IMPLEMENTATION PROTOCOLS GUIDELINES

The Intergovernmental Relations Framework Act, 2005 (Act 13 of 2005 - "the IGR Act") establishes a framework for the national government, provincial governments and local governments to promote and facilitate intergovernmental relations, and to provide for mechanisms and procedures to facilitate the settlement of intergovernmental disputes.

Chapter 3 of the IGR Act provides for organs of state¹ to enter into an implementation protocol as an Agreement where the implementation of a policy, the exercise of a statutory power, the performance of a statutory function or the provision of a service depends on the participation of organs of state in different spheres of government.²

In November 2005, the Cabinet approved a Framework for Managing Joint Programmes in the Public Service (''the Framework"). The Cabinet also approved that the Framework be incorporated into the regulations and guidelines that may be issued in terms of Chapter 5 of the IGR Act.

The Framework further extends the principles of participation and co-ordination between organs of state in the different spheres of government, in terms of the IGR Act, to also include integration, participation and co-ordination of joint programmes within a particular sphere of government. The Framework defines joint programmes as ''Those programmes that transcend the conventional organisational boundaries in planning, budgeting and implementation resulting in a number of departments/agencies/ministries responsible for one aspect of the programme, although none is responsible for it in its entirety".

At the January 2006 Cabinet Lekgotla, the Cabinet approved the development of templates for interdepartmental protocols to further strengthen the frameworks for intergovernmental relations.