Accessibility Programme for Government Buildings

1. PRESENTATION TO THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC WORKS04 JUNE 2013

2. PRESENTATION OUTLINE • Accessibility programme which prioritises improving accessibility to government buildings for people with disabilities (Pages 3 – 14); • Progress report by the Department of Public Works on the recalling of artisans and retired engineers, and a (Pages 15 – 24) • (EPWP) Progress made by the Department of Public Works in assisting the low capacity municipalities to participate in the EPWP and to access the incentive grant (Pages 25 – 38)

3. REPORT ON THE ACCESSIBILITY PROGRAMME WHICH PRIORITISES IMPROVING ACCESSIBILITY TO GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS FOR PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIESPRESENTER: ACTING DDG AIMMR. P. CHIAPASCO

4. PRESENTATION OUTLINE • Purpose • Introduction and Background • Legislative Framework • Project Progress Trends • Budgetary Trends • Departmental and Inter-Sectoral Collaboration • Constraints • Way forward 2

5. PURPOSE INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND • To brief the Portfolio Committee on Public Works in respect of progress on the accessibility programme. • The aim of the programme is to make State-owned buildings accessible to persons with disabilities. • The Accessibility Programme was initiated in 2008/9, after a ruling from the first case brought before the new Equality Court in 2003 (established under the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act of 2000): A quadriplegic practicing attorney (Ms. E. Muller) brought a case against the DoJ & CD and DPW in relation to her inability to access Court buildings. 5

6. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND CONT. • DoJ & CD subsequently initiated a programme to make court buildings accessible to persons with disabilities. • DPW also commenced with the implementation of accessibility measures in State-owned buildings. The programme was first piloted in Kimberley and Bloemfontein, and thereafter rolled to other Regions. • The programme is implemented in buildings occupied by various user departments (e.g. SAPS, Home Affairs & Correctional Services, etc).

7. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND CONT. • The Department uses reports on statutory compliance and inputs from User Departments to identify / prioritise projects. • All new State-owned buildings are designed to be accessible to persons with disabilities; • For new leases and renewal, the accessibility requirements are included in the tender specification for the procurement of leased accommodation.

8. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND CONT. The following requirements are addressed in State-owned buildings in terms of South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) 10400-S: 2011: • Signage; • Parking; • External & Internal circulation: Accessible route from site to main entrance; • Doors, doorways & door handles: Appropriate doors and handles to allow for easy access into various parts of the building; • Ramps; • Lifts: Audio and visual warning signs as well as raised numbers on buttons; • Toilet facilities; • Warning signs (e.g. fire alarms): Audible and visible, and • Other measures: Informed by requirements per building.

9. LEGISLATIVE FRAMEWORK In relation to the accessibility programme, DPW draws its mandate from amongst others, the following: • Government Immovable Asset Management Act (GIAMA), 2007: • seeks to ensure coordination of the use of an immovable asset with service delivery objects of a User department. • Occupational Health and Safety Act, 1993: • provides for the safety and health of persons at work, • protection of those other than persons at work from hazards arising from contact/ interaction with persons at work. • United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD): • requires State parties to eliminate barriers and obstacles that might make buildings and other facilities not accessible.

10. Project Progress Trends 10

11. Budgetary Trends

12. Departmental and Inter-sectoral Collaboration • DPW is part of a team made up of the Department of Women, Children & Persons with Disabilities, and other departments which aims to ensure a coordinated and integrated implementation of the accessibility programme. • DPW is also a member of a Committee constituted of the South African Bureau of Standards (SABS) and representatives of various bodies of people with disabilities responsible for the development / review of standards for accessible buildings.

13. Constraints • Departmental processes relating to budget approvals and issuing of procurement instructions led to delays in the execution of projects; • Non-responsive bids and poor performance by contractors, etc., since contractors with a low CIDB grading qualify and are appointed for these projects owing to the fact that the scope is most often small; and • Some projects were cancelled to avoid having many contractors working on the same site. Accessibility requirements were incorporated in existing projects.

14. Way Forward • Progress with the current projects is being monitored and interventions will be implemented, where necessary; • Reports to be submitted on monthly basis to Top Management to monitor progress and ensure that necessary interventions are implemented, where necessary. • The budget approval and issuing of procurement instruction for the next financial year will be finalised before the beginning of 2014/15, and • The Department has also initiated an Immovable Asset Register Physical verification project which, inter alia, will verify the extent to which buildings are accessible. The information from this project will be used to prioritise buildings in future.

15. REPORT ON MINISTER OF PUBLIC WORKS RECALLING OF RETIRED ARTISANS AND ENGINEERSPRESENTER: ACTING DDG: CORPORATE SERVICEMR. K GOVENDER

16. REPORT ON MINISTER’S RECALLING OF RETIRED ENGINEERS The Minister announced the recall of retired Engineers: The context of the request was informed by the TAU rapid review that amongst other findings, indicated the impaired state technical capacity to execute the mandate of the department. As part of the turn-around kick-start implementation plan/programme, we identified 219 technical post in the approved structure but not funded and we secured funding at an initial target of 88 out 219 from NT. The presentation will deal with the progress in filling the initial 88 post out of the 219 and bridging strategy of insourcing, whilst the structure is being reviewed to be responsive to the mandate of DPW and re-establishment of state’s technical capacity. • Total number of applications received : 66 • Number of registered Engineers : 23

17. APPLICATIONS RECEIVED FOR ARTISANS AND ENGINEERS (Built Environment Professionals)

18. REPORT ON RETIRED CONSTRUCTION PROJECT MANAGERS • The advert to recall retired Construction Project Managers was advertised on 28 April and closed on 10 May 2013: - Total number of applications received : 64 - Number of registered professionals : 31 - Number of registered professionals according to the discipline indicated on the advert : 20

19. APPLICATIONS RECEIVED FOR CONSTRUCTION PROJECT MANAGERS

20. INSOURCING PROGRAM • An insourcing Program is initiated to Capacitate Professional Services/ KAM to kick start the Portfolio Management Configuration within DPW based on the following framework • PROMOTION OF A VALUE PROPOSITION FRAMEWORK WITH CLIENTS DEPARTMENTS • The Offices of Director General & Operating Officer has met with Major Clients Departments to promote the turnaround program, with emphasis on establishing a Clients Focus Strategy. The outcome of this process is DPW & Clients Joint Teams for performance reporting and dispute resolutions.

21. INSOURCING PROGRAM • RE-CONFIGURATION OF THE SERVICE DELIVERY BRANCHES TO SUPPORT PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT The Department has started with the process of aligning its infrastructure delivery branches into Clients Portfolio Structure. The Department is aiming to setup dedicated professionals to service dedicated Clients needs arranged into projects portfolios. • CAPACITY BUILDING The Department has initiated a Professionals Insourcing Strategy to build-in capacity of built environment professionals who will remain assisting the Department for duration of three years to five years. The Department is looking at attracting interested professional firms or individuals in placing their resources within the Department.

22. PROGRESS IN IMPLEMENTING INSOURCING STRATEGY • COEGA has seconded a resource(s) to run the insourced teams, and assist DPW in putting in place medium to long term contracts whilst DPW is being rebuilt (in the Technical Competencies); • All regional offices (Polokwane, Mahikeng, Emalahleni (Nelspruit), Kimberly and Umthatha) that had structural deficiency of not having professional services have been resourced with professional teams of insourced firms; • The appointment of Joint Teams for phase 1 critical clients contributing to 80% of our budgets and expenditure have been appointed with the view of rationalising, build effective and efficient systems for the respective portfolio.

23. PROGRESS IN IMPLEMENTING INSOURCING STRATEGY • The joint teams for Key Account Management (KAM) to rationalise our front office engagements and enable operationalisation of portfolio management have been appointed. This will allow our current 6 KAM directorates to focus on a 1 to 1 ratio (1 KAM Manager per Client) and the 9 KAM Joint teams to operate on a 1 to 5 ratio (1 joint team per 5 Client departments). This will move us away from a ratio of 1 to 8.5 (1 KAM manager per 8.5 Client Departments). • We have used this platform to contract in through in-sourcing for the vacancies for the heads of Mechanical and Electrical professional services in Head Office.

24. PROGRESS ON PLACEMENT OF FROM MINISTER’S CALL • Based on the analysis conducted on the applicant’s CV’s, DPW may not fill all the priorised 88 positions. • CV’s received from the Minister’s call are be considered in the filling of the balance that arise from 88 position adverts and any of the 131 (219-88) not in the initial 88 priority list as part of phase 2. the process is scheduled to conclude by end of June by Human Resources in the matching exercise of CV’s against positions identified by Professional Service for possible placement. • Applicants who forwarded their CV’s following the re-calling of professionals were also informed through e-mails of the 88 positions advertised by the Department for them to apply in order to have a pool of qualified applicants. • it should be noted that we have also retained professional staff that exists the Human Capital Investment programme (HCI), and water services professionals who are on contract (off structure) whislt the review of the structure is being completed and subjected to the Government Planning and Budgeting process, in an effort to erode current capacity and meet our obligations.

25. PROGRESS MADE BY THE DEPARTMENT IN ASSISTING THE LOW CAPACITY MUNICIPALITIES TO PARTICIPATE IN THE EPWP AND TO ACCESS THE INCENTIVE GRANT PRESENTER: ACTING DDG: EPWPMR. S HENDERSON

26. OUTLINE OF THE PRESENTATION • Introduction • Overview of technical support provided by the department. • Nature of the projects funded by the Integrated grant across the different sectors. • Measures taken to ensure that low capacity municipalities accessing the integrated grant. • Overview of the municipalities accessing the EPWP Integrated grant. • Way forward in supporting municipalities.

27. INTRODUCTION • In order to ensure that municipalities implement Expanded Public Works Projects, technical support is being provided by the National Department of Public Works. • The main objective of the technical support is to ensure that projects are implemented using labour-intensive methods so as to create works opportunities. • In order to further accelerate the creation of work opportunities by municipalities, an incentive grant was introduced in the 09/10 financial year as part of EPWP Phase II. • The EPWP incentive grant was changed from a schedule 8 grant that was performance based to a schedule 6 grant which is a mixture of planning and performance based grant from the 1st of April 2012 to improve the update of the grant by municipalities.

28. TECHNICAL SUPPORT PROVIDED TO MUNICIPALITIES BY THE NATIONAL OF PUBLIC WORKS The technical support provided is as follows: • Assistance with identification of suitable projects for EPWP; • Assistance with job creation targets for projects ; • Assistance with designs and contract documentation • Assistance with identification of training needs • Assistance with procurement processes in alignment of contract document to EPWP • Assistance in providing an enabling environment for EPWP in terms of providing • advice in contractor development and suitable wage rates ; • Assistance with monitoring and reporting of EPWP projects. • Assistance in mainstreaming EPWP in municipalities, through assistance in developing EPWP policies.

29. NATURE OF PROJECTS FUNDED BY THE EPWP GRANT In order to ensure that more municipalities can fund projects through the EPWP Integrated grant has been broadened beyond the Infrastructure and Environment & Culture sectors to include the Social sector from the 1st of April 2013. The types of projects implemented across the different sectors are as follows: Infrastructure sector • Road maintenance and the maintenance of buildings. • Construction of low traffic volume roads. • Basic services infrastructure including water and sewer reticulation, sanitation, pipelines (excluding bulk infrastructure).

30. NATURE OF PROJECTS FUNDED BY THE EPWP GRANT cont’d Environment and Culture sector: • Tourism and cultural projects. • Waste management. • Parks and Beautification. • Sustainable land-based livelihoods. Social sector: • Social services programmes. • Health service programmes. • Community safety programmes.

31. MEASURES TAKEN TO ENSURE THE LOW CAPACITY MUNICIPALITIES ACCESS THE INCENTIVE GRANT Re-orientation workshops on the labour-intensive method have been held: • At the re-orientation workshops, officials from municipalities were trained on how to design, implement, monitor and report labour-intensive projects. Re-orientation workshops have been in the held in North West, Western Cape, Gauteng and Free State Provinces. In some of the provinces, more than on session was held. More reorientation workshops planned. Road shows on the Integrated grant were held in all Provinces: • Road shows were held in all provinces on the Integrated grant. At the road shows, items covered included; eligibility requirements, conditions of the grant and reporting requirements.

32. MEASURES TAKEN TO ENSURE THE LOW CAPACITY MUNICIPALITIES ACCESS THE INCENTIVE GRANT CONt’d Project visits were conducted to projects to Monitor EPWP compliance: • Project visits were conducted in all provinces to monitor EPWP compliance and also provide implementation advice. • A total of 887 projects being implemented in municipalities were visited. Of the projects visited, 526 were in the infrastructure sector while 361 were in the Environment & Culture sector. • Information verified on site included; number of work opportunities, person days of work and branding. • Compliance items like attendance registers, employment contracts and payment registers are also verified. • Information on location of projects including the coordinates is obtained as well.

33. SITE VISITS CONDUCTED IN THE 12/13 FINANCIAL YEAR TO MUNICIPALITIES

34. SITE VISITS CONDUCTED IN THE 12/13 FINANCIAL YEAR TO MUNICIPALITIES CONT’D. Construction of Roads in Lichtenburg Sign-board EPWP-compliant after intervention by Technical Support Ntabankulu road surfacing

35. MEASURES TAKEN TO ENSURE THE LOW CAPACITY MUNICIPALITIES ACCESS THE INCENTIVE GRANT CONT’D Additional technical capacity appointed to support municipalities: • Two firms were appointed to complement the National Department of Public Works technical support team in supporting municipalities in November 2012. • One firm covers KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and Mpumulanga and the other Northern Cape, Limpopo and North West. Another firm will be appointed to complement the officials in Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Free State. • With the additional resources more municipalities will be covered, in addition, each municipality will get more focused attention.

36. OVERVIEW OF MUNICIPALITIES ACCESSING THE EPWP INTEGRATED GRANT • The number of municipalities accessing the EPWP integrated grant has increased from 246 in the 12/13 financial year to 274 municipalities in the 13/14 financial year. • The additional 28 municipalities accessing the incentive in the 13/14 financial are mainly low capacity municipalities. • The incentive grant was disbursed to all the eligible municipalities in the 12/13 financial year.

37. NUMBER OF ELIGIBLE MUNICIPALITIES IN THE 12/13 AND 13/14 FINANCIAL YEAR

38. WAY FORWARD • Labour-intensive re-orientation workshops will be held in all provinces in the 13/14 financial year targeting municipalities. • Continued technical support will be provide to municipalities in order to improve the implementation of EPWP in municipalities. • Integrated grant workshops to held to ensure that municipalities are well aware of the conditions of the EPWP Integrated grant according to the Division of Revenue Act. • Additional capacity to be appointed to support municipalities in the Eastern Cape, Free State and the Western Cape to enhance existing capacity.

39. THANK YOU