1. South African Weather Service (SAWS) Overview of the 2004/5 Annual Report
Presented by Jonas Mphepya (Acting CEO),
Laurie Less, Grace Kelobonye and Deon Terblanche.
11 October 2005

2. Vision
To be a world class meteorological organization that contributes to sustainable development of South Africa and beyond

3. Mission
To collect, process and provide meteorological and climatological products and services for public good and commercial use of all South African and beyond

4. Key Focus areas Corporate Governance Research and Development
Ensure good corporate governance and a compliant environment
Create an effective and efficient organisation aligned to the strategic intent of SAWS
Research and Development
Conduct research to develop our products and service offerings as well as the operational efficiency of SAWS
Commercial and Public Good
Reduce the impact of adverse weather conditions on vulnerable communities
Generate revenue streams that will ensure SAWS sustainability.
Mainstreaming SAWS Products
Enhance the relevance of SAWS products as key drivers for socio-economic development and planning
Market and promote SAWS and its activities and raise weather impact awareness amongst communities
International liason
Compliance to international obligations and protocols
Represent SA Government on international meteorological forum
Corporate Governance Trust
(create an effective and efficient organization)
Procure, manage and leverage the resources of the Weather Service in an effective and efficient manner, and ensure compliance with the relevant legislation and generally accepted corporate governance principles.
Ensure efficient and sound financial management and investment in line with the PFMA.
Establish and implement good corporate governance.
Develop better value organisational capability and human resources.
Market and promote the SAWS and its activities.
To create an effective and efficient organisation aligned to the strategic intent of SAWS.
International / political trust
(Improve national and international relationships)
To play an active role in improving relationship with international communities.
To lead in trendsetting and best practice in the area of meteorological and commercial services provided to other African countries in the context of NEPAD.
Commercial Trust
(Increase sustainable revenue streams)
Mainstream SAWS products so that they are used as ingredients in social and economic/business development planning.
To generate revenue streams that will ensure the sustainability and profitability of SAWS.

5. Total staff complement

6. Management and professional staff
Males
Females
White 40 9 39 8
African 13 3 12 1
Coloured 2
Asian
Disabled 4
Total 60 57 10
Problems with the retention of Black Staff . The employment of black females is a priority.

7. Achievements Improving services
Filling all time scales with new forecasting suite of products - addressing all timescales.
Introduction of a Aviation Display System
Improved longer term forecasting ability.
Air borne pollution monitoring campaign
Received an international award for rainfall enhancement.
The forecasting suite of products of the Weather Service improved significantly by the prediction research section during the year through the successful introduction of a seamless weather forecasting system by addressing all timescales . This system is based on the integrated use of the expanded observing network, higher resolution weather satellites, improved regional and global numerical prediction models and is underpinned by improved ensemble forecasting and seasonal forecasting techniques.
To improve service delivery to the aviation industry an Aviation Weather Display System was developed in collaboration with the National Centre of Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado. This display system is a user-friendly workstation that provides real-time integrated global aeronautical meteorological information to the aviation industry. The information includes aerodrome reports, forecasts, en-route weather and wind conditions, and satellite and radar images
The SAWS, the Department of Water Affairs and Forestry and the Water Research Council was nominated for the WMO/UAE Prize on Rainfall Enhancement Research. The latest results from this research showed that seeded clouds produced about twice as much rain as their natural counter-parts. The price was awarded to the South African researchers in July 2005

8. Long term goals – Recap plan
5 year program to modernize SAWS infrastructure
Achievements to date
Deployment of the Umtata weather radar. (Next radar to be deployed near Skukuza)
5 Semi-automatic weather stations in the Eastern Cape.
Rollout of new lightning detection system. (Nov. 2005)
Implementation of the MetCap (weather data capturing) programme.
Use of new high resolution weather Satellite data.
The first step in pursuance of this strategic objective, was the compilation of a comprehensive strategy to re-capitalise the infrastructure and observational network of the Weather Service in the next five years. The aim is to further improve in the accuracy and reliability our forecasts and warnings by deploying a lightning detection system, sophisticated S-band weather radars and replace all our old mechanical weather stations with digital semi automatic stations in the next few years.

9. Commercial income
Outstanding debt from the aviation industry from and R 25 million.

10. FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS Total revenue increased 4%
Aviation revenue decreased 11%
Government grant increased 17%
Total expenditure increased 4%
Solvency ratio 3:1
Current ratio 1.8:1
Debtor collection days = 105days
Creditor payment days = 34days

11. AUDIT REPORT COMMENTS (Matters of Emphasis)
Total Audit Findings
Resolved 
Improved ì
Unresolved ý 12 6 4 2

12. Enkosi
Ke a Leboga
Thank you
&
Question Time