Chapter 5

CHIEF DIRECTORATE: CORPORATE SERVICES

SUMMARY

The Directorate: Organisational Development was involved in the change management process during 1998 and played a major role in initiating Catalytic Projects as part of the Department's Transformation Project. The directorate is reviewing its functions to be in line with the re-engineering process of the Department. The Directorate: Communication Services organised a Communication Indaba during June 1998. Stakeholders from all sections of the Department gathered for two days to discuss issues such as media monitoring, publications, training, internal communication and structure. The outcome of the indaba was a decision to decentralise to programme or provincial level. There was agreement that the national communication directorate would better serve the needs of land reform as a small corporate strategic centre responsible for communication policy formulation and the setting of overall communication objectives.

Internal Audit visited components of the Department to audit financial and other matters. Two cases of fraud were uncovered, which led to the dismissal of the employees concerned. An Internal Audit Committee, chaired by an outside person, was also established. The Directorate Human Resources Management managed two important projects, namely the implementation of a performance management system and the management of employment equity in the Department. The Directorate: Information Services initiated the implementation of Microsoft Office and Exchange. Several changes were effected in the network centre, which led to improved service to clients.

Vision

To provide people-centred corporate services, to create and ensure an enabling environment, characterised by equity, quality and a strong code of ethics within the framework of the Constitution.

BACKGROUND

The Chief Directorate is responsible for a number of support functions to the line functionaries of the Department. These include the following:

  • Human Resources Management
  • Organisational Development
  • Management Advisory and Support Services
  • Internal Audit
  • Legal Services
  • Communication Services
  • Information Technology Services
  • Parliamentary and Ministerial Services

The year under review saw a number of changes which led to an improvement in the level of service to the clients of the Chief Directorate. Internal restructuring was initiated in the Directorates: Communication Services and Legal Services.

The Chief Directorate participated in the transformation programme and focussed on four key aspects. The Directorate: Organisational Development implemented seven catalytic projects which focussed on internal organisational development issues. The Directorate: Human Resources Management led a project on Employment Equity and on Performance Management.

 

DIRECTORATE: HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT

Vision: To recruit and retain quality employees

The directorate underwent a process of re-engineering which was focussed on all its functions in accordance with the strategies of the Chief Directorate.

Recruitment and Selection

This subdirectorate is occupied with the recruitment, selection and appointment of employees. This Human Resources practice remains a key focus area. New policies necessitated the constant upgrading of existing policies. The Employment Equity project, which formed part of the Departmental Transformation Project, captured all the policy changes into a single policy. The effect of these activities will become visible in the coming year.

Conditions of Service

This section administers the broad spectrum of conditions of service governing employment in the public sector. This Human Resources practice is undergoing significant change in line with changes in the Public Service Regulations. A high level of service was maintained by this section in spite of difficult circumstances.

Client Services

This subdirectorate manages the broad spectrum of difficult issues which occur in the employment relationship. The subdirectorate successfully dealt with grievances, disciplinary cases, labour unrest and many other issues.

Performance management and mobility

This section was responsible for the implementation of the new performance management system as well as decentralisation of the process. The performance management system enables each employee and manager to negotiate a work plan which is used to guide their daily activities and which also guides the assessment of individual performance.

DIRECTORATE : ORGANISATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

The Directorate: Organisational Development was involved in the change management process in 1998 and played a major role in initiating Catalytic Projects as part of the Department's Transformation Project. The Directorate is reviewing its functions to be in line with the re-engineering process of the Department.

SPECIAL PROGRAMMES

The functions of this Subdirectorate are to:

  • Promote employment equity and representivity in staff composition
  • Implement affirmative action programmes
  • Promote management diversity
  • Provide vocational counsellor services
  • Provide social services

CATALYTIC PROJECTS

The directorate is leading the Catalytic Projects to jumpstart the Transformation process at a number of sites in the Department.

The catalytic sites are:

The directorate provides Team Building exercises and Diversity Management training in support of the transformation process.

Catalytic project teams have learned

HIV/AIDS PROGRAMME

An HIV/Aids co-ordinator's post, funded by the Ford Foundation, was created for the Department for 1998.

Activities

  • Educational information and education campaign through visits to provinces.
  • Distribution of pamphlets and posters on AIDS with the focus on all target groups.
  • Condom distribution throughout the year.
  • Presentations to various sections of the National Office.

 

Counselling training

  • Eight Department of Land Affairs staff members have been trained in Aids information and basic counselling skills.
  • Twenty two managers from the Policy Branch were trained in counselling and legal issues pertaining to HIV/AIDS and their impact on employees.

Liaison and Networking

  • Distribution of the South African Aids Directory.
  • Attendance of interDepartmental Aids Committee meetings
  •  

HIV/AIDS is a government priority and a post was approved for 1999.

Human Resources Development

This Subdirectorate delivered the following services directly to staff of the DLA and indirectly to communities, other government structures and non-governmental organisations:

  • establishment of training needs
  • undertaking of research regarding courses and training techniques
  • compilation of training material
  • presentation of training courses
  • evaluation of training results
  • organising of attendance of symposia and courses
  • rendering of advice on training

In the year under review the activities of the unit included

  • Close involvement in transformation projects, particularly the catalytic projects, Employment Equity Project, Culture Project and Land Reform Training Project
  • Provision of Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET)

- National Office : levels 1, 2, 3, and 4

- Pretoria Deeds and Surveyor-General Offices: levels 1, 2 and 3

- Johannesburg Deeds Office: levels 1 and 2

- Pietermaritzburg Deeds, Surveyor-General, Land Claims Commissioner and

- Provincial Office: levels 1 to 5 as well as Std 10 Biology

- Cape Town Provincial Office, Deeds, Surveyor-General, Land Claims

- Commissioner, Mowbray Mapping Offices: levels 2, 3, 4, and 5, N2 and N2,

- Public Administration, N2 and N3 Office Practice, N3 Computer training

- Bloemfontein Deeds and Surveyor-General Offices: levels 1, 2, 3, and 4

- Beacon Builders (stationed in Umtata, Matatiele, Machadodorp, and Nelspruit):

- level 1, 2, and 4

- Facilitation of strategic planning sessions for components within the Department.

- Presentation of Orientation programmes and Team Building Workshops.

- Co-facilitation of diversity workshops with technical consultant in

- Pietermaritzburg, Pretoria and Bloemfontein Catalytic Projects.

- Administrative arrangements regarding the nomination of staff to attend courses

presented by the South African Management and Development Institute (SAMDI)

as well as ad hoc requests for in-service training.

- Development of a Supervisory Course and an Interviewing Skills Course according

to the client's needs. The Interviewing Skills Course was piloted.

- Liaison with SAQA (South African Quality Authority) on the registration of courses

developed in the directorate.

- Provision of internship training service to Technikon students

- Provision of counselling to staff

A total of 41 bursaries were awarded to staff employed by the Department for part-time undergraduate (Senior Certificate, National Diploma and Degree) studies. Six full time bursaries were awarded in the field of Surveying to assist the Chief Surveyor-General to obtain suitably qualified representative staff.

 

DIRECTORATE: COMMUNICATION SERVICES

For the Directorate: Communication Services, 1998 was an important year. The directorate organised a Communication Indaba in June 1998. Stakeholders from across the Department gathered for two days to discuss issues such as media monitoring, publications, training, internal communication and structure. The outcome of the indaba was that the three subdirectorates; Policy, Programmes and Liaison, Internal Communication and Media Productions be retained, with the emphasis on decentralising to programme or provincial level. The indaba decided that the national communication directorate would better serve the needs of land reform as a small corporate strategic centre responsible for communication policy formulation and the setting of overall communication objectives.

The directorate visited all nine provinces and all line functions in Pretoria at management level to discuss needs, ownership of communication initiatives and budgeting.

Policies, Programmes and Liaison

The subdirectorate renders a daily press clipping service to the Department. Land and related articles from all national and regional newspapers are clipped and distributed daily. Electronic media monitoring (radio and TV) is out-sourced. The subdirectorate has worked well with the Minister's and the Director General's office in releasing press reports, responding to press queries and briefing the media on forthcoming events, resulting in several well covered articles in the media. The comparative advertising cost of this free media coverage is R - 00 for the period January to December 1998.

Together with the relevant line functionaries, mass media communication campaigns on Restitution and the Interim Protection of Informal Land Rights (IPILRA) were launched. These campaigns involved radio advertising, the production of booklets, pamphlets and posters, workshops, and the provision of a toll free information telephone service. A key feature of these campaigns was that material produced was done in all 11 official languages. A communication campaign on the Extension of Security of Tenure Act involving radio advertising was continued in 1998.

The subdirectorate was also involved in co-ordinating public meetings on restitution and arranging media coverage for designation and land transfer ceremonies in the provinces in which the Minister participated.

The subdirectorate is actively involved in various inter- and intra-Departmental committees and commissions. It co-ordinates communication of the Department's progress in becoming Y2K compliant.

 

Internal Communication

The subdirectorate worked on various internal communication issues and external public relations campaigns. These included:

  • assisting the Departmental Change Management Team (CMT) with communication actions;
  • promoting the Batho Pele document and principles;
  • co-ordinating the corporate image project, the visit of the Brazilian Minister of Lands and the Masakhane Focus Week activities.

A triumph was securing a donation of 25 000 books from a UNISA community outreach project, which the Department subsequently donated to a community library in North West.

The subdirectorate participated in land reform information campaigns to reach communities in North West, Gauteng and the Northern Province, and took part in a restitution information blitz of the West Rand in the fourth quarter of 1998.

Internal PR activities included the organisation of Departmental involvement in various national awareness days. Visits, talks, exhibitions, and the distribution of printed material formed part of these information exercises.

The subdirectorate worked on and presented a draft Departmental language policy to the Executive Committee of the Department in July 1998.

Media Production

Chronology

The unit

The Media Production Unit is responsible for producing virtually all printed information put out by the Department. Apart from the Department's two regular publications, Land Info (external) and Journal (internal), some of the directorates in the Department also launched their own newsletters, produced by the Media Production Unit. These include the DFA Update (for the Directorate: Land Development Facilitation), the Tenure Newsletter (for the Chief Directorate: Tenure Reform and State Land Management), Land Rights Update (for the Directorate: Land Rights) and Training Update (for the Subdirectorate: Training and Capacity Building).

The Media Production Unit is also responsible for the reprinting of policy documents such as the White Paper on Land Policy and the Rural Development Framework. It is also the unit's responsibility to ensure that sufficient information booklets regarding the Extension of Security of Tenure legislation and general information on land reform are available by constantly replenishing resource material in various languages as it becomes depleted.

The translation of information and policy documents as well as letters and other documents needed in any of the official languages for any of the processes in the land reform programmes is an important part of the unit's work. The translation, editing, legal editing and subsequent further translation and editing of, for example, the Regulations to the Extension of Security of Tenure Act, took up many months of the year.

The unit also produces flyers, small posters, programmes and many other formats of information and promotion material as required by line functionaries of the Department.

1998

The following is a list of publications produced in 1998. It bears testimony not only to the dedicated work done by the Media Production Unit, but also to the determination of line functionaries in the Department to introduce the content of their work to many target groups in this country:

Information on land reform programmes

(Available in English, isiZulu, isiXhosa, Sepedi and Setswana)

(Available in English, Afrikaans, isiXhosa, isiZulu and Setswana)

(Available in English and Afrikaans)

(Available in English, isiZulu, isiXhosa, Sepedi, Setswana and Xitsonga)

(Available in all official languages)

(Available in English and Afrikaans)

Regular publications

Policy documents

Internal newsletters

We serve with pride - Code of Conduct of the Department of Land Affairs

INTERNAL AUDIT

The Subdirectorate: Internal Audit independently investigates and evaluates the activities of the Department to determine risks and deficiencies at an early stage. It is the task of Internal Audit to keep the Accounting Officer informed of the standard of activities in the Department and to advise on rectification or the taking of preventive action where necessary.

During the year the subdirectorate appointed an Assistant Director: Internal Audit to help with the additional tasks and also to help with ad hoc investigations.

Inspections

The subdirectorate visited the nine provincial offices, 10 Deeds offices, six Surveyor-General offices and six offices of the Commission on Restitution of Land Rights. Matters examined for correctness were Finance, Administration, Personnel and Provisioning Administration.

Internal Audit also visited eight provincial offices, nine Deeds offices, five Surveyor-General offices and three offices of the Commission on Restitution of Land Rights for unexpected cash inspections.

Several Internal Audit inspections and ad hoc investigations were undertaken in the National Office. The most important ad hoc investigations were:

  • Subsidised vehicle policy: Head office
  • Alleged fraud at Surveyor-General office
  • Cashier function and capturing of data on Metanet at the Chief Directorate: Surveys and Mapping: Mowbray
  • Parking: Head Office

Audit committee

An Audit Committee was established for the Department. The Committee is to be chaired by a person from outside the Department and consists of the following members:

Mr. Grant Gelink: Chairperson : Deloitte & Touche

Mr. G. Budlender: Ex officio member : DG: Land Affairs

Adv. P. Holomisa: Ex officio member : Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee: Land Affairs

Mr. G. Du Preez: Member : DDG: Department of Public Works

Dr. E. Mokeyane: Member : DDG: Department of Water Affairs Free State Provincial Government

The objectives, duties/responsibilities and mandate/competences are prescribed in the Charter of the Audit Committee approved by the Director-General.

DIRECTORATE : LEGAL SERVICES

Vision

To provide a comprehensive, efficient and cost-effective legal service to all components of the Department including Corporate Services and the Ministry.

Legislation

This service includes participation in the formulation, drafting, editing and/or presentation of new departmental Acts and amendments, regulations, proclamations and government notices, delegations and assignments of law and functions. Five departmental Acts were passed by Parliament and a further nine Bills are being finalised for 1999. The directorate also commented on and gave inputs for nine Bills sponsored by other departments.

 

Litigation

Court cases brought by or against the Minister, the Department or any official - in every court except, during this year, the Constitutional court - were handled, either as ongoing actions or applications or as new matters. A total of 162 new cases were instituted during the year.

 

Contracts

A total of 114 specific contracts (including a number of pro forma or standard contracts) were finalised, and many more, including mineral leases and prospecting contracts, were edited, amended and advised on. The directorate's project to review all contracts which are used or to be used throughout the Department is in progress and includes employment and consultant or service provider contracts.

 

Legal opinions

The directorate provided 239 written and numerous informal opinions covering virtually every field of law. Many related to land restitution and land claims. The interpretation and application of various provisions including section 239 of the interim Constitution also gave rise to a number of problems experienced by functionaries. Other opinions dealt with, were matters in respect of labour tenants, physical planning and the interpretation of the Development Facilitation Act, 67 of 1995.

Informal support

The directorate provides an ever-increasing informal support service. This relates to all sections of the Department. Personal, e-mail and telephonic requests for assistance and queries are received (generally from within the Department but also from other sources such as other departments, provincial administrations, the public and other role-players). The directorate's involvement ranges from the Aone-off" conversation to time spent consulting, researching, arranging for and/or checking, interpreting, commenting on and even drawing up documents, providing precedents and advice on content, procedures, criteria and legal and other requirements.

 

Transformation

The directorate's Transformation Project has reached the stage where the principles (of a smaller and highly skilled head office component with decentralisation to other components) have been approved. The implementation stage has commenced and will taken further next year. The outcomes of the Land Reform Re-engineering Project which are still awaited will, it is anticipated, impact on the implementation of the directorate's project, reflecting the principle that a legal service is best provided where it is required, i.e where the client is situated.

 

DEPARTMENT OF LAND AFFAIRS : PROGRESS WITH LEGISLATION : 12/98
SHORT TITLE

PRIORITY

MEMO TO

CABINET

CABINET COMMITTEE

CABINET APPROVAL

DATE TO LAW ADVISORS

REMARKS

      (A) BILLS DEALT WITH IN 1998 - FINALISED

    1. Provision of Certain Land for Settlement Amendment Bill, 1998

Amendment Act No. 26 of 1998 - promulgated 3.7.98 : GN. 890 - G.G. 19019 : Principal Act now called Provision of Land and Assistance

Act, No. 126 of 1993

    2. Kwazulu-Natal Land Affairs Act Amendment Bill, 1998

Amendment Act No. 48 of 1998; promulgated 11.9.98 : GN. 1165 in G.G. 19259

    3. Land Affairs General Amendment Bill, 1998

Amendment Act No. 62 of 1998; promulgated 28.9.98 : GN. 1214 in G.G. 19291

    4. Deeds Registries Amendment Bill, 1998

Amendment Act No. 93 of 1998; promulgated 2.11.98 : G.G. 19416

    5. Transformation of Certain Rural Areas Bill, 1998

Act No. 94 of 1998; promulgated 2.11.98 : G.G. 19417
 
 

          (B) BILLS TO BE DEALT WITH IN 1999

    1. Restitution of Land Rights Amendment Bill, 1999

A

 

  

 

  

 

  

 

  

Bill being drafted : Interim measures

    2. Restitution of Land Rights (Further) Amendment Bill, 1999

A

 

  

 

  

 

  

 

  

Bill to be drafted : Further amendments

    3. Land Rights Bill, 1999

A

 

  

 

  

 

  

 

  

Bill being drafted

    4. Registration Facilitation Bill, 1999

B

 

  

 

  

 

  

 

  

Bill being drafted. Linked to (B) 3

    5. Registration of State Land Bill, 1999

B

 

  

 

  

 

  

 

  

Bill being drafted

    6. Professional and Technical Surveyors Amendment Bill, 1999

B

 

  

 

  

 

  

 

  

Bill being drafted

    7. Sectional Titles Amendment Bill, 1999

B

 

  

 

  

 

  

 

  

Bill being drafted

    8. Planning Profession Bill/Town and Regional Planners Amendment Bill, 1999

B

 

  

 

  

 

  

 

  

Bill being drafted

    9. Deeds Registries Amendment Bill, 1999

B

 

  

 

  

 

  

 

  

Bill being drafted

M7748

ACTS ADMINISTERED BY DEPARTMENT OF LAND AFFAIRS

980715

ITEM

NAME

 NUMBER

YEAR

1

 Deeds Registries Act

47

1937

2

 Kimberley Leasehold Conversion to Freehold Act

40

1961

3

 State Land Disposal Act

48

1961

4

 Physical Planning Act

88

1967

5

 Expropriation of Mineral Rights (Townships) Act

96

1969

6

 Town and Regional Planners Act

19

1984

7

 Professional and Technical Surveyors Act

40

1984

8

 Sectional Titles Act

95

1986

9

 Upgrading of Land Tenure Rights Act

112

1991

10

 Physical Planning Act

125

1991

11

 Land Titles Adjustment Act

111

1993

12

 Distribution and Transfer of Certain State Land Act

119

1993

*13

 Provision of Land and Assistance Act

126

1993

**14

 KwaZulu-Natal Ingonyama Trust Act

3

1994

15

 Restitution of Land Rights Act

22

1994

16

 Land Administration Act

2

1995

17

 Development Facilitation Act

67

1995

18

 Land Reform (Labour Tenants) Act

3

1996

19

 Communal Property Associations Act

28

1996

20

 Interim Protection of Informal Land Rights Act

31

1996

21

 Land Survey Act

8

1997

22

 Extension of Security of Tenure Act

62

1997

INFORMATION SERVICES

The Directorate experienced a year of mixed fortunes and realised a number of successes.

Network Centre

The physical environment in the server room was significantly improved. This involved replacing the air conditioning units and upgrading the reticulation, as a result of which service levels improved significantly.

All the latest software patches for the network operating system were applied.

An extensive proof of concept exercise was conducted concerning the feasibility of NetWare and NT operating systems coexisting on the same network. The conclusion of the exercise was that this is possible. This presents the Department with a number of cost-effective solutions.

The use of servers was investigated and the resultant rationalisation of server usage enabled the network staff to redeploy a number of high-end servers. This process will save the Department a considerable amount of money.

Support Centre

During the year all the network controllers completed a certificate course in PC and software maintenance.

The Help Desk operation was vigorously scrutinised and the following enhancements were applied to the service facilities:

  • A hunting line system was installed, increasing the number of extensions on the

Help Desk from one to eight;

  • The software used to manage the Help Desk operation was replaced with industry standard software, which will permit the centre to focus on pro-active activities, rather than being in continuous reactive mode. This will be implemented during January 1999.

System Design and Maintenance

The Directorate made significant interventions regarding systems:

  • Conscious efforts were made to focus intensively on systems which support and enhance the core business processes of the Department;
  • A number of systems were recognised as superfluous to these processes and were accordingly archived;
  • The focus on electronic dissemination of information was revitalised and the vehicle for delivery of this information will be the DLA Intranet

Training

Computer training was provided during the past year, to a limited extent due to the fact that the Department is in the process of changing to the Microsoft environment.

Requests for computer training in software packages, critical business systems and specialised areas were accommodated by utilising the services of external training firms and Central Computer Services.

Library

During 1998 the DLA Library moved away from consisting of mostly printed material, towards a Virtual Information Resource Centre, by which most information is made available electronically.

The library policy and vision did not support the mission and vision of the DLA, which is land reform. A library workshop was held on 26 March 1998, the main focus of which was to clarify the vision of the library as it undergoes the full transition from library to Virtual Information Resource Centre. In addition to establishing a vision, the workshop was to address obstacles that could prevent the vision from achieving its aims. The objective of the workshop was therefore to carry out a joint problem solving exercise to clarify the obstacles that needed to be addressed (the reality) in order to meet the vision.

The new DLA Library vision reads as follows:

AWe want to create the best Land Reform information resource in the world. At the same time, we want to improve the Land Reform process in South Africa, by providing relevant information to Land Reform practitioners. Our clients are going to be those people internationally, nationally, provincially and locally who require access to Land Reform information.

"We will assist our clients by providing a linking function for the exchange and flow of information, through creative use of new technology and by providing assistance and guidance to our end users in the use of our products. We also undertake to facilitate access to information for our customers through pro-active means."

To support the mission of the Library, the Library personnel created their own DLA Intranet Home Page, which enables the Library to provide information in a decentralised manner. It also gives the user access to a rich and ever-expanding store of information. The DLA Library is now one of the few departmental libraries which have expanded their walls by becoming virtual.

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