Statistics SA, DPSA, PSC, NSG & DPME Budgets: Committee Reports

Meeting report

Report of the Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration on the Annual Performance Plan (APP) 2023/24 and the Budget Vote 14 Of Statistics South Africa

Mr J Ngoepe, Committee Content Advisor, took the Members through the report.

Dr L Schreiber (DA) said the DA reserved its position on the report.

Ms M Ntuli (ANC) said she supported the report and wanted to know whether each Member should endorse the report.

Mr Ngoepe said this should be done and then the report would be adopted.

Dr J Nothnagel (ANC) referred to grammatical errors in Recommendation 9.3. 

Ms C Motsepe (EFF) said the EFF accepted the report.

Mr J McGluwa (DA) said it was concerning that no discussions occurred on the merger between Tourism SA and Brand SA. He asked for more information on the merger and the consequences of this as a budget needed to be approved. 

Mr Ngoepe said Mr McGluwa’s question could be debated when the next report was considered. 

The report was adopted with amendments.

Report of the Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration on the Annual Performance Plans (APPs) 2023/24 and the Budget Vote 9 of the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation

The Committee went through the report page by page.

Ms Ntuli wanted to add to point 9.10 under Observations that the Committee noted that the Auditor-General had identified various planning weaknesses, such as poor performance indicators in local, provincial and national government, which resulted in an inability to monitor the actual performance of programmes and their impact.

Under point 9.11, the Committee noted that the performance indicators of the Department were based largely on having reports as indicators of whether the Department had performed in a particular area or not. However, the challenge was that such indicators did not reflect the actual outcomes of the work the Department undertook.

The Chairperson added under Recommendations that the Department should develop outcomes based indicators to assess the impact of its recommendations and policy interventions, for example, to ensure that 90 percent of reported matters were resolved by responsible departments, or processed by the Department to reflect the level of performance.

The Department should develop a mechanism to help state institutions develop performance indicators measuring the outcomes and impact of programmes.

Mr McGluwa referred to point 9.10 and said this was a dream for the Committee, but looking at the recommendations in points 10.8 to 10.11, this was a duplicate. He suggested that points 10.10 and 10.11 be deleted. Point 10.9 should be edited and should state that the Committee considered inviting the relevant Ministers at an appropriate time to engage with the Committee on dealing with the relevant mergers.

Dr M Gondwe (DA) said the DA reserved its position on the adoption of the report.

Ms M Kibi (ANC) referred to the additions to the recommendations. She suggested changing grammatical errors in point 10.9.

Mr McGluwa said Members should state whether they agreed or not with his point on inviting Ministers to engage with the Committee. It should not be ignored.

Some Members recommended that it be added, under 10.11, that the Minister of Tourism be invited to engage with the Committee.

Ms Ntuli said this addition was unnecessary and had already been added. The Committee could not preempt what the Minister would present to it.

Mr McGluwa withdrew what he had said and asked that the Committee attach a timeframe to when the Minister in the Presidency would address the Committee. He said previous Ministers had not come forward to assist the Committee.

The Chairperson asked that the Committee agree to address a letter to the Minister in the Presidency and the Minister of Tourism, inviting them to engage with the Committee.

Dr Gondwe said she agreed, but asked for an undertaking on the timeframe for when the letters would be sent. No definitive report has been received on the merger and its progression.

The Chairperson requested the Committee Secretariat to send letters to the respective Ministries on the same day.

Mr McGluwa said the DA reserved its position on the adoption of the report.

The report was adopted with amendments.

Report of the Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration on the Annual Performance Plans (APPs) 2023/24 and the Budget Vote 11 of the Department of Public Service and Administration

The Committee went through the report page by page.

Dr Gondwe said she understood from the observations of the report that the Public Administration Management Amendment (PAMA) Bill and the Public Service Amendment (PSA) Bill were yet to be tabled in Parliament, but the Minister had communicated that they had already been tabled. She assumed the Bills were with the tagging committee.

Mr Ngoepe said both Bills were before Parliament which was why there were no recommendations on this matter in the report.

Dr Gondwe said the DA reserved its position on the adoption of the report.

The report was adopted with amendments. 

Report of the Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration on the Annual Performance Plans (APP) 2023/24 and the Budget Vote of the Public Service Commission

The Committee went through the report page by page.

Grammatical errors were corrected.

Dr Gondwe said she had the impression that the Public Service Commission (PSC) Bill had already been presented to Cabinet or was in the process of being presented. She asked that the Minister of Public Service and Administration be requested to assist the Committee.

Mr Ngoepe suggested that the Committee send letters to the Minister in the Presidency and the Minister of Public Service and Administration requesting intervention on the PSC Bill.

Ms Ntuli suggested adding a recommendation that a position paper be developed on performance management which should focus on measuring outcomes and impact to ascertain the quality of expenditure.

Dr Gondwe said there was no direction on drafting letters to the Ministry. The Bills should be tabled in Parliament whether elections are around the corner or not.

The Chairperson said letters would be sent to the Ministries.

Mr McGluwa said the DA reserved its position on the adoption of the report.

The report was adopted with amendments.

Report of the Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration on the Annual Performance Plans (APPs) 2023/24 And the Budget Vote 07 of the National School of Government

The Committee went through the report page by page.

Ms Ntuli said the work done by the School was commendable. The ANC government had developed a strong tool to fight and overcome the imbalances of the past. She wanted to add under Recommendations that the school should develop a course on the District Development Model for senior public officials involved in planning.

Ms Gondwe said the DA reserved its position on the adoption of the report.

The report was adopted with amendments.

The Chairperson said all five reports had been duly adopted, with the reservations of the DA  being noted. The reports would be sent to Parliament for debate.

The meeting was adjourned.