Hose Chair, the EFF rejects the proposed budget of this department with the contempt it deserves. This department is not necessary. And we have told you for the past five years that government must immediately do away with this department. Because in reality this department and its entities are a waste of valuable government funding and is more of an employment agency for the ANC and payback for those loyalists of President Ramaphosa.
Added to this is that the Department of Planning Monitoring and Evaluation, was conceptualised and established along with the failed neo-liberal NDP, which was drafted by the errand boy of capital, Trevor Manuel. The NDP has failed and is unable to meet its own targets so, why do we continue to have this department?
According to the NDP by 2020 we were meant to have achieved an unemployment rate of 14%, it's currently standing at 27%. The NDP had a target of 11 million jobs created in 20 years. After 9 years only 3 million have been created. By 2030 we are expected to see an electrification rate of 90% but in Gauteng currently the rate of
electrification is declining not increasing. The goal of the NDP will never be realised and it is a failed project.
This President even admitted to this in his recent state of dreams address when he had to revise economic and employment targets, which are not in line with the NDP. On the department itself, government departments already submit plans and key performance indicators to Portfolio Committees, and their targets and budgets are evaluated by the Auditor General, so what role does this department play? The answer is that it has no role, and is redundant.
Even if we were to agree with this department being in existence, let's look at the facts of this department and its performance, according to what government believes it should be doing. This department was created as its name suggests, to effectively plan, coordinate, monitor and evaluate government's programmes aimed to deliver services to improve the lives of ordinary South Africans.
But one just has to look at the reality of service delivery in this country to know that the department is failing according to its very own self- determined standards. Three years after the national minimum norms and standards for schools infrastructure were meant to have been met in 2016. We still have schools built from mud, we
still have schools without electricity, we still have schools using mud toilets yet, we are applauding this department
In the public health system we have a vacancy rate of over 40 000 people, and these positions are not being filled. Hospitals are without beds, and a third of ambulances are currently dysfunctional.
Now, who is this department advising? Who is this department monitoring?
In 2017-18 alone 1,1 trillion litres of water was lost due to leaks in our water infrastructure. 52% of metro rail trains are out of service. There's a university accommodation shortfall in the hundreds of thousands. Communities still rely on jojo tanks for water in these 25 years of democracy. We have a housing waiting list of 3.9 million. And we have over R50 billion in irregular expenditure by the ANC government.
Who are they serving? It is clear that the department is unable to monitor, coordinate and evaluate government programmes around service delivery, which is underlying mandate. Therefore, there is no reason why it should exist.
Statistics South Africa gathers data, Auditor General audits and checks compliance with performance plans. So all your department does is duplication. This R460 million budget is clearly a waste and anybody who wants to argue differently is a fool. We are living in an age where data plays a very greater role in understanding society and presenting solutions to those problems.
Statistics South Africa is currently underfunded. We have a useless department with a useless Ministry, Deputy Minister and senior managers. We might as well take that budget, redirect it and fund Statistics South Africa by providing Statistics South Africa with new resources, but also by strengthening the offices and empower the Auditor General.
This department has done nothing to improve service delivery and this budget will never receive our support. If the President is so desperate to reward Jackson Mthembu he might as well make him a Minister without portfolio because if this government department... [Interjections]