Hon Chairperson, hon Minister and Deputy Minister, and hon members, the annual process of dealing with Budget Votes is a time when accountability is demanded and expected. In the tabling of Budget Vote No 6 we seek to ensure that the Vote that is being appropriated does, in fact, speak to the policy priorities and imperatives of the governing party and those of Cabinet.
In considering the Budget Vote of the Ministry of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation we are called upon to reflect on a central theme of the ANC government: accountability, performance monitoring and evaluation. This voting of funds needs to provide an understanding of how the Ministry in the Presidency is reversing past imbalances and creating a better life for all by ensuring that government work and that there is performance which can be monitored according to a defined and agreed set of criteria.
This voting of funds must equally be measured against the constitutional obligations and responsibilities of the Presidency and the legislative and policy framework of government. The critical question at the completion of today's debate will be: Has this particular Budget Vote given effect to what has been politically agreed to by the executive within the context of the political mandate of the governing party? Chairperson, this Vote must be measured against ANC policies and priorities. Legislation reflects policies of the ANC government and this is what must be demonstrated in this Budget Vote. Budgets reflect policy choices and this budget should reflect this.
The importance of this particular Budget Vote is that it deals with the entire machinery of government, and we have in a clear and demonstrable manner the performance agreements of each member of Cabinet, as well as government's 12 priority areas, whose performance can be measured against this Budget Vote.
The central task of the ANC is to build a developmental state with strategic, political, economic, administrative and technical capacity in pursuit of the objectives of the national democratic revolution, NDR. It is this task that this Budget Vote should speak to, as it is meant to qualitatively and quantitatively improve the functioning of government.
One of the most critical acts of the NDR is the creation of a legitimate state which derives its authority from the people through regular elections and continuing popular participation in the process of governance. Mobilised around a clear vision of the kind of society we wish to become, the nation should act in partnership, each sector contributing to the realisation of the common good. The means should be put in place for citizens to exercise their human rights, and for the checks and balances necessary in a law-governed society. The democratic state should also have the organisational and technical capacity to realise its objectives.
The Ministry is essentially dealing with a major component of the state. The ANC has defined the state as a developmental one. Therefore, how we deal with the Budget Vote is informed by two key attributes that underpin a developmental state.
The first is the state's organisational capacity to ensure that its structures and systems realise a set agenda. Thus, issues of macro- organisation of the state must inform the ministry and the allocations in this Budget Vote. This includes permutations among policy and implementation organs within each sphere, allocation of responsibilities across spheres, effective intergovernmental relations, and stability of the management system.
A second attribute is the state's technical capacity, with the ability to translate broad objectives into programmes and projects and to ensure their implementation.
In 2009 the ANC met in an alliance national conference to consider the review of the performance of government over 15 years in office. The review informed us that we needed to improve the functioning of the state machinery to improve the quality and the speed of service delivery.
The primary intervention was to change the way government was structured. After the 2009 elections, the reconfiguration of government departments to improve performance was completed. It was resolved to establish a Performance Monitoring and Evaluation Department in the Presidency to promote improved performance of government. These had been identified as critical interventions that were required.
The 15-year review of performance of government has its policy roots in the 2008 ANC Medium-Term Strategic Framework, which was adopted both by the 2008 National Executive Committee, NEC, lekgotla and later by the Cabinet as government's Medium-Term Strategic Framework. The Medium-Term Strategic Framework had a set of medium-term policies which were to guide both the ANC and the government up to 2014. It was this Medium-Term Strategic Framework that gave rise to what we know today as the Ministry of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation.
The ANC's election manifesto of 2009 outlined the intention to reconfigure the state. The manifesto placed the state at the centre of development and resolved to sharply improve co-ordination and capacity throughout government by means of both a planning entity and a monitoring and evaluation entity within a reconfigured Cabinet system. This, the manifesto outlined, would involve, amongst others, the establishment of new Ministries.
Chairperson, let me clear up some confusion that has consciously arisen in the minds of certain political parties who wish to conflate the Ministry of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation with Chapters 9 and 10 institutions. They suggest that what the Ministry has been established for is already catered for by these institutions that support democracy as set out in the Constitution, especially the Public Service Commission.
Chairperson, the functions of these institutions, including the Public Service Commission, the Auditor-General, you name them, are totally different from the objectives of this Ministry. Chapters 9 and 10 institutions each have a specific area of focus, and therefore their functions are defined by statutes. In fact, the department has indicated that it will avoid duplication by establishing partnerships with these institutions, the Department of Public Service and Administration and the premiers in the provinces, including Parliament where necessary.
The Ministry, on the other hand, has the cross-cutting responsibility of measuring the performance of each department and members of the executive based on defined and agreed criteria between the President and members of the executive. The ANC, when undertaking the reconfiguration of the state, always looks at best practice, and considerable time was spent on this exercise prior to the establishment of the Ministry in January 2010.
International best practice in monitoring and evaluation experience globally demonstrates the following. Firstly, monitoring and evaluation have changed the culture of line Ministries. Then, they change the behaviour and attitude of public managers, in that they see the need to better understand and think through their actions based on desired results. Moreover, they enhance organised civil society and lead to greater transparency in Ministries. Civil society also actively participate in their government and, in our case, this is in line with the principles of the Freedom Charter that "the people shall govern".
President Mandela once said that even the most benevolent of governments were made up of people capable of human failures. That was why the checks and balances were necessary to ensure it was not left to the whims of individual rulers. Accountability lay at the heart of our democratic process of government.
Hon members, Parliament referred Budget Vote No 6 to the Standing Committee on Appropriations. However, they had also to confer with other portfolio committees. Initially there were teething problems with regard to co- ordinating these meetings, but in the end the committees came together and compiled a report which has been presented to Parliament. I would like to take this opportunity to thank hon members, not only members of the Standing Committee on Appropriations, but those members that we worked with, that is, the Portfolio Committee on Provincial and Local Government and the Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration, who really worked tirelessly to produce the report. The ANC supports the Budget Vote. Thank you. [Applause.]