Speaker, I would like to ask the House to please listen carefully to the following quotation. It goes like this:
The budget should be balanced, the Treasury should be refilled, public debt should be reduced, the arrogance of officialdom should be tempered and controlled, and the assistance to foreign lands should be curtailed, lest Rome become[s] bankrupt.
This is a statement made by Senator Cicero in the year 55 BC. We have evidently learnt very little over the past 2 067 years because, in South Africa, expenditure is rising faster than revenue; public debt is increasing; we assist countries such as Zimbabwe financially; more and more people are becoming dependent on social grants while the economy is failing to deliver job opportunities; productivity is low; many of our public servants continue to remain inefficient and many government departments continue to spend their budgets fruitlessly. As Senator Cicero said, it is a sure-fire way of going bankrupt.
The Appropriation Bill that is to be considered by us today authorises the provision of funds to government departments, and various Votes and schedules will be discussed shortly. Unfortunately, objections to various Budget Votes are increasing rather than decreasing, with reason. The increase in objections is indicative of the dissatisfaction with the way in which many government departments are run, and the failure of these departments to deliver efficient services to the poor. The question, therefore, arises as to whether we should continue to provide budget to government departments performing badly, particularly at the current funding levels.
In a report to the Standing Committee on Appropriations, the Public Service Commission provided the following disconcerting facts about the efficiency of our government departments: the percentage of national and provincial departments that managed to achieve more than 80% of their planned output targets as per their annual performance plans declined from 9% to 4% from the 2010-11 to the 2011-12 financial year. In fact, during the 2011-12 financial year, 24% of national and provincial departments operated at a level below 49% of achievement of predetermined targets.
During the 2011-12 financial year, the Department of Energy spent 99,6% of its budget, but achieved only 57% of its output targets. Similarly, the Department of Basic Education spent 91, 4% of its budget, but achieved only 53% of its output targets. The Department of Public Works spent only 88,9% of its budget and achieved 46% of its output targets. However, the worst performance came from the Department of Water Affairs, which spent 96% of its budget, but achieved only 8% of performance targets.
In spending on capital assets, an area where infrastructure development and job creation often take place, the Department of Public Works spent only 66%, the Department of Health only 63% and the Department of Basic Education only 38% of their budget allowances for the payment of capital assets during the 2012-13 financial year.
During the 2011-12 financial year, 55% of national departments had compliance findings in respect of unauthorised, irregular and/or fruitless and wasteful expenditure. The Department of Public Works, for instance, spent R25 million in unauthorised expenditure, R178 million in irregular expenditure and R69 million in fruitless and wasteful expenditure. Just this one department incurred unauthorised, irregular as well as fruitless and wasteful expenditure totalling to R272 million. One wonders how much of that wastage went to Nkandla. The Department of Water Affairs had irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure totalling nearly R1,1 billion.
Heads of departments are required to enter into performance agreements with their Ministers. These agreements must be filed with the Public Service Commission by June of each year, but the compliance rate by heads of departments as at 30 June 2012 was only 65%. The number of heads of departments actually undergoing performance management evaluations has in fact declined over the past years. At national and provincial levels, the number of evaluations done declined from 53% in the 2007-08 financial year to only 18% in the 2011-12 financial year. Seventeen per cent of heads of departments had not submitted performance agreements at all. However, rest assured that most, if not all, of these heads of department received performance bonuses despite the fact that no performance evaluations were done.
The Public Service Commission further reports that there has been a steady increase in overall infrastructure spending by the public sector. The value of major infrastructure projects currently in progress or under consideration in the public sector totals R3,6 trillion, and over 40% of these projects are in the implementation phase. Infrastructural development can play a major role in reaching the goals set out in the National Development Plan in respect of job creation, poverty relief and eliminating injustices of the past. Unfortunately, infrastructure delivery by the public sector is weak and is characterised by delays, poor planning, lack of project management and inadequate oversight.
The Presidential Infrastructure Co-ordinating Commission, PICC, formed to ensure the introduction of the National Infrastructure Plan adopted in 2012, identified 18 strategic integrated projects in the areas of water, electricity, roads, sanitation and communication. However, they found major challenges for the effective running of these projects. These challenges related to poor planning at institutional level; slow approval processes; poor quality execution; tender abuses and corruption; unplanned and costly rework of designs or construction; lead time delays; slow or nonpayment of contractors and lack of suitably skilled personnel. It is no wonder, therefore, that expenditure by departments and provinces on consultants amounted to R33,7 billion during the 2011-12 financial year, in many cases as a result of the inability of the incumbent employee to do the job.
The report by the Public Service Commission paints a bleak picture, indeed, of the ability of many of our government departments to manage the budgets allocated to them effectively and efficiently. We must ensure that wastage of public money is stopped dead in its tracks. The wisdom of continuing the provision of budget to poor performers is questionable, especially considering the current pressure on our economy. In the final analysis, however, the responsible persons for poor performance are the heads of department and their Ministers. When are they likely to be fired so we can start getting value for money?
Where the DA governs, we have an attitude towards clean and effective governance which gives rise to excellent service delivery. A few days ago, the hon Deputy President and hon Minister of Finance had meetings with various trade union leaders. On that occasion, the hon Minister of Finance explained to the trade union leaders the dire straits of the South African economy, as it currently finds itself with foreign investments being withdrawn from our country at a rapid rate, a weakening rand and a deteriorating growth rate. The need for the co-operation of trade unions was stressed.
However, what do we do? The ANC members of the Portfolio Committee on Labour vote for amendments to labour legislation by which our current draconian labour legislation is worsened. This is indeed a wrong attitude to solving the problem. However, one can hardly expect anything less with a very difficult election looming for the ANC.
In the final analysis, it is all in the attitude towards solving our problems. It would therefore be wise to remember the words of Jack Sparrow when he said, "The problem is not the problem. The problem is the attitude about the problem". Thank you. [Applause.]