Madam Deputy Speaker, I thought they were going to clap for me. [Laughter.]
Madam Deputy Speaker and hon colleagues, what is bleak is the fact that there are many government departments that are unable to spend taxpayers' money effectively and efficiently. This is confirmed by reports of the Auditor-General which cite wasteful and fruitless expenditure, corruption and all sorts of things. That is what is bleak, and these are things that we have to correct as we move forward.
It is a pity that we in the Standing Committee on Appropriations were not given more time to speak in this particular debate through the courtesy of the ANC on that side at the Chief Whip's office. I say this because the Standing Committee on Appropriations received input from a number of organisations, like the Public Service Commission, the Financial and Fiscal Commission the Human Rights Commission, and many departments. However, we are not in a position to express exactly what they said.
What they said, hon Minister, in one regard concerns the question of expenditure versus performance. In many instances you will find that 100% of a department's budget has been expended, but when you look at the performance and the targets met by the departments, some of them met less than half. Now, what is happening is that they are budgeting for money, and they are spending the money, but they are not meeting their own performance targets. Is it a question of fiscal dumping? Is it a question of their not planning properly? This is a matter of concern that you, hon Minister, need to look at.
When you look at the salary bill in the MTBPS, you see that it refers to the fact that the content suggests that over the medium term government will seek to ensure that growth in employment and earnings does not threaten the expenditure ceiling." There is also concern about the growth of managerial and administrative staffing across government.
The growth in the public sector wage bill has exceeded the rate of inflation over the past several years. This is indeed a cause for concern, especially when there is no yardstick to measure the productivity of the staff. We don't envy staff who get more money and salary adjustments, but we are asking: Are we getting commensurate productivity from them? We feel this is an area that should be looked at. Thank you. [Applause.] [Time expired.]