeches and Media Releases
 Housing and Local Government

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MEDIA RELEASE
 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 7 SEPTEMBER 2000

POLICY DEVELOPMENT PROCESS IN BUTTERWORTH

The Department of Housing, Local Government and Traditional Affairs Policy Development Secretariat has invited all the TLCs and TRCs 
around Butterworth to a Policy Development workshop to be held at the Butterworth Town Hall, September 08, 2000 at 9am.

The TLCs invited are: Idutywa, Centane, Ngqamakwe, Tsomo, Willowvale and the Amatola District Council.

The Department is holding a series of workshops throughout the Province to ensure full participation by all stakeholders and interested 
parties.

The objectives of the workshop were to:

* Initiate stakeholder's engagement and information gathering towards policy formulation process
* Harmonise inter-government relations between the spheres of government.
* Promotion of enhanced integrated services delivery through facilitation of above process.

Similar workshops have been held in Humansdorp, Mt. Ayliff, Umtata, Barkly East, Queenstown and as well as Graaff Reinett recently.

Arrangements are being made to hold additional workshops in other centres such as Cradock, Grahamstown, Fort Beaufort, King Williams Town 
and their surrounding towns. A workshop for the House of Traditional Leaders, Traditional Regional Authorities and Great Places will be 
held in Bisho later this month.

The workshops will assist the Department in developing its key strategic priorities for the financial year 1999 to 2000 in the following 
functions and areas: Administration and Finance, Housing, Local Government and Traditional Affairs.

Priorities of the Administration and Financial directorate involves establishment and streamlining of line functions, aligning the key 
delivery functions of the Departments with its strategic planaligned to the Provincial Governments Strategic Plan, phasing in horizontal 
and collective management in the Department, performance management / human resource management, financial management and asset management.

The process also deals with policy issues related to:

* Systematic elimination of housing backlog over the next 10 years
* Finalising transfer of state rental houses to occupants
* Encourage private bondholders to respond positively to governments initiatives in assisting them
* Getting people who earn regular income to pay for services rendered to them by their municipalities
* Improve the quality of houses delivered
* Improve housing subsidy management
* Re-sequencing the Housing (or any capital) project delivery protocol and
* Rural social development

In the local government side, the process is opening discussions to local government key strategic areas such as: downward management of 
the Wage Bill, strengthening capacity of local and district municipalities, local government elections, disaster management and fostering 
sound relations between the Government and Traditional Institutions in the Province.

Departmental Budget Implementation (BIPs) have been prepared in line with Key Strategic Priorities identified and the Departmental Standing 
Committee has accepted the BIPs

The MECs vision is that key strategic priorities would inform a policy formulation process. It is envisaged that by the end of the 2000 / 
2001 financial year, the Green Papers covering those Key Strategic Priority areas would have been completed to be finalised as three 
Provincial White Papers by the end of November 2001.

The policy formulation process is characterized by:

* Developmental dimension - full stakeholder engagement throughout the process with Departmental officials managing (as opposed to 
controlling) the process;
* Transformational dimension - whilst ensuring that the strategic objectives of government are not deviated from, the process should create 
a platform for organizational cultural change;
* Democratic dimension - every opportunity should be used to democratise social processes as well as ensuring increased democratisation of 
the State.

To date, the framework papers have been tabled and the necessary institutional arrangements made.Furthermore, the Policy Development 
Secretariat is operational and meet on a weekly basis.The process of establishing the PPTTs (cross functional teams driving the processes 
in Department sections) has been initiated and these teams should be in place shortly.

Further processes to be undertaken, include stakeholder engagement; workshopping of framework papers and collation of comments and inputs 
and data compilation for policy formulation.

For further information please contact: Mbulelo Linda at: 083 455 8669
 Issued by: Department of Housing, Local government and Traditional Affairs

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