Western Cape Dominates Provincial and National Departments Awards

Statement by Helen Zille, Premier of the Western Cape

Last week the Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation in the Presidency held its inaugural Management Performance Assessment tool (MPAT) awards which recognise exceptional achievement in government departments across South Africa, both provincially and nationally.

I am pleased to announce that the Western Cape Government won eight of the fifteen first place awards presented to provincial and national departments, including the best overall performing department.

The MPAT assesses all 156 national and provincial government departments on their management practices by focusing on four key performance areas:

• Governance and accountability.
• Strategic management.
• Human resource management.
• Financial management.

The Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation has completed three cycles of MPAT assessments thus far and handed out awards, based on the outcomes of these evaluations, to the best performing departments as well as the most improved departments in these four key performance areas. 

The Western Cape Government came first in the following categories:

• Best Performing Department in Governance and Accountability with a staff complement of less than 2000 - Western Cape Department of the Premier.
• Best Performing Department in Governance and Accountability with a staff complement of more than 2000 - Western Cape Department of Transport and Public Works.
• Best Performing Department in Human Resource Management (including employment equity practices) with staff complement of less than 2000  - Western Cape Department of Economic Development and Tourism.
• Best Performing Department in Human Resource Management (including employment equity practices) with a staff complement of more than 2000  - Western Cape Department of Transport and Public Works;
• Most Improved Department in Human Resource Management - Western Cape Department of Local Government.
• Best Performing Department in all four Key Performance Areas with a staff complement of less than 2000 - Western Cape Department of Community Safety;
• Best Performing Department with a staff complement of more than 2000  - Western Cape Department of Transport and Public Works.
• A floating trophy for the overall best performing department for MPAT 2013: Western Cape Department of Transport and Public Works.

I would like to convey my sincere congratulations to the Director-General Adv. Brent Gerber and the dedicated professionals, both political and administrative, working in the provincial government for these exceptional outcomes.

The Department of Transport and Public Works was particularly outstanding and for this, credit must go to outgoing Minister Robin Carlisle, his former Head of Department (HOD) Johan Fourie, his current HOD Jacqui Gooch and their colleagues. Thanks must also go to Zeenat Ishmail in the Department of the Premier and her staff for managing the MPAT process.

Three Western Cape provincial departments were also runners up in the strategic management, governance, accountability and best performing department award categories.

We recognise that an efficient, effective, transparent, accountable and corruption-free government is critical to generating the enabling environment needed to create jobs and grow the economy. That is why we have focused on building a capable and professional public administration over the last five years.

The results of the Presidency’s inaugural MPAT awards demonstrates the progress we have made in this regard and our commitment to having the best management practices in the country, so that we can deliver opportunities and services to citizens.

While there is always room for improvement, it is clear that we are moving closer towards achieving our goal of becoming the best-run regional government in the world.