Section 195 of Chapter 10 of the Constitution, which addresses public administration, requires that the Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration, on behalf of this Parliament, has the task of overseeing the entire Public Service. This means that this committee has the responsibility to oversee entire clusters of government, which include governance and administration, peace and stability, social development and transformation and the economic sector and employment. And the portfolio committee did as it was required to do.
In the context of the MDGs, the Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration has a keen interest in determining the extent to which the implementation of the MDGs has filtered through to the intended beneficiaries. It was a privilege to oversee all the clusters, as it provided an overarching insight into the work of government in its entirety.
It is pleasing to realise that as a country we are making progress towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals in a number of important areas. As recorded in the 2010 country report, notable progress has been made in relation to MDG 1, which focuses on the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, and MDG 3, which focuses on the promotion of gender equality and the empowering of women. These are largely located within the governance and administration cluster.
In this context, these two goals have received much attention in terms of their implementation through government departments that fall within the governance and administration cluster. Among other things, gender parity in the political sphere of our country is being progressively addressed. According to the United Nations Development Programme, UNDP, South African report, more than 40% of the 400 seats in Parliament are held by women. The report also shows that this progressive trend in women's representation has been achieved in the provincial legislatures too. Since 1994, women's representation in the provincial legislatures has increased from 25,4% to 42,4%. Globally, South Africa is rated 3rd in the world with regard to countries with the highest number of women MPs. In terms of gender parity, therefore, the country is closer to achieving its 50% target with regard to representation in the political sphere.
The overall assessment of the country's progress against MDG 3, which focuses on gender equality and empowerment of women, is that there have been significant achievements, mainly from our government. These include the establishment of a Ministry for Women, Children and People with Disabilities; an Office on the Status of Women in all provinces in the premiers' offices; a Joint Monitoring Committee on Improvement of Quality of Life and Status of Women; the existence of the Commission for Gender Equality; the enactment of the Employment Equity Act of 1998; and the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act of 2000.
We are also happy that the following initiatives have occurred to ensure that gender parity and the empowerment of women actually happen while we are still alive, not later, when we are dead. Our youth will say, "It happened in our lifetime." These include the establishment of the parliamentary Multiparty Gender Caucus; that South African female parliamentarians actively participate in the UN programmes that promote gender equality and seek to assist in the achievement of the MDGs; and the adoption of a 50% target for the employment of women in senior management positions in the Public Service, with 36,6% having been recorded so far in 2010.
There is no doubt that progress has been made towards the achievement of MDG 3. During the oversight activities that we embarked upon, we also recorded progress regarding MDG 1, which is eradicating extreme poverty and hunger. This has been possible through government's many interventions, which include the focus on achieving full and productive employment and decent work for all, including for women and young people. The oversight visits undertaken by the committee to Thusong centres in Gauteng and the Northern Cape and, just last Monday, to two more centres in the Free State, determined that these centres do indeed contribute positively towards job creation.
In spite of some of the achievements articulated here, our country report indicates that more still needs to be done towards achieving the 2015 deadline. In the context of our constitutional mandate, Parliament and the provincial legislatures have to play a formidable role in the achievement of the eight MDGs. This means that Parliament has a more enhanced role in overseeing the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.
We are happy that the report on the consultative seminar on the MDGs has captured very important recommendations made by various commissions in relation to the role of Parliament and legislatures in the achievement of the MDGs. In terms of some of the recommendations, it seems necessary to change our current model of portfolio committees and put the emphasis on co- ordination and integration with regard to overseeing the implementation of the MDGs. The committees of Parliament would have to be empowered to take charge of crosscutting oversight roles over transversal programmes such as the MDGs and the values articulated in section 195 of the Constitution.
This therefore means that we would have to encourage the cluster formation because the government that we are overseeing has already organised itself in the form of clusters. That will make our work much easier and more reasonable and will avoid repetition, duplication and the crisscrossing of various committees. It will make sense if things are done that way.
As we consider the report on the consultative seminar focusing on the role of Parliament and provincial legislatures in the achievement of the MDGs, it is critical that Parliament looks at adopting an implementation strategy and a plan of action regarding the recommendations that are articulated in the report. Since today is a long day I won't take hon members through all the recommendations - they do appear in the report. This would ensure that Parliament and its committees derived maximum value from the consultative seminar on MDGs and that parliamentarians were able to play their "enhanced role" in overseeing the attainment of the MDGs.
It is important to indicate that what becomes important is the separation of powers. As you know, government will have its role of oversight, Parliament will have its role of oversight, and the judiciary should do its work. We need to understand that. We also need to watch out carefully that we don't have one institution playing a role that seems to threaten or topple our democracy. "Constitutional experts" who connive to co-govern with the ANC are problematic because there seems to be a leg that wants to topple the democracy that the ANC has achieved, because the history of the ANC is written in blood. It is important for us, in terms of the separation of roles, that no one leg wants to see itself emerging and asserting a certain kind of democracy that we don't understand.
We need to discuss the clear separation of roles, especially when it comes to MDGs. We must discuss who is supposed to do what. We know that the report has come from the civil service and government. We now realise that the crisscrossing of roles in terms of the separation of powers is a problem. There are areas where we see that democracy might be toppled. Perhaps, Chairperson, I need to leave it at that.
Debate concluded.