Hon Deputy Speaker, regarding the statement on the fourth quarter expenditure patterns for the 2011-12 financial year, public spending must fight poverty. It must reduce unemployment and narrow the divide of inequality. The ANC believes that public spending needs to be placed under very close scrutiny because it is the means by which the aspirations of the Freedom Charter, the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, and successive ANC conference resolutions can be realised. In other words, one can say that public spending is a lever of power and a pillar of the struggle against poverty, inequality, and unemployment. The ANC notes that our recent interactions with national government departments revealed a declining performance in spending patterns. The overall expenditure at the end of the fourth quarter declined from 98,56% in 2009-10 to 97,7% in 2011-12. Overall, it became evident that there is a negative relationship between the increased budget allocations and overall expenditure. The picture of underspending gets worse on closer scrutiny because one then realises that some departments have significant levels of overexpenditure in a few areas. This suggests a lack of consistent expenditure management, monitoring, and tracking. The ANC is concerned with this pattern because of its potential to undermine the delivery of basic services. We are particularly agitated because we know that some amongst us are known for agitating communities in order for them to undertake fact- finding missions, after which they return to their comfort zones.
The ANC regards the underspending as a serious problem that has to be addressed, as outlined in the recommendations of the report. The ANC is perturbed that the major contributing departments include departments that are charged with the responsibility of overseeing the implementation of government's priority programmes. In this regard, we wish to see that there are credible plans in place, and that there are better systems of expenditure monitoring, especially in the departments such as Basic Education, Social Development, Police, Water Affairs and National Treasury.
In conclusion, the ANC would like to see speedy implementation of its recommendations by the executive authorities and accounting officers of all departments affected by both underspending and overexpending. The ANC calls on all sectors of society to dedicate maximum efforts to liberate budget appropriations to deal progressively with the triple scourge of poverty, inequality, and unemployment.
Hon Deputy Speaker, may I deal with the Eastern Cape one now?