1. The Western Cape Education Department's (WCED)'s guidelines on the issuing of circulars and minutes were issued in, amongst others, Circular 0026/96 of 14 March 1996 and Circular 0036/1999 of 6 April 1999.

2. However, following the recent restructuring of the WCED, and the accompanying creation of new directorates and acquisition of additional staff, it has become necessary to revise the previous guidelines in this regard and to issue the following new set of guidelines:
2.1 In the first place it is important to distinguish between the purpose of a circular and that of a minute. Circulars are issued to inform WCED personnel regarding matters of particular importance, i.e. policy matters which cannot be arbitrarily amended or ignored. Minutes are used by Chief Directorates, District Offices and Directorates to provide information, instructions or clarity on routine matters;
2.2 Circulars and minutes must be printed on the WCED's official letterhead, which includes the WCED logo and contact information at the foot of the first page. An example of the WCED's official letterhead page is attached;
2.3 Please ensure the following when typing a circular or minute on the computer:

  • "Full justification" must be chosen for the framework of the letterhead page.
  • The "footer" must appear only on the first page.
2.4 The direct office telephone and fax numbers of the official(s) to whom enquiries must be directed, as well as the official file reference number and the IMS number, must appear in the top left-hand corner of the circular or minute;
2.5 The list of persons to whom the circular or minute is directed must be typed across the page in a number of lines. Please refer to Internal Human Capital Management Minute 0024/2009, Procurement Management Minute 0006/2007 and the approved organogram of the WCED for the correct rank titles;
2.6 In compliance with provincial policy, officials must ensure that circulars and minutes are issued in all three official languages of the Western Cape Province, i.e. Afrikaans, English and Xhosa;
2.7 It is essential that all circulars and minutes sent to WCED schools and institutions are sent to Language Services for editing and translation before they are signed. The edited document e-mailed from Language Service must be included in the file submitted for approval and final signature;
2.8 To protect their authority and credibility, circulars may, in future, be signed only at the level of the Head: Education. A minute may be signed only at the level of the Deputy Director-General of the particular branch;
2.9 Signed copies of circulars and minutes must be sent to the General Registry at Head Office, together with a requisition for the printing of hard copies at the Alexander Precinct reprographic house and a requisition for the printing of labels on which will appear the names and addresses of the institutions to which the document must be sent. At the same time, an electronic version of the circular or minute must be provided to the General Registry for electronic dissemination. It can also be e-mailed to the General Registry at registry1@pgwc.gov.za .
2.10 General Registry allocates a number to each circular and minute after it has been signed. This number will appear near the top of the first page and on any subsequent pages.
2.11 Chief Directors, Directors and their secretaries must keep a register of minutes issued each year (in the order in which they were issued and indicating the official minute numbers).

3. Any enquiries regarding the content of this circular may be directed to either of the officials whose names appear in the enquiries column.

4. Kindly bring the content of this circular to the attention of all personnel concerned.


SIGNED: PA VINJEVOLD
HEAD: EDUCATION
DATE: 2010-02-19