Acting CEO Mike Mthimunye

ACTING CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER’S REPORT For the year ended 31 March 2009

Staff

The staff complement at the North West Development Corporation was one hundred and fifty one (151) permanent, six (6) temporary and eleven (11) internship students during the year ended 31 March 2009.

The activities of the Corporation included the following:

• Rent Collection including current and arrear rental
• Refurbishments of offices and warehouses
• Recruitment of tenants
• Tracing of bad payers
• Marketing
• Security (Assets)
• Information Technology
• The responsibilities were executed to the best of the staff’s ability and the responses to challenges yielded positive results.

Information Technology

The IT Manager resigned in 2006 and efforts to recruit a replacement were unsuccessful because the Corporation could not find a suitable candidate in the applications that were submitted. This resulted in the deployment of two staff members from the Finance Department to IT. The two were trained at workshops on the job and were encouraged to develop themselves further with external training. This initiative yielded positive results, as significantly most of the Audit queries were eliminated and the IT system has been upgraded and improved to be more efficient and effective than before.

Legal Department

The new Manager, Advocate Mogapi who was appointed on the 01 January 2009 has settled quickly and understands the business very well.

In the year 2008/09 the Legal Department dealt with the following matters:

• Tshwane Local Municipality: The North West Development Corporation was cited for not honouring the rates and taxes payment.
• Moses Kotane Local Municipality: The North West Development Corporation was cited for not honouring the rates and taxes payment.
• Debtors who did not honour their monthly rental and loan obligations.

In addition to litigations, the department managed to refine the Corporation’s Lease Contracts and scrutinized all Policies before presentation to the Board. The Legal and Securities Managers consulted Traditional Leaders to renew Leases with Traditional Authorities which were over 25 years old, as per the recommendations of the Internal Auditors.

Human Resources Department

For the better part of the year, the Human Resources Department has been characterized by the shortage of staff. It became extremely difficult for them to serve other departments as they were embroiled with problems of staff shortage within their own department.

The Department has subsequently been restructured and streamlined. The Human Resource Manager, Ms Lenyatsa who was appointed on the 01 May 2008 has a responsibility to provide appropriate human resources within the North West Development Corporation. The primary aim of the Department is to increase the competence level of employees and to retain existing skills.

They (Human Resources Department) were highly instrumental in restructuring and repositioning of all departments within the North West Development Corporation.

All requirements for the development of staff were identified by Heads of Department and referred to the Human Resources Department for consideration and implementation. A total of ten courses were conducted in various aspects of training and development by various service providers including institutions of higher learning.

Finance Department

Under the leadership of the Chief Financial Officer (CFO), the financial resources were stringently controlled on the allocated budget, closely monitored by the Board. The team was able to sustain the positive (surplus) financial performance of the Corporation despite the high interest emanating from the DBSA and NWPG loan debts. This achievement was attained despite no provision being made for funding towards the refurbishment done during the year 2007/2008 amounting to R10 million.

Marketing Department

This new Department is manned by one staff member and operates with a relatively limited budget. The Marketing Officer‘s primary responsibility is to ensure that the North West Development Corporation is well publicized and well known by all our Stakeholders.

The highlight of the Marketing Department was the successful Awareness and Fraud Prevention Campaign conducted for the entire staff of the Corporation.

Internal Audit Department

The North West Development Corporation operated without an internal audit function from 2005 until 31 August 2008. In order to cover the void left since then, Management recommended the outsourcing of the Internal Audit function to the Board. The recommendation was approved and implemented after a lengthy and rigorous tendering process and evaluations. LDSW Incorporated (Chartered Accountants and Auditors) was the preferred candidate and was duly appointed as the Internal Audit Firm for the North West Development Corporation.

In conclusion the Board appreciates the dedication demonstrated by the staff at the Corporation and the willingness to fulfill its mandate. The Corporation has achieved a lot in spite of the limited resources. The Board has worked with dedication and a sense of purpose to support Management in realizing the goals set for the Corporation.

Thank you

MIKE MTHIMUNYE
ACTING CHIEF EXECUTIVE