Summary
This document highlights some of the Provincial Treasury's most important achievements since its creation in 1995.
- Cash flow procedures and processes developed by us are viewed by the National Treasury as the norm for effective provincial cashflow management. These procedures and processes result in the maximum amount of interest and make up most of the financing behind iKapa elihlumayo.
- The Western Cape was the first Province to do its own assessments of actual budgets submitted by departments to see whether these budgets made sense and whether they supported the principles of iKapa elihlumayo.
- Everyone concerned has accepted the Employment Equity Plan (EEP). This plan sets out how the Treasury will diversify its workforce to reflect the demographics of the Western Cape. It also sets out how unfair discrimination will be eliminated in the workplace.
- In 2002, the Treasury developed the first full Workplace Skills Plan (WSP) together with a comprehensive skills audit which was submitted to the relevant Sector Education Training Authority (SETA).
- The Provincial Treasury in the Western Cape and Polokwane in the Northern Province were identified as pilot sites for the implementation of a learnership in public sector accounting which was launched on 2 April 2003 provincially and 20 June 2003 nationally. These are the first Public Service institutions that host this kind of training.
- The WC Treasury was the first institution to get full accreditation as a Workplace Training Institution: No other private or public institution in the country has yet been granted full accreditation. This was also a first for the Finance and Accounting Services SETA (FASSET).
- Through FASSET, our internal training manuals were redesigned as reference material and course material was developed in an outcome-based modular format to meet the accreditation requirements of SAQA (South African Qualification Authority) and the NQF (National Qualification Framework).
- In addition to learnerships, there have been a record number of bursaries awarded to Treasury personnel on our first endeavour towards becoming a learning organization.
- There is an increasing focus on boosting own provincial revenue sources. This has resulted in a steady growth in our revenue over the last four years, grossing over one Billion Rand in 2003/04. Other income generation initiatives are being investigated, like the imposition of a fuel levy and a tourism bed levy.
- With the 2003 Western Cape Gambling and Racing Amendment Acts 2003, a major black economic empowerment deal was made possible within the casino industry.
- We have started the process of formulating fiscal policy, which provides guidelines of how provincial resources should be allocated in the budget and allows for more public transparency in the budget process. This includes:
- Western Cape Revenue and Expenditure Policy Framework 2000/01 - 2002/03
- Western Cape Fiscal Policy 2001 - 2004, 2002 - 2005 and 2003 - 2006
- Western Cape Medium Term Budget Policy Statement 2004 - 2007
- A Western Cape Provincial Preferential Procurement Policy (2000) has been developed and implemented, which will help in the sustainable development and implementation of a preferential procurement system.
- An Electronic Purchasing System (Sourcelink) has been instituted, which brought about a faster response and turn-around time for smaller tenders.
- A Suppliers database (2003) has been developed in collaboration with the City of Cape Town. This accredits suppliers and lists their HDI (historically disadvantaged individuals) status.
- A procurement Website (2003) was established containing all the relevant information needed by people wanting to tender for provincial government contracts.
- A 100% conversion process from cheques to Electronic Fund Transfers was put in place, which is more cost effective.
- Due to outdated and insufficient systems that existed for the management and control of consumables and movable assets, the Logistical Information System (LOGIS) was rolled out to 41 provincial sites (mainly at Health) managing stock levels in excess of R1,3 billion.
The content on this page was last updated on 15 March 2014