February 20, 2007
By Ndaba Dlamini
THE provincial government has set up a human resource development plan to nurture the skills necessary for turning Gauteng into a globally competitive city region by December.
Completed last year, the Human Resources Development Strategy provided a framework for growing the skills the Gauteng global city region needed to drive economic growth and social transformation, Premier Mbhazima Shilowa said during the opening of the Gauteng Legislature on Monday, 19 February.
To drive the implementation of the strategy, the province has established the Gauteng Human Resource Planning and Development Agency. This organisation will help to nurture scarce skills in areas like information and communication technology, business outsourcing and construction engineering, as well as among artisans.
The head of the agency had already been appointed, according to Shilowa. "We hope to finalise partnerships for talent identification and development for priority skills in the Gauteng public service for the realisation of the Gauteng city region by December," he said.
The loss of healthcare professionals and social workers, who play a critical role in promoting the wellbeing of citizens, is a challenge for the province as it works to build its capacity.
"We will continue with measures to recruit and retain healthcare professionals and social workers. These include improved remuneration levels and working conditions and the provision of the necessary facilities and tools of the trade to do their work effectively," Shilowa said.
More attention would be given to training existing and new personnel, while internships and learnerships, and the employment of auxiliary workers, would be expanded, he added.
Through the Gauteng Human Resource Development Strategy, the province would continue to focus on the shortage of healthcare workers. It would work to increase the numbers of nurses by 20 percent a year until 2009.
The province was also working closely with universities to promote social work as a career option and in the coming year it would provide bursaries for almost 200 social work students.
"Building a city region for economic growth will require us to work closely with universities, research institutions and industries to harness the intellectual power, knowledge and innovation strengths of all our partners. In this regard, we welcome the new partnership between the University of the Witwatersrand and the University of Johannesburg in support of the Gauteng city region initiative."
Work would also soon start on the establishment of a city region development agency model that would bring existing development agencies together to help to build a competitive city region, Shilowa explained.
"A successful Gauteng city region requires both strong local and provincial government. We have, therefore, been 'working hard' to develop managerial and leadership capacity within local municipalities as well as to facilitate the provision of the necessary technical skills. This work will continue with the deployment of financial experts and engineers in the coming year."
The premier also called on municipalities to ensure that their plans and resources were aligned. "While municipalities must focus on the provision of basic services, more importantly, municipalities in Gauteng must focus on economic development, social and economic infrastructure and poverty alleviation programmes," he said.
In addition, the success of the city region rested on the ability of local and provincial governments to integrate their plans. To achieve this, the province had sought to implement integrated development planning across the provincial departments and municipalities.
"The Integrated Development Plan (IDP) process has proven to be an effective forum for raising issues to be attended to by all three spheres of government," Shilowa said.
In its efforts to consolidate the Gauteng city region, the provincial treasury has lent support to the nine delegated municipalities to ensure financial reforms are implemented in terms of the Municipal Finance Management Act (MFMA). These include developing multi-year budgets and improving financial management skills and capacity.
"In the coming year we will continue to assist municipalities in developing IDPs and credible budgets, and in monitoring compliance with the MFMA. In addition, we will place particular emphasis on improved financial governance, focussing on risk management, asset management, internal audits, financial accounting and financial information systems," Shilowa explained.
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