Hon Chairperson, hon Minister in the Presidency: Performance Monitoring and Evaluation as well as Administration in the Presidency, other hon Ministers present, hon Deputy Minister, hon colleagues and especially members of the committee, director-general and other officials of the department, and ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon.
The 2009 Manifesto of the ANC directed that:
The developmental state will play a central and strategic role in the economy. We will ensure a more effective government, improve the coordination and planning efforts of the developmental state by means of a planning entity to ensure faster change. A review of the structure of government will be undertaken, to ensure effective service delivery.
In fact, the ANC had in earlier manifestos committed itself to ensuring better co-operation amongst the three spheres of government, with integrated planning, monitoring and evaluation, and a common system of public service. Therefore, the establishment of the Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation and of the National Planning Commission was the culmination of a long process of planning within the ANC, giving effect to section 85(2)(c) of the Constitution. The Constitution enjoins the President of the Republic of South Africa to exercise his executive authority, together with other executive members of the Cabinet, to co-ordinate the functions of state departments.
This department is only three years old as a stand-alone department, as it became a department with effect from 1 April 2011.
The mandate of the department is to work towards continuous improvement in service delivery through performance monitoring and evaluation. The following are the issues that constitute the mandate of this department: to facilitate the development of plans or delivery agreements for the crosscutting priorities or outcomes of government; to monitor individual, national and provincial departments and municipalities; to monitor frontline service delivery; to manage the Presidential Hotline; to carry out evaluations; to promote good monitoring and evaluation practices in government; and to provide support to delivery institutions that address blockages in government. Furthermore, the major focus of the department for the 2013-14 financial year is to ensure the mainstreaming of the National Development Plan in the government's work when drafting the Medium-Term Strategic Framework for the next government. Obviously, and I quote:
The department will work with the National Planning Commission to facilitate and monitor the implementation of the NDP.
As MPs, hon members, it means we must familiarise ourselves with the relevant chapters of the National Development Plan which relate to our respective portfolios. As the Portfolio Committee on Performance Monitoring and Evaluation, we will support this process. Hon Minister, you will know that sometimes we are a standing committee and at other times we are a portfolio committee, but we are here at the moment as a portfolio committee. It will require that the department ensures that it fast-tracks the process, as it may affect other processes like the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement, which comes towards the end of the year, over which the Standing Committees on Appropriations and on Finance play an oversight role.
Whilst the ANC-led government recognises the progress that has been made in changing the socioeconomic realities of many South Africans, there is a need for targeted improvements in the government's service delivery approach in order to address the triple challenges of poverty, inequality and unemployment. The government is implementing a number of interventions, including the National Growth Path and the Industrial Policy Action Plan, and soon the National Development Plan will be in full swing.
A scholar in the field of monitoring and evaluation, Milton Friedman, once said, and I quote:
One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs by their intentions rather than their results.
This is why our government deemed it necessary to adopt the outcomes-based approach in 2009.
Government expenditure and programmes have increased over the years, but they have not always yielded the intended results and outcomes. The outcomes-based approach was adopted to ensure that there was a focused and co-ordinated effort to achieve real improvements in the lives of the poorest of the poor. This approach would result in harmonising intergovernmental planning and efficient resource allocation across government, both vertically and horizontally, and ensure alignment of government plans on all 12 priority outcomes.
We in the ANC welcome the progress that the department has made in the short time of its existence. In 2012 the department facilitated the use of the Management Performance Assessment Tool, and 103 national and provincial departments participated in that process. The department itself acknowledged that the process was not as rigorous as it had intended, as moderation was not done in the case of all the departments. However, the results show that many departments were frank and honest in their self- assessment. The good thing about the process is that those departments will be able to come up with improvement plans.
The MPAT was developed in collaboration with the Department of Public Service and Administration and the National Treasury, with additional inputs from the Office of the Auditor-General and the Public Service Commission. The Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation also works with transversal departments, including the offices of the premiers across the country. The MPAT is built around four key performance management areas, namely strategic management, governance and accountability, human resources and systems management, and financial management.
Parliament must also take an interest in the reports, because these outline some of the key performance areas that result in departments' failure to get unqualified audits. Some departments scored themselves quite high, and that contradicted the Auditor-General's reports and the PSC, which in some cases found that although departments had spent their entire budgets, they were not able to align performance to the predetermined objectives.
The other report that was produced by the department and was mentioned by the Minister was the Mid-Term Review Report. Again the committee was satisfied that the report covered all 12 outcomes and reflected a balanced view of what was happening in the departments. For now, I will mention a few results, focusing on the five priorities of the government.
With regard to education, the report reveals that there is an increased number of children benefiting from the government's early childhood development programme, resulting in the doubling between 2003 and 2010 of the number of children in Grade R. The Adult Basic Education and Training programme has also experienced an increase in adult enrolment, while colleges and artisan learners entering training exceeded the target number that the department set itself for 2011. There were also the annual national assessment results, which allow government to benchmark levels of literacy and numeracy in South Africa and develop improvement plans. The last thing in the education report is that the Millennium Development Goals have almost been achieved in South Africa, because there has been greater access to education and a greater number of girls are attending school.
As far as health is concerned, the number of people living with HIV/Aids has stabilised. I can't make out what has been typed here, sir! The number of people living with HIV/Aids has stabilised in the country. There has been a reduction in mother-to-child transmission from 8% in 2008 to 3,5% in 2011 - the government is protecting over 30 000 babies per annum from infection. Sir, 19,9 million people were tested for HIV from April 2010 to date.
The incidence of overall serious crime has decreased, although marginally, from 3 872 to 3 688 per 100 000. Murder, attempted murder, car hijackings and house robberies have also registered a decrease, however marginal that may be. Over 1 529 cases of corruption were investigated, and the people involved arrested. There were 255 corruption-related convictions. Finally, 23 presidential proclamations were made of investigations into corruption in the departments.
Regarding employment creation, the government has established the Jobs Fund, which is managed by the Development Bank of Southern Africa. That is making progress in creating work. Advances in co-ordination in regard to growth strategies, the NGP and stakeholders are also being made. A business case has been prepared to expand community programmes per annum. Progress with promoting labour-absorbing growth and industrial development strategies in manufacturing, mineral products, procurement reform, and so forth, has been made.
With regard to infrastructure, the creation of an independent system operator is under way. This will allow independent power producers to participate in the production of alternative energy. There is also progress with regard to roads, rail and ports. Transnet is now moving freight via rail and is expecting to move about 206 megatons per year, increasing to 250 megatons by 2014. Transnet has also acquired locomotives. The Presidential Infrastructure Co-ordinating Commission has been established to monitor projects under the programme called Strategic Integrated Projects, Sips.
Regarding rural development, the state's land acquisition and distribution programme entailed 823 000 ha going to 20 290 beneficiaries between 2009 and 2011, whilst the restitution programme benefited 712 claimants. Overall, 607 million ha were transferred between 1994 and 2011. Of course, that constitutes only 27% of the 2014 target of 24,5 million ha. A successful programme has been the National Rural Youth Service Corps, which has trained over 5 340 youth. Efforts to build an effective and efficient Public Service are being made.
There has been significant progress in some departments in reducing waste, and in turnaround times. I'm sorry, I'm battling to make this out. [Interjections.] Turnaround times in departments have improved. For example, the Department of Home Affairs has improved the time it takes to issue identity documents and permits from 127 days to 45 days; the SA Social Security Agency, Sassa, is now processing social grant applications in nine days instead of the 30 days that it used to take; and the SA Police Service response time for serious crime has also improved, from 50 minutes to 18 minutes.
While we acknowledge and welcome the Mid-Term Review Report, which indicates progress made since the beginning of the term, we will be the first to agree that there is a lot that still needs to be done to address the triple challenges of poverty, inequality and unemployment - and crime - facing our country.
Another key output for the department which reflects government's annual assessment of the country's performance in both qualitative and quantitative measures is the report that the Minister also referred to. It is the Development Indicators 2011 report. This report has already been submitted to the committee. The development indicators track changes in indicators such as the gross domestic product, unemployment rate, life expectancy, social cohesion, poverty, inequality, and so forth.
Some of the key findings of the report suggest that life expectancy has actually increased to 57 years because HIV/Aids has stabilised. Also, there is a continuous decline in the child and infant mortality rate - it decreased from 52 per 1 000 births in 2009 to 34 in 2011. The population living below R422 a month as a poverty datum line has decreased from 50% in 1994 to 34% in 2009. So, we are on track as far as delivery to our people is concerned. These are just highlights which the Development Indicators 2011 report has articulated as findings for the period in question.
The department is making information available to hon members so that they can utilise this valuable information for purposes of oversight in their own portfolios.
The Annual Performance Plan for the 2013-14 financial year commits the department to continue with the good work of focusing on co-ordinating service delivery in regard to the 12 government priority outcomes, and the assessment of quality management performance of national and provincial departments. Most important are the roll-outs and feedback on the visits to Frontline Service Delivery Monitoring models; the implementation of the National Evaluation Policy Framework; and the implementation of the Municipal Assessment Tool. These initiatives should contribute to increasing the availability of evidence ... [Interjections.] [Time expired.] The ANC supports this Budget Vote. Thank you. [Applause.]