Thank you, Chairperson. Hon Minister in the Presidency, hon Deputy Minister, hon members, comrades and distinguish guests, at its 52nd National Conference in Polokwane, the ANC noted that state machinery needed co-ordination and integration to deliver on its commitments. The conference recommended greater monitoring and evaluation of performance by various government departments in an ongoing manner.
There is a legitimate expectation from the electorate, and society as a whole, that our government will deliver on its promises. In an emerging democracy like ours the huge inequalities and the legacy of racial discrimination need strong monitoring systems to ensure that our public sector is able to perform its functions for a better life for all our people.
In his state of the nation address, President Jacob Zuma declared 2011 a year of job creation. The President recognised growing levels of unemployment and poverty. This commitment necessitates co-ordination and monitoring of efforts to create jobs within government.
When the ANC government reconfigured the Cabinet structure, the main goal was to deliver on our 2009 election manifesto to ensure the implementation of five key priorities. I won't name them, as all of us know them.
This commitment seeks to strengthen the public sector and ensure that it delivers in order to meet the needs of the majority of our poor people. In this regard a performance-based public sector is critical. We need to ensure the evaluation of the developmental impact of programmes implemented by government. We must consolidate and resolve to build a performance- orientated public sector. This structure has to ensure that we have Public Service delivery that is effective and efficient to fulfil the whole mandate we received from our electorate.
Indeed, this structure has already had a positive impact on the effectiveness of various government departments. We have recently witnessed a number of developments in government in an attempt to improve the performance of the public sector.
Hina lava hi tshamaka emakaya ha swi vona, kambe lava tshamaka emadorobeni a va swi voni. Eka Ndzawulo ya Maphorisa, leswi u nga bela mani kumbe mani riqingho wa vatshami va Mathibestad ku tiyisisa u ta ku byela leswaku loko u pfula nandzu hungu ro koma, SMS, ri ku sala endzhaku ku ku nyika nomboro ya nandzu lowu u nga wu mangala na ku ku nyika vito ra phorisa leri nga khoma nandzu wa wena.
Vanhu va le matikoxikaya, lava va nga riki na mali, a va hamba va tsutsumatsutsuma ku lava pasi. A va tlhela va famba hi tihofisi to hambana ku ya kamba. Namuntlha a va ha tsutsumitsutsumi na tona. Ndzawulo ya Timhaka ta Xikaya yi rhumela SMS ku ku tivisa leswaku pasi ra wena ri amukeriwile, naswona u fanele ku tlhelela u ya ri teka hi siku rihi. A wa ha tsutsumitsutsumi. U famba u ri karhi u swi tiva leswaku pasi ra wena ri kona. Hi swin'wana leswi swi hi kombaka leswaku hakunene tindzawulo ti antswisiwile. (Translation of Xitsonga paragraphs follows.)
[Those of us who stay in the rural areas can see the improvement, but those who stay in urban areas cannot. With regard to the Department of Police, you can phone any resident of Mathibestad and they will confirm that when you open a case, a short message service, an SMS, will immediately be sent to give you the case number and the name of the police officer in charge of your case.
Poor people in rural areas used to run around applying for identity documents. They used to go from one office to another to check for them. Today they are no longer running around. The Department of Home Affairs sends you an SMS informing you of receipt of your application for an ID and the date on which you may collect it. You no longer have to run around. You go there with the assurance that your identity document is there. These are some of the things which show that the departments have indeed been improved.]
We have recently witnessed a number of developments in government in an attempt to improve the performance of the public sector. These in the main involve the entrenchment of the outcomes approach in order to improve the performance of the state, with a particular focus on the key priorities.
We believe that in the outcomes approach there are some weaknesses involving a lack of focus in government; challenges in interdepartmental co- ordination; and weaknesses in planning and implementation. It seems that the outcomes-based approach is not a short-term programme. Part of the purpose is to transform the state into a results-orientated institution with the task of delivering to the majority of our people.
The postapartheid state has a relationship with the majority of the poor people and workers, but this relationship should not be taken for granted. It should not be reduced to a one-way relationship of service delivery to the mass of the people. The state is another site of the struggle for power in order to meet electoral mandates. In this regard the electorate is not made up of passive people waiting for delivery from the state. Rather, there must be interpenetration of ideas between the state and the people to advance transformation.
That is why for us planning, co-ordination, interventions and management practices in government should be informed by the consistently changing needs of our people in order to ensure mutual implementation. While we need to build state capacity to deliver on its mandate, we must equally build the capacity of the electorate to take charge of their destiny.
The state of the nation address committed government to ensuring that its identified targets are met through the oversight role of this department. We welcome the emphasis on accountability and monitoring systems, including performance agreements between the President and the Ministers. We also note that the Department of the Public Service and Administration is driving a process to ensure effective and results-orientated performance. We hope this initiative will lead to greater accountability for poor performance.
We need to improve our expenditure to ensure value for money. Public resources should be spent on appropriate projects for the purpose of changing society in order to have a better life for all.
In this regard administration throughout government departments needs to be strengthened with regard to their mandates and responsibilities. Improving human resource and management development is necessary, as proposed in the state of the nation address. The address made it clear that there would be monitoring of the process of filling vacant posts in government and of performance and the nature of training. Gaps and weaknesses at administrative level, such as a lack of human and financial resources, tend to have a negative impact on the oversight role and integrated public performance. The department acknowledges this reality, as it has made a submission to the National Treasury for increased funding to enable the employment of staff to engage in monitoring the performance of individual departments and municipalities, and this refers particularly to the Public Sector Administration Oversight Branch.
We must ensure integrated public performance data systems for efficiency and good governance. Various departments at all levels - local, provincial and national - should develop their performance management system in a manner that encourages smooth monitoring and improved outcome. Linked to this is the involvement of other stakeholders, in partnership with government, in promoting efficient services.
We believe that initiatives like these will help the state to build a caring society. Such a state should continually implement integrated antipoverty programmes, and the integration of all communities in economic activities.
Indeed, integrated approaches should ensure that the state has the capacity to fight crime and corruption. This is not to suggest that the crime and corruption challenge is unique to the public sector. There are perceptions of corruption and lack of accountability and transparency in the private sector, and those institutions receive funding from the state.
However, if we should pay less attention to other sectors of society, then we are running the risk of not achieving our national democratic society. This is because different sectors would be likely to pull in different directions in society.
In conclusion, the relevance of the monitoring and evaluation of performance is beyond doubt. There is a need for more resources for this department in order for it to carry out its mandate for a better life for all our people. We must also monitor the performance of those who claim to have autonomy and freedom, and ask them to be accountable, because they represent our national assets, which are meant to serve our communities. There are key tasks requiring the budget of this department to grow. As the ANC we support Budget Vote No 6 on Performance Monitoring and Evaluation. Thank you, Chair.