Speaker, Your Excellencies the President and the Deputy President of the Republic, Ministers and Deputy Ministers, colleagues, comrades and people at large, it gives me a deep sense of humility, privilege and pride to be invited to speak on behalf of an organisation that carries a proud history of struggle for the liberation of our people through the selfless heroic sacrifices made by its cadres, both men and women, and from all races, creeds and ethnic groups, over a protracted period of almost a century.
Allow me, therefore, Mr President, to echo your salute of these heroes and heroines, recognised and unsung, including those from political persuasions other than the ANC, which I'm representing here, whose contributions, whether large or small, helped to expedite the ultimate emancipation of our people from apartheid.
In particular, we take this opportunity to wish isithwalandwe, uTat' uMadiba, who led the nation on its long walk to freedom and even longer, a more fulfilling life filled with eternal joy, peace and satisfaction. As he watches us all, his children, let us make his vision and dream become a reality. This is my prayer.
His continued, tireless and selfless provision of leadership to our nation and the world at large, even in his retirement, is most humbling and profoundly inspirational. It is a gift for which we are eternally grateful. [Applause.]
Your Excellency the President of the Republic, it is an observation that I confidently share with many and I echo the Chief Whip of the Majority Party, who spoke earlier, when he said your presidency has drawn its vision in great measure from that espoused by uTat' uMadiba.
It is a vision of nation-building aimed at creating a nonracial, nonsexist, democratic, united and prosperous society based on the principles of equality, human dignity and freedom in the true spirit of our Constitution and the Freedom Charter. The pursuit of this vision is the foundation upon which the ANC's very existence is hinged. In its manifesto for the 2009 general elections, the ANC commits itself, during the current period in office, to addressing the most difficult and central challenges facing our nation, namely an improvement in the provision of quality jobs and sustainable livelihoods, education, health care, safety and security; and promoting rural development and land and agrarian reform. Central to these objectives is the ANC's continued role of providing leadership and hope to our people, and its central value of putting people first in and at the centre of all its policies.
Your Excellency, there are a number of specific measures you announced in the state of the nation address relating to the character of the state and the public sector into which we are determined to transform South Africa. This demonstrates your determination to usher in a different style of leadership. You said:
When this administration came into office last year, we undertook to work harder to build a strong developmental state. We said it would be a state that responds to the needs and aspirations of the people and which performs better and faster. This year, 2010, shall be a year of action. The defining feature of this administration will be that it knows where people live, understands their needs and responds faster. Government must work faster, harder and smarter.
The specific measures you outlined or have already embarked upon in pursuit of this goal include the hotline you have established for all citizens to enjoy direct access to your Office and not only through Ministries, state departments or even through us as public representatives. Your appearance in person in various poverty- stricken areas of our country to get a first- hand impression of the plight of our people has also not gone unnoticed.
You have announced the introduction of performance contracts between your Office and Cabinet Ministers, setting out clear and agreed targets to which they will adhere and against which their performance will be measured. The introduction of new Ministries in your Office, particularly on policy planning and performance monitoring and evaluation is a critical step in the right direction towards reinforcing a focused, coherent and well-co- ordinated effort in government policy planning and implementation.
This is so that the overarching strategic vision and direction of government is not lost as the different departments cling to their respective silos which, in turn, results in our people falling between the cracks that exist in the policies and services of the various departments as they seek help from government.
This will also obviate the past experience of policies and interventions that appear good on the face of it and contribute little to changing the situation of our people as a whole; or add little value towards the realisation of our strategic vision and goals.
Key to the new approach of improving government performance and service delivery are the principles aptly articulated in the strategic document of the Minister in the Presidency, Comrade Collins Chabane.
These principles are: to provide principled leadership and make the tough decisions that may be required to deliver on our mandate; to strengthen our ability to co-ordinate across the three levels of government and work as a single delivery machine; to build a partnership between government and civil society so that we work together to achieve our goals for a better life; to be completely transparent with each other, claiming no easy victories; to just tell the truth and build on what we have achieved; to recognise that there will always be limited funding and resources and yet be willing to commit to doing more with less and doing it on time; and, lastly, to develop a skilled and well-motivated Public Service that is proud of what it does and receives full recognition for delivering better quality services.
As the standing committee, in our engagement with the office of the Auditor- General last year, we came to note with appreciation the Auditor-General's paradigm shift in the auditing of public entities with the addition to the regular financial auditing of performance auditing, focusing on the three "Es", namely, efficiency, economy, and effectiveness.
The focus, therefore, is increasingly going to be on outcomes rather than outputs. The question will be what value in real terms we are getting out of the money spent, rather than whether we have spent the money as prescribed. We also need to look at the sustainable use of our limited resources in an environmentally friendly way so that posterity will not judge us harshly.
Speaker, allow me at this juncture to turn to the important matter of restoring good, old-fashioned values to our Public Service. The national executive council of the ANC's January 8 Statement presented by Your Excellency in Kimberley last month, which outlines the marching line for all the ANC cadres, whether deployed in government or elsewhere, clearly and firmly articulates the ANC policy on this matter.
The ANC articulates the view that the process of building a new public sector cadre forms part of the major tasks for creating a developmental state. Where people are found to be incapable of performing the tasks assigned to them, they must either be capacitated or replaced with capable ones. To be a public sector cadre means service to the people and a caring attitude in dealing with citizens.
The ANC is committed to transforming the state in a manner that benefits our people. There is no room for using the resources of the state for self- enrichment or acting from narrow self-interest. Selfishness is alien to the values of our movement.
In this regard, hon President, you have also mentioned that the government has resolved to eradicate fraud and corruption through the establishment of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on Corruption, which is currently hard at work to find new ways of eradicating corruption.
Amongst the specific areas of concern that you alluded to are corruption in the issuing of tenders and drivers licences, social grants and identity documents. The so-called "tenderpreneurs" who milk the state coffers of millions of rands and yet perform a shoddy job, if at all, need to become a thing of the past. [Time expired.] [Applause.]