Hon House Chairperson, hon Minister, hon Deputy Minister, hon members, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon.
It is a great privilege to debate the Budget Vote 8 of the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation. In June 2019, President Cyril Matamela Ramaphosa reconfigured the state which
resulted in the reduction of departments and some government programmes being realigned to better serve their intended purposes.
We have experienced the shift of the National Youth Programme and the National Youth Development Agency, NYDA, from this department to the Department of Women, Youth and People with Disabilities. At the same time, new entities were added to the Ministry in the Presidency for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation.
In the absence of effective monitoring and evaluation, it would be difficult for government to know whether the intended results are being achieved as planned, what corrective action may be needed to ensure delivery of intended results and whether initiatives are making positive contributions towards human development. Government had established the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation to play a direct and guiding role in planning, monitoring and evaluation at the national level to oversee the departments in the public service.
Hon Chairperson, as we are aware, one of the challenges facing government was lack of coordinated and integrated planning across all spheres of government. The establishment of the department in the Presidency Office as a key body charged with the responsibility
of planning, monitoring and evaluation seems to be yielding intended results. Since the adoption of the National Development Plan, NDP, the department plays a meaningful role in ensuring alignment of national and provincial departments' annual performance plans linked to delivery outcomes.
The development of budget priorities, the so called "Mandate Paper", is another instrument introduced for the purpose of ensuring alignment of planning and budget allocations with the medium-term service delivery priorities. All these initiatives are aimed at ensuring coherent and well coordinated services to the citizens. We really need to appreciate the ANC- led government for establishing such an important department to drive planning, monitoring and evaluation. We are reaping the fruits of the department. Indeed, today is better than yesterday in terms of planning and provision of services.
Hon members, without approved National Spatial Development Framework, we might not be able to achieve some of the objectives of the National Development Plan on time and to attract investors. The National Spatial Development Framework will guide and describe the spatial developments expected in the three spheres of government for the purpose of outlining future developments. We therefore,
reiterate the call to finalise the framework in order to guide the country's development in terms of major infrastructure developments, such as building future integrated transport services like the bullet train, as mentioned by the President.
Over the past 25 years, the democratic government delivered services to millions of people in the country. After every term of administration of government, a review of government delivery gets done on a regular basis through annual reviews. The department plays an important role of reviewing the performance of the state. We are eagerly waiting for the department to publish the 25-year review of government performance to guide the planning and legislatures in order to strengthen oversight and accountability.
Hon Chairperson, the Frontline Service Delivery Programme is another programme used to monitor performance of the frontline services in all government facilities. Introduction of the frontline monitoring tool clearly shows that the government cares and that it is responsive to the needs of its citizens. Citizens need a government that constantly visits their sites to assess the quality of service delivery in their respective service centres. We urge the department to redouble its efforts to monitor government facilities, focusing mainly on frontline services which include queue management, waiting
times, dignified treatment and cleanliness. The visibility of the department brings hope of improving the quality of services to the citizens.
Government remains on course to address challenges facing state- owned enterprises, state-owned companies and development finance institutions like Eskom and SA Airways, SAA. We recognise the significance of these institutions to the economy. In his state of the nation address, the President committed to ensuring monitoring of these institutions. We are pleased that the department is developing an integrated monitoring framework to monitor the performance of these institutions. We are waiting in anticipation to receive an integrated report on the state of these public entities.
Hon Chairperson, evaluations in government serve as an important tool to improve service delivery programmes. Evaluations are conducted simply to make government programmes better and to determine value for money. We urge the department to identify programmes which have to be evaluated in order to determine their relevance and impact on the citizens.
Hon Minister, evaluation studies should also serve as evidence base for policy making and should be used to guide decision making in government in order to change people's lives.
Hon Chairperson, with regard to those who criticise the allocation of funds to this vote that it is rapidly expanding the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation as just an empire building exercise that would serve only the ANC crony network by opening up more undeserved opportunities for cadre deployment, and that the work assigned to the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation should be done by line function managers in the various departments only; reflects both a neo- liberal conceptualisation of the state, one which is failing in the very countries where it originated from, and it also reflects a complete lack of scientific understanding of the role of the state in regulating and facilitating a national programme aimed at delivering a better quality of life for all.
Hon Minister...
IsiZulu:
... kuthiwa kukhonkothwa ehambayo.
English:
We urge the department to execute its mandate and not be distracted by negative critics ... [Interjections.]