Hon Chairperson, hon Minister, hon Deputy Minister, hon members, guests and officials, and most importantly, members of the public, the budget shows us that this department is spending around 16% of its allocation on consultants and professional services. That might not sound like a large percentage, but to put it into perspective, this 16% equals R60 million, which, broken down, means that the department is spending R497 per minute per working day on external consultants. So during the eight minutes that I have been allocated to debate today the department will spend R3 976.
This consultants' paradise must come to an end. I am not suggesting that there be a zero spend on external consultants, as there is a need for some work to be outsourced. However, we are moving towards a developmental state where spending 16% of a departmental budget on consultants and professional services would not be in the best interests of a developmental government. So I'd like to ask the Minister: What is being done to improve the capacity of the department, the capacity of the consultants and the capacity of the department to manage these consultants?
We, in government, need to start moving away from the dependency on external service providers who are not accountable to us. What is this money being spent on? We need to find ways to capacitate internal staff, recruit skilled staff and build a bigger, more effective department that will meet the needs of the people on the ground and not just a fund disbursement agent, as the opposition would like to see.
Chairperson, part of the responsibility of this department is to drive public participation, and this mandate is rooted in our past. The Freedom Charter, as adopted at the real Congress of the People 54 years and 362 days ago in Kliptown on 26 June 1955, resolved that "All people shall be entitled to take part in the administration of the country". Now, could the opposition please listen carefully? [Interjections.]