NATIONAL COUNCIL OF PROVINCES
QUESTION FOR WRITTEN REPLY
QUESTION NO.: 317
DATE OF PUBLICATION: 19 AUGUST 2011
Mr K A Sinclair (COPE-NC) to ask the Minister of Economic Development:
Whether, in light of the fact that his department has called for greater
government participation in growing the economy, his department has put any
plans in place to address the poor performance in the public sector; if
not, why not; if so, (a) what plans and (b) what are the further relevant
details? CW406E
REPLY
The Departmentâs views on Government participation in the economy is set
out in the New Growth Path, to which the Honourable Member is referred for
more details.
A number of measures have been taken to improve the performance of the
public sector, ranging from mergers of entities (Khula, Samaf and the IDC
small business loan book), to unblocking administrative decisions (water
licences and Environmental Impact Assessments) and increased training in
the public sector.
EDD has worked directly and with the Economic Sectors and Employment
Cluster, the Economic Development MinMEC, individual departments, state-
owned enterprises, development finance institutions, and provincial and
local governments to improve collaboration on specific programmes and
projects.
Cabinet Lekgotla recently created several cross-cutting teams under the
Presidency and the Outcome 4 Co-ordinating Ministers to drive economic
priorities on infrastructure, employment schemes and competitiveness.
EDD is also working with the Department of Performance Management and
Evaluation to assist government entities of all kinds to assess more
systematically how their activities affect employment and economic
development.
Improving the performance of individual public servants is also critical
but requires an appropriate institutional context. The Department of Public
Service and Administration and individual government entities are
responsible for maximising individual performance in that context.