Executive Council’s last meeting for 2016

The Provincial Executive Council (Exco) met for the last time this year and several issues were discussed last Wednesday.
The media was briefed at a press conference last Thursday about issues that were tabled at the meeting.
Grievances
Key changes made in the new Public Service Regulations, such as changes with regards to the code of conduct, financial disclosures, ethics management, planning, organisational arrangements and service delivery, employment matters, senior management service and community development workers have been presented to the Exco on Wednesday.
The new Public Service Regulations, 2016, were brought into effect on 1 August 2016 by Gazette No.40167, Notice No. R877 and repealed and replaced the Public Service Regulations 2001.
Provincial Government Spokesperson Phuti Seloba on Thursday at a press briefing said the Exco directed that the Office of the Premier should circulate guidelines to departments on the implementation of the revised Public Service Regulations so that departments may not default on the compliance matters.
Local Government Summit
The Premier’s Intergovernmental Forum (PIGF) meeting and the Local Government Summit scheduled to take place in the period from 31 January to 1 February 2017 will be synchronised as the meetings target the same audience.
The decision was taken in order to ensure better alignment of the provincial’s government activities.
The Local Government Summit is to be held before the State of the Province Address (SOPA) in order to ensure that the discussions and resolutions serve as an input to the 2017 SOPA.
A memorandum providing a progress report on the preparations for the summit was presented to the provincial Executive Council Exco meeting.
The objectives of the Local Government Summit will be to communicate and share the state of municipalities in Limpopo to new councillors, to outline the priorities for the second phase of the Back to Basics Programme, to develop a programme of action for local government up to 2021 as well as to provide a platform for dialogue on intergovernmental responsibilities to improve the performance of municipalities and service delivery.
30-day payment of invoices
The Department Economic Development, Environment and Tourism and the Office of the Premier paid 100% of their invoices within the prescribed 30 days for the 30-day period leading up to 31 October.
A progress report on the monitoring of compliance to the prescribed 30-day payment cycle this financial year as at 31 October was presented to the Executive Council on Wednesday.
It was reported that the percentage of invoices paid in the province within that period shows that 91,77% of the invoices were paid within 30 days.
The targeted compliance rate is 95%. The Departments of Education only paid 94,44% of their invoices within the 30-day period and the Department of Health paid 73,95% of their invoices within the 30-day period.
Exco lekgotla February 2017
The Exco approved the proposed framework for the lekgotla scheduled for February 2017. In line with the Planning Framework of government, the lekgotla are expected to provide guidance on policy and strategy, to monitor the implementation of programmes and to analyse the impact thereof.
The key objectives for the February 2017 Exco lekgotla will be to assess progress on the implementation of planned programmes and projects during the 2016/17 financial year, to review expenditure trends to date and the budget adjustments as implemented following the November 2016 budget lekgotla and to interrogate and approve the planned programmes and projects for 2017/18.
The lekgotla will coincide with the finalisation of the departmental Annual Performance Plans for the 2017/18 period and will thus preview the Annual Performance Plans of departments and state-owned entities in the province.
The Exco lekgotla will be held over a period of two days in order to provide sufficient time for presentations and engagement on the discussions.

Story: NELIE ERASMUS
>>nelie.observer@gmail.com