Chairperson, Chairpersons of the Portfolio Committees on Public Service and Administration and on Finance, Deputy Minister Manamela, hon members, ladies and gentlemen, it is both a privilege and an honour for me to present to this august House the Budget Votes of the newly proclaimed Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, as well as Statistics SA.
The two Budget Votes are a story of the National Development Plan, NDP, and its implementation through the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, supported by a raft of national statistics.
The NDP, and Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation as well as statistics will result in an improvement in the capacity of the state to deliver better results faster in order to claim victory over the triple challenges of poverty, inequality and unemployment.
In order to achieve faster and better results, President Jacob Zuma reminded us at the July 2013 Cabinet lekgotla of a 1977 message written by our former President Nelson Mandela to Adelaide Tambo, and I quote:
Significant progress is always possible if we ourselves try to plan every detail ... and allow the intervention of fate only on our own terms.
Preparing a master plan and applying it are two different things.
At the national conference of the ruling party held in Mangaung in December 2012, the ANC embraced the centrality of the National Development Plan: Vision for 2030 as a platform of action for all South Africans from which to address the persistence of the legacy of apartheid colonialism.
To echo the words of our President during his state of the nation address, I quote:
We have put in place a programme of action based on the ANC Manifesto and the National Development Plan ... The National Development Plan outlines the future we want, a society free of poverty, inequality and unemployment.
Hon members, subsequent to the national elections, the President announced the appointment of the Cabinet as well as some reconfiguration and reorganisation of departments. These changes include the merging of the National Planning Commission Secretariat with the former of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation as well as Administration to form a brand new Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation.
A process facilitated by the Department of Public Service and Administration is currently under way to give administrative effect to that change. We are hoping that this process will be completed by the end of October, and we hope that after the October adjustment estimates everything will be transferred to this Vote.
The aim of this reorganisation is to give effect to the commitment in the election manifesto of the ANC to institutionalise long-term planning within the state. The intention is to put in place the necessary capacity both to plan on an ongoing basis and to ensure that these plans are being implemented.
The National Planning Commission, NPC, has made an enormous contribution to our country through overseeing the development of the NDP. In 2009 we introduced long-term planning as an important element of our national planning system when we established the NPC.
In 2012 the commission handed the NDP to the President and subsequently Cabinet adopted it, as did the structures of the ruling party. It has been embraced by the majority of our people across sectors and party lines. It is this plan to 2030 that provides hope and a prospect for a better future for all South Africans. Some of the commissioners are present here today and I would like to express our gratitude to them on behalf of the country and the previous Minister, Trevor Manuel. [Applause.]
The most important priority for the department in the next five years will be co-ordinating and monitoring the implementation of this plan. The key instrument that we will use to implement the NDP is the 2014 to 2019 Medium- Term Strategic Framework, MTSF. It identifies the important actions that are required to implement the aspects of the NDP for which government is responsible for the next five years.
The Medium-Term Strategic Framework builds on our experience and what we learned between 2009 and 2014 with the delivery agreements for the 12 outcomes. Similar to the delivery agreements, the MTSF clearly identifies roles and responsibilities for implementing the key actions and contains measurable indicators with targets and timeframes to enable systematic and evidence-based monitoring of the implementation of the National Development Plan. The number of outcomes has been increased to 14.
This MTSF reflects the commitment made in the governing party's election manifesto, including the emphasis on radical economic transformation during the second phase of our democratic transition. The MTSF also emphasises improving service delivery and the performance of the Public Service and improving the efficiency as well as the effectiveness of local government.
In order to address some of the problems with implementation that we have experienced in the past, the MTSF differs from those of previous administrations in a number of ways: Firstly, for the first time the MTSF serves as a five-year building block towards the achievement of the vision of our country's long-term plan.
Secondly, it is much more detailed than previous MTSFs and incorporates the outcomes-based planning methodology developed during the previous administration.
Thirdly, measures have been put in place to ensure that the five-year strategic plans and annual plans of all national and provincial departments are aligned to the MTSF, and therefore to the NDP. The Treasury Regulations have been amended so that all departments submit their draft plans to this department in order to enable performance, monitoring and evaluation to review whether the plans incorporate all the targets of the MTSF before plans are submitted to Parliament.
Parliament has a critical oversight role to play to ensure that departments' plans are aligned to the MTSF and to the NDP. I would like to take this opportunity to commit our department to collaborating with Parliament and all the parliamentary committees by sharing our planning, monitoring and evaluation information with the aim of supporting Parliament to carry out its oversight function.
Once the MTSF has been approved by Cabinet, the President will enter into performance agreements with all the Ministers, based on the roles and responsibilities and targets of the Medium-Term Strategic Framework. Ministers will also ensure that the relevant actions and targets are reflected in the performance agreements that they will sign with their directors-general and senior officials.
The President will also appoint co-ordinating Ministers for each of the 14 outcomes. They will be required to co-ordinate the implementation of the MTSF outcomes and present an evidence-based implementation report to Cabinet at least three times a year.
The injunction of our icon, Madiba, that preparing a master plan and applying it are two different things rings loud and clear, and in that regard all of these measures that I have described are aimed at ensuring that the aspects of the NDP for which the government is responsible are, indeed, systematically implemented.
I would like to emphasise this point for the benefit of those who doubt our commitment and capacity to implement the NDP and for those who have raised questions as to how we are going to ensure that the NDP is implemented.
I would like to use this opportunity to challenge leaders in other sectors of our society similarly to move with speed to implement the parts of the plan for which they are responsible. There are a number of initiatives between government and other sectors of society that are already under way which are inspired by the NDP. I would like to mention a few to highlight our strength in working together.
The first one is the National Education Collaboration Trust, NECT. The NDP proposes a national initiative involving different stakeholders to improve learning outcomes in schools, starting with the worst-performing schools. In response to this call, the Minister of Basic Education has already convened different stakeholders from government, the private sector, unions and civil society to establish a National Education Collaboration Trust, NECT, intended to drive the education improvement agenda as set out in our plan. [Applause.]
The second initiative is the Mpumalanga Land Reform Project, MLRP. The aim of the MLRP is to develop an accelerated redistribution model for land reform based on Chapter 6 of the National Development Plan. A technical committee to configure the land-financing model has been established and has begun the designing of the implementation guidelines.
The third one is the Harambee project adopted by Business Leadership SA. There have been numerous engagements with the private sector to discuss how they can contribute to the implementation of our plan. In this regard, Business Leadership SA has decided to adopt a project called Harambee as one of its contributions to the NDP. The unique feature of this initiative is that it targets young people who have no links to the labour market and with no one in the family in employment.
The fourth initiative comprises the strategies to overcome poverty and inequality.
The academic community is also playing a critical role in the implementation of the NDP. In 2012 the University of Cape Town, UCT, convened a conference to explore different strategies to overcome poverty and inequality. And within government, the commission and its secretariat has supported a number of policy and planning processes. These processes include the soon-to-be-completed integrated urban development framework, which will help us respond more effectively to challenges of urbanisation and ensure that our cities and urban spaces provide opportunities for early- childhood development, for example. [Applause.]
South Africans at all levels are as excited as we are about this NDP and have displayed an eagerness to contribute to making it work. We want to reiterate the message that the NDP is a plan for the whole country, not only government. During this current financial year, the National Planning Commission will continue with these various initiatives to further the implementation of the NDP.
The evaluations of government programmes that have been initiated by the department over the past few years have indicated that many programmes are not achieving as much as they were intended to achieve, partly due to weak programme planning and a need for substantial redesign. To address this, the department is developing guidelines to assist government departments to develop improved programme plans. The department is also providing support to national and provincial departments to produce better and higher quality strategies and annual performance plans and reports on the plans.
I also want to highlight a programme that was launched by the President on Saturday in Durban, namely the Big Fast Results initiative that we now call Operation Phakisa, to ensure that we unleash the economic potential of oceans' economy to drive its contribution from R54 billion to the GDP to about R177 billion by 2020.
If we are to improve government performance, we have to reflect on whether our programmes are achieving what they are intended to achieve; whether we are doing the right things; whether we are being effective, efficient and providing value for money; and how we can do things differently.
Departments are encouraged and supported to also carry out evaluations of their programmes on their own. We are working with the offices of the premiers in the provinces to support them to put in place provincial evaluation plans.
To date, 38 evaluations in the rolling National Evaluation Plan, Nep, are now completed, under way or starting. We have completed 11 evaluations, of which one has been presented to Parliament already. We are aiming for the results of a further 10 evaluations to be presented to the relevant parliamentary committees during this current financial year.
The NDP notes that weaknesses in how government institutions function constrain the state's capacity and ability to pursue its developmental objectives. Research done by the department indicates that one of the areas in which skills are generally lacking is in monitoring and evaluation, and we are addressing that effectively.
The department is also involved in a number of monitoring initiatives across the three spheres of government, including monitoring of the experience of our citizens when obtaining services from government and monitoring the quality of management practices. My Deputy, hon Manamela, will describe in more detail these initiatives in his speech in the House this afternoon.
During the state of the nation address, the President announced that government will implement the undertaking to build houses and other services to revitalise mining towns, as part of the October 2012 agreement between business, government and labour. We are on track in ensuring that this Interministerial Committee does exactly that.
With regard to administration, in the 2012-13 financial year the department obtained a clean audit opinion. The audits for the 2013-14 financial year are under way and we are very positive that the results will be the same. [Applause.]
The budget allocated to the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation for this financial year is R208,2 million - administration, R63,8 million; outcomes monitoring and evaluation, R78,2 million; institutional performance monitoring and evaluation, R66,2 million; and the budget for the NPC, R113,4 million.
In regard to Statistics SA, let me start by indicating that statistics, in general, and official statistics, in particular, are about people, places and possibilities. Statistics benefit society because they enable us to predict the future based on the data that we gather.
Being able to predict the future helps us to be more efficient and effective in actions we take and in the decisions we make. Statistics SA informs us about where and how South Africans live, work and play.
The role of evidence in decision-making as a society becomes more complex and increasingly important. In addition, the more difficult questions that get asked require a raft of continuous evidence. These include questions such as: Do we know and understand the quality of health services and the difficulties that confront our people when they go to public health facilities? Do we know and understand what is happening in our schools, not only the suburban schools? Do we know what the conditions are in our township and informal settlement schools? These are the questions that need to be answered by information derived from accurate and reliable statistical data.
The integrity of any national statistics agency is therefore very important in that those in the production of statistics cannot dabble in the policy terrain to make methods and numbers succumb to any pressure. Instead, those in the practice of official statistics should maintain their independence in providing data that support or challenge policy options.
The environment within which official statistics plays its role in the national policy discourse needs to be strengthened. In this regard, the Statistician-General and the Statistics Council have decided to convene a meeting next week with me in order to ensure that we deal with key national and international players to discuss developments with regard to statistical practices and legislation.
With regard to our strategic future intent, in pursuit of the overall goal of government of providing a better life for all through alleviating poverty and reducing inequality, Statistics SA has worked tirelessly to provide statistical information to support the development of the National Development Plan. The statistics produced by Statistics SA will now play a key role in the monitoring and evaluation of the implementation of the NDP.
Looking forward to strengthening the state's capacity to deliver, our government needs a system of evidence that is transparent, accountable, results-based and transformational.
Regarding key priorities for the financial year 2014-15, we will be focusing on the key strategic priorities such as expanding the statistical information base. Statistics SA has stabilised the statistical production base as evident through the suite of economic, social and population statistics.
The organisation, believe it or not, produces more than 171 statistical releases and reports on various aspects of the economy and society every 12 months. [Applause.] In 2014 this organisation sustained this raft of statistical products, whilst exploring new and innovative methods and systems to expand the information base as well as implementing international statistical standards and frameworks.
In regard to the leading and co-ordination of statistical production, in response to the high demand for statistical production at national, subnational, sectoral and international levels, the Statistics Act mandates Statistics SA to co-ordinate statistical production across organs of the state. In 2014 Statistics SA will be focusing on creating an enabling regulatory environment for the production of statistics by organs of state. This is an enormous task to be achieved and the implementation will be guided by the policy framework on statistical production systems in South Africa.
Increasing public confidence and trust of users, following census 2011, we now have a complete list of dwellings in South Africa and this frame will be continuously updated. To remain relevant, the strategic intent is to roll out a collaborative mapping approach through co-operation with municipalities.
Furthermore, continued efforts to improve the business frame are based on collaboration with Sars and the CPIC. An important future outcome is the certification of statistics produced by other organs of state such as crime statistics, which should be transferred to Statistics SA.
As far as investing in learning and growth of skills, resources and infrastructure is concerned, a key strategic enabler for a sound statistical production system is statistical competence and capability. Statistics SA will continue to invest in learning and the growth of statistical skills and our programme now forms part of the recruitment drive to build a statistics system and a statistically literate society that enables our citizens to do things better. Statistics SA, jointly with the University of KwaZulu-Natal, is conducting a pilot project in the legacy schools programme, Maths4Stats, and to promote statistical literacy at schools by training teachers in statistics modules.
At the tertiary level, Statistics SA created a Centre for Regional and Urban Innovation and Statistical Exploration at the University of Stellenbosch and provides a Masters programme that covers statistics and geography. Statistics SA has also secured the necessary support and resources for a new home as its head office, which we will be launching in August this year.
With regard to promoting international collaboration and participation, Statistics SA is currently playing a leading role in international statistical development for a better Africa and the world. It chairs the Africa Symposium on Statistical Development, ASSD, and it also participates in the UN-led 2010 Round of Population and Housing Censuses, RPHC. Plans are afoot to participate in the 2020 RPHC, which will start in 2015.
The budget allocated to Statistics SA for the 2014-15 financial year is R2,24 billion and is divided up as follows: administration, R934,7 million, including the building of the new headquarters; economic statistics, R210,5 million; population and social statistics, R117,9 million; methodology, standards and research, R65,5 million; statistical support and informatics, R245,1 million; statistical collection and outreach, R524,5 million; and survey operations, R144,3 million.
In conclusion, we accept the injunction by our former President and icon Mandela, and I quote:
Significant progress is always possible if we ourselves try to plan every detail ... and allow the intervention of fate only on our own terms.
Preparing a master plan and applying it are two different things.
We consequently chose evidence-based decision-making and this consists of a national development plan, a national statistics system and a framework for monitoring and evaluation. Through this effort, together as a nation at work, we can do more to move South Africa forward faster and achieve a better life for all.
Our people have the right to expect quality services from their government and to hold leaders to account for their actions. We are of the view that if all of us - Parliament, government, and civil society - work together in unison, we will be on course to create the future that we need and that our people deserve as envisioned in the National Development Plan.
Finally, let me thank the President; the Deputy President, who is the Chair of the National Planning Commission, NPC; my Deputy, Buti Manamela; the chairs of portfolio committees; the chairs of the statistical council; commissioners of the NPC; the director-general and all officials who are responsible for making our government look good; and last but not least, my family who are here, including my wife and the extended family. Thank you very much. [Applause.]
Order! Before I announce the next speaker, let me say to the members of the public that we really appreciate your presence here. We hope you will also observe the decorum of the House and not allow your cell phones to ring. We have had some interruptions. Please let's work together on this.
Hon Chairperson, I feel embarrassed that the Minister was using an iPad ... [Laughter.] ... and I am still carrying papers. Next time I will try to follow suit. [Laughter.]
Minister for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, the hon Jeff Radebe; Deputy Minister for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, the hon Buti Manamela; hon members; and ladies and gentlemen, one of the greatest French aristocrats and a pioneering aviator, Antoine Marie Jean-Baptiste Roger, once said, and I quote:
A goal without a plan is just a wish.
Indeed, in South Africa we have recognised that planning is critical for the state to succeed in discharging its mandate and political commitments to its people. We are saying this because we are aware that we come from a divided and atrocious past, where the majority of the people of South Africa were not only neglected but also completely ostracised in the country of their birth.
In 1998 the Presidential Review Commission advised government that co- ordination at the centre of government was not only weak, but also fraught with a number of challenges such as a lack in a common agenda and inadequate oversight and governance systems.
It is for this reason that we took a firm decision to enhance the performance of our government and to establish all the requisite systems and framework to ensure that we monitor and evaluate the performance of our government.
As we consider Budget Vote 6 of the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, we must proceed from the understanding that, as the Medium-Term Strategic Framework, MTSF, correctly points out, we operate in a global environment with too much uncertainty and turbulence. We should also recognise that the challenges that our society faces have deep historical roots in our apartheid past that left us with a fractured and disjointed society characterised by inequality, poverty and underdevelopment.
It is for this reason that the ANC-led government adopted the National Development Plan, NDP, as a critical tool that focuses on the plans of government and defines a common agenda for all spheres of the South African government. As the ANC, we believe that for the NDP to be realised, it is critical that we proceed with the utmost urgency and determination in order to enhance the capacity of our state machinery so that it is able to discharge the mandate of a developmental state; and we should work progressively to deal with the challenges of poverty, unemployment and inequality.
In this regard, the ANC continues to initiate and support policy initiatives aimed at enhancing the state's technical capacity and people's skills capacity. It is in this context that we recently supported the public administration management, among many recent interventions, to promote the basic values and principles governing the public administration referred to in section 195(1) of the Constitution, which states, and I quote:
Public administration must be governed by the democratic values and principles enshrined in the Constitution, including the following principles:
a) A high standard of professional ethics must be promoted and maintained. b) Efficient, economic and effective use of resources must be promoted. c) Public administration must be development-oriented. d) Services must be provided impartially, fairly, equitably and without bias. e) People's needs must be responded to, and the public must be encouraged to participate in policy-making. f) Public administration must be accountable.
Hon Minister, as the ANC and this committee, we have the utmost confidence in your leadership to continue driving the department in producing results on performance and governance. We do so because we take great pride in the fact that, since the inception of this department more has been achieved in the monitoring and evaluation of the work of government departments, with the view to addressing structural problems that impede proper services.
We are aware that you are working with greater urgency and decisiveness to ensure that the challenges facing the Public Service are addressed.
The widespread service delivery protests mean we need to strengthen our monitoring and evaluation capacity in all government departments, but firstly, strengthening it by ensuring that people who deliver a service have the requisite skills. This is the function that must be carried out by sectors responsible for higher education and training, the sector education and training authorities, Setas, as well as the imminent National School of Government, NSG. This will demonstrate government's and the ruling party's commitment to the provision of services and impacting the lives of our citizens.
As part of celebrating 20 years of democracy, government has published a Twenty-Year Review strategy as evidence to reflect on the progress made and challenges encountered since 1994. The focus of the fifth administration is to work on the building blocks through monitoring the deliverables concerning the outcomes approach employed by government to track the impact of services rendered. The department has a huge responsibility to undertake through the monitoring and evaluation of the work of all spheres of government and their entities.
The government's delivery agreement and outcomes approach further puts more emphasis on ensuring that indicators of performance are configured and followed through with proper monitoring tools such as the management performance assessment tool, MPAT, towards changing the lives of the people.
The Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation is charged with the responsibility to monitor the implementation and reviewing of delivery agreements. The committee supports the department in assisting the executive to monitor and evaluate the work of government. The department's establishment and existence is unquestionable and should always remain relevant to assist government in sharpening service delivery tools and methods.
The President highlighted during the state of the nation debate that the following priorities are to be undertaken in relation to the mandate of the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation.
The first priority is the establishment of an Inter-Ministerial Committee on the Revitalisation of Distressed Mining Communities. I am proud to announce that that has happened already. The committee will oversee the department as it achieves targets set by the President for the Inter- Ministerial Committee on the Revitalisation of Distressed Mining Communities. We are looking forward to receiving a full briefing and regular updates on the progress made by the Inter-Ministerial Committee.
The second priority is to continue to conduct unannounced visits to service delivery sites in order to monitor indicators such as queue management and waiting times, dignified treatment, cleanliness and comfort.
The third priority is the monitoring of government performance against the five key priorities of education, health, crime reduction, job creation and the development of rural communities.
We noted the policy shift when the National Treasury requested the department to play a direct role in guiding the strategic and annual performance planning in government. These policy directives will help in aligning the strategic and annual performance plans of the departments with the NDP: Vision for 2030. This is a smart and well-thought-out strategy championed by the National Treasury.
One can attest to it today that government has delivered many services which have led to the improvement of the lives of our people, but more still needs to be done. It is fairly important to link planning with monitoring and evaluation. The Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation is in the process of revising the delivery agreements for 2014 to 2019 for the 14 service delivery outcomes of government.
The role of the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation is to effectively monitor and evaluate outcomes on a regular basis. The department's demands are incremental, which determines their relevancy and existence today.
The committee has noted the newly identified indicators in the strategic and annual performance plans such as the Local Government Management Improvement Model, LGMIM, which will help to determine the efficacy and value for money of that sector. Currently, with the state of local government, the establishment of such indicators will accord the necessary responsibility to our municipalities to deliver a prompt service to our people and exert pressure on them to carry it out.
The scorecards on the local government improvement model are very good initiatives and are very welcome in order to reflect on municipalities that will need various interventions.
The development indicators provide an indication of the progress in government's programmes, policies and projects rendered by a number of departments. The development indicators also provide government with proper assessment on the ground.
It is, for example, reported that the delivery of basic municipal services accessed by households increased by 95% between 2009 and 2012. The information reported on by the development indicators will be useful to guide different portfolio committees as they carry out their oversight functions.
Despite the state investing in commissioning research and evaluation studies of its programmes, we will never know whether we are doing things the right way, whether there is value for money, effectiveness, sustainability and impact, if the new government does not align its activities with the provisions envisaged in the NDP.
The department has already developed the National Evaluation Policy Framework, which serves as a guideline for government departments in commissioning evaluation studies.
The committee concurs with the department in playing a key role in assisting the national and provincial departments to evaluate programmes by establishing the steering committee to approve studies. This initiative will minimise and control duplication in different spheres of government.
The evaluation steering committee should ensure synergy in the three spheres of government. Value added on the results of evaluation of studies requires government departments together with the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation to work together on the improvement plans of evaluated programmes.
Another priority of the department is improving the management of government departments, drawing lessons from Canada's best practices. The development and implementation of the management performance assessment tool brings about an effective tool for government to reflect on government departments by assessing the quality of management practices.
We applaud the department for the development of such a tool. However, there is a need to strengthen it. As we are aware, municipalities are at the core of the provision of service delivery. Therefore, these new assessment tools will go a long way in assisting government to determine whether or not it is making any progress in making a dent in structural challenges.
Following these observations, the committee feels that the department should speed up the process of piloting the municipal assessment tool to cover all the municipalities. The committee welcomes the expansion of the assessment tool across all spheres of government.
In September 2009 the President introduced a Presidential Hotline as a tool to contribute to a more accessible and responsive government. Since the inception of the hotline, a number of cases were received and resolved such as those at Ngobi village, which was visited by the President in Hammanskraal under the Moretele Local Municipality in the North West province, where they had problems. More than 190 000 complaints were logged and received the necessary attention through the Presidential Hotline.
Indeed, there are many good stories to tell regarding the successes of the Presidential Hotline. Most of the referrals from the hotline to government departments have been attended to on time. [Applause.] Improvement is what everyone aspires to achieve at all times. The development of systems that categorise the cases in terms of clusters and provinces will provide the government with clear indications of which departments need interventions. We want a functional Public Service that prioritises service delivery to the people. The initiative of the department on the citizen-based support programme will intensify the manner in which government departments and local municipalities provide quality services.
To my fellow members of the portfolio committee and the parliamentary support staff, thank you very much for your commitment in ensuring that the committee fulfils its constitutional mandate. Together we are moving South Africa forward. We support the Budget Votes. Thank you. [Applause.]
Again, let me caution the members of the public seated in the gallery: You are not allowed to clap hands. I know the debates are nice, but those are the Rules.
Hon Minister, hon Deputy Minister and hon Chairperson, during the state of the nation debate on 18 June 2014, the hon Minister Radebe ended his speech with the following encouragement, and I quote:
Parliament therefore has a critical oversight role to ensure departments' plans and actions move us towards the vision of the National Development Plan. I would like to commit the Presidency to collaborating with Parliament in this regard by sharing our planning, monitoring and evaluation information. In conclusion, the National Development Plan is not just a plan for government but for the whole country. It is a people's plan, which has been adopted by the majority of our people and stakeholders. We are therefore calling on all South Africans to rally behind the implementation of the plan, including labour, business and civil society.
These are indeed commendable sentiments, and you will have noticed the Minister repeated them today, which makes my case that much stronger.
Disappointingly, just a few weeks later, Minister Radebe failed to live up to his commitment. The hon Minister squandered a vital opportunity to empower members of the Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration as well as Performance Monitoring and Evaluation with information about his department in their critical parliamentary oversight role.
The Minister failed to meet the portfolio committee on 2 July 2014 during a scheduled briefing of the committee by his department on the Annual Performance Plan, APP, and 2014-15 budget proposal. Also absent from the briefing was the Deputy Minister, Buti Manamela, and the department's Director-General, Dr Sean Phillips.
The meeting was nearly scuttled as committee members expressed their displeasure at the absence of the Minister. The committee compromised after a letter of apology from Dr Phillips was read ... [Interjections.]
Hon Motau, please take your seat. Is that a point of order?
Hon Chair, I just want to know if the member is able to take a question. [Interjections.]
No, you're wasting time!
I'm not speaking to you!
Hon Motau, are you ready to take a question?
If you give me 15 minutes, I would be.
Thank you. Sit down, hon member. Continue, hon Motau.
The meeting was nearly scuttled as committee members expressed their displeasure at the absence of the Minister. [Interjections.] The committee compromised after a letter of apology ...
Hon Chair, I have a problem. [Interjections.] The member is misleading the House.
Hon member, is that a point of order?
It is a point of order. [Interjections.]
HON MEMBERS: That's not a point of order!
Hon members, please allow me to drive this vehicle. Hon Motau, please sit down.
Hon Chair ...
Hon Motau, please sit down. Hon member?
Hon Chair, I want to check again if the member will take a question. [Interjections.]
Hon member, please sit down. Thank you.
Stop distorting information, wena!
Let us allow the member to speak. [Interjections.] Your minutes are restored. [Interjections.] Order!
The meeting was nearly scuttled as committee members expressed their displeasure at the absence of the Minister. The committee compromised after a letter of apology from Dr Phillips was read. The briefing was done by Deputy Director-General Nolwazi Gasa. This, hon Minister, was a very important briefing. It was the first meeting of the new portfolio committee, and your no-show was a very serious let down for the other members and me. [Interjections.]
Hon members! Let us respect this House; let us not howl. Thank you.
This is certainly not the way to collaborate with Parliament in order to share important information to ensure the implementation of the