Madam Speaker, every year government departments compile and submit to Parliament their strategic plans for the ensuing year. These plans are beautifully printed, glossy documents setting out the key indicators to be achieved by departments. Unfortunately, one gets the impression that once the document has been compiled and submitted to Parliament it is filed away only to be retrieved for superficial updating the following year. Nothing or very little happens in-between to actually try to achieve the indicators set out in the strategic objectives.
Examples of this are aplenty, but allow me to give you just one example, that of the Department of Communications. In the 2008 Adjusted Estimates of National Expenditure document, the mid-year performance stages of the department is as follows: They indicated a number of Dinaledi schools to get Information and Communication Technologies connected - proposed 250, achieved zero; the percentage of public broadcaster infrastructure digitised as a percentage plan for population coverage - proposed 50%, achieved 0%; the number of reports on corporate governance of public entities - proposed two, achieved nil; the number of stadiums with ICT infrastructure for 2010 - proposed five stadiums, achieved nil; percentage operational submarine cables - proposed 25%, achieved 0%; and so the list goes on.
Departments continue to fail to deliver against their own performance indicators, but directors-general continue to receive performance bonuses. The DA calls on government, and particularly, the portfolio committees, to take their oversight function seriously and to take action against nonperforming departments and DGs. Thank you. [Applause.]