Projects and departments
The work of the Corporate Services Directorate supports the City’s top-tier priority (basic services) as well as one of its foundations (a capable and collaborative City government) and, as service delivery imperatives come under increasing pressure, the Corporate Services Directorate has to continuously:
- Enable the organisation to continuously improve service quality and efficiency.
- Enable a capable and collaborative government through information systems and technology (IS&T) and human resource modernisation, digitisation and enhanced service offerings, and corporate service platforms.
- Modernise and optimise facilities while responding to the challenges of vandalism and organised crime in a more comprehensive manner.
- Prepare the organisation for the changing nature of services by streamlining operations, thereby ensuring efficiencies and designing interventions for talent retention and productivity enhancement.
The Corporate Services Directorate achieves this by keeping customer-centricity, efficiency and effectiveness at the forefront of its services.
Service delivery is achieved through the following line departments:
Citizen interface:
- Customer Relations
- Subcouncil and Service Coordination
- Public Participation Unit
Major highlights / initiatives include:
- SAP CRM Service Request Enhancement Project was implemented to improve the City’s service management system; achieving better management of customer service requests and enhanced customer engagement during the resolution of their requests.
- Implementing digital platforms for public participation
- Community development workers and subcouncil community ambassadors (pamphleteering and loud hailing) to increase community awareness and engagement
- Subcouncil site visits to ward areas to improve visibility and communication of City initiatives
As the City’s first point of contact, Customer Relations manages millions of interactions annually across a variety of platforms including contact centres, digital channels and mobile offices.
Corporate Digital Governance
- Digital Governance
- Digital Control Assessments
- Integrated Knowledge and Records Management
Major highlights / initiatives include:
- Conducted Corporate Governance Awareness and Workshop sessions
- Conducted Digital Governance Workshops to contribute towards Risk Mitigation
- Launched the Corporate Services Governance Forum
The Corporate Digital Governance Assurance Department contributes significantly towards the establishment of governance frameworks for the management and protection of the City’s digital assets and data. The department performs reviews on compliance with relevant laws, regulations and industry standards while fostering a culture of innovation and accountability. By providing recommendations that enhance decision-making processes and promoting cross-departmental collaboration, the department supports the City’s strategic goals of becoming a capable and collaborative government.
Executive and Councillor Support:
- Executive and Committee Services
- Councillor Support
- Language Services
Major highlights / initiatives include:
- Actively worked with Facilities Management and the Language Services manager to ensure that a sign-language facility was in place to introduce sign language interpreting at Council meetings. The initiation of this project culminated in such services being rolled out to Council at a recent Council meeting in the current financial year
- Facilitated a new term of office for the Junior City Council (JCC). Councillor Support is responsible for implementing the JCC programme in conjunction with the Speaker and Speaker's Representative, Cllr Ian Nielson. The programme entails a range of local government activities and engagements with different role-players within the City and the community
- The branch effectively manages and arranges all Council, Mayco, portfolio and other committee meetings, thereby ensuring the efficiency of the City’s decision-making structures to sustain service delivery in the City
- Initiated a project to create awareness of multilinguism among the public by means of conversational text on posters in English, Afrikaans and isiXhosa
The department plays a critical role in ensuring good governance by developing, mentoring and maintaining key protocols, processes and procedure documents, such as the Council System of Delegations, Council and Committees Rules of Order and the Portfolio Committee Terms of Reference.
Facilities Management:
- Business Integration Enablement and Planning (BIP&P) branch
- Integrated Facilities Management branch and Priority Facilities Management branch
- Infrastructure and Planning branch
- Facilities Management Security Services branch
- Facilities Management Internal Control and Contracts branch
- Occupational Health and Safety Compliance
Major highlights / initiatives include:
- Developing digital FM solutions to improve efficiencies through data-driven planning and decision-making
- A transition from devolved Facilities Management to a fully centralised operational model over the next five years. This will include further alignment with ISO 45001 standards, thereby ensuring best practices in Facilities Management (FM)
- FM has initiated a Visible Improvement Programme (VIP) to improve the customer experience by addressing inconsistencies and inefficiencies. The primary objective of this programme is to foster a culture of excellence across the department by ensuring a high standard of service that provides a secure, clean, and accessible environment for all visitors and staff at various municipal facilities
The Facilities Management Department is a multifaceted division responsible for the effective coordination and management of the City’s physical assets, infrastructure and services within the built environment.
Fleet Management:
- Vehicle Acquisition
- Vehicle Maintenance
- Fuel Management
- Vehicle disposal
Major highlights / initiatives include:
- Fleet Replacement Programme: Resulting in the reduction of fleet and plant average age
- Successful implementation of PAM System resulting in the reduction of private hire vehicles
- Anti-syphoning devices: Preventative fuel security measures rolled out Optimised in-house model Brake Tester Equipment: Installed at all four Fleet Management workshops
The Fleet Management Department oversees the bulk of the City’s fleet of over 6 000 vehicles, along with heavy plant equipment, which are essential for ensuring effective service delivery
Human Resources:
- Apprenticeships and learnerships programmes
- Roll-out of IPM to employees
- Business system improvements
Major highlights / initiatives include:
- EAP & Wellness successfully onboarded a new hybrid service provider, marking a significant milestone in enhancing employee well-being services. This achievement was recognised at the EAPA-SA Annual Conference, where the team received an award for Best Onboarding and Best Practice
- Field Mobility Enhancements: A mobile application was developed and deployed for tablet devices, allowing 4 806 field employees across all City of Cape Town directorates to access their payslips, apply for leave, and submit clock-in corrections seamlessly
- Our City Cares campaign: Through the Our City Cares initiative, employees were provided with remote learning video courses on HR policies and practices. Available in English, Afrikaans and Xhosa, these courses were accessible on mobile HeRO devices, enabling greater flexibility and accessibility
The Human Resources Department ensures the effective resourcing of the organisation to build an efficient and productive administration that prioritises service delivery.
Information Systems and Technology:
- Applications
- Infrastructure Services
- Digital Transformation and Governance
Major highlights / initiatives include:
- Chief Digital Officer (CDO) appointed
- 650+ staff attended CAR Accelerate events (400+ attended in person and 250 via YouTube stream)
- To date 77,26% of a user base of 27 900 staff have registered for MFA (5 200+ staff attended virtual/on-site MFA registration support sessions to date)
- 300+ Uber Buddies and 200+ Super Users on-boarded and assisting the project team with driving MFA registration and MS Teams adoption
- MS Teams rolled out Citywide to 19 826 staff, with 53% adoption usage to date (activity on MS Teams)
- MS Teams to be rolled out to councillors during Feb/Mar 2025. First online MS Teams Council Meeting lined up for April / May 2025
- MILO MFA Registration video in three languages (English, Afrikaans, isiXhosa) distributed to all City staff via Global and Targeted communiques, and available on e-Learning Hub
- Development of clinic booking system app
- Development of Attic Exhibition Art and heritage vault app
- PEXA (HR, powered by SmartCape)
The Information Systems and Technology Department provides and manages the City’s digital backbone. The department maintains the City’s mission-critical corporate enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, custom and spatial applications, and office productivity tools, and provides reliable back-end IT infrastructure and communications via the City’s broadband and public protection and disaster relief radio networks.
Contact
Alderman Theresa Uys
Mayoral Committee Member: Corporate Services
Telephone:
079 494 0064
Email:
Theresa.Uys@capetown.gov.za
