House Chairperson, hon Minister and hon members, when the Ministry of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation was launched, many of us expected that the executive and their departments would be held to account for their performance, and that there would be consequences for both nonperformance and underperformance. We expected the service delivery of government departments to improve. To our disappointment, service delivery in some departments has not improved, and some Ministers are still underperforming - with no consequences! The ACDP has therefore concluded that the Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation has not added much value in regard to the performance of underperforming Ministers, dysfunctional departments and poor service delivery.
Furthermore, when the Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation was first introduced we were told by the Minister that, and I quote:
The Green Paper lays down some "non-negotiable principles" such as the need for principled leadership that does not shy away from taking hard decisions when necessary. Officials would also have to be held accountable for delivery.
This has never happened and, as the Minister seems to be evading hard decisions on underperformance, let me say that we definitely want to see value coming out of this department. Departments such as the Departments of Public Works, of Communications, of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, of Women, Children and People with Disabilities, and of Basic Education are a few examples of departments that have underperformed with no known consequences.
By way of substantiation, I am now going to cite a few examples. South Africa's position on international education rankings exposes Minister Motshekga's failure to ensure quality education for our children. The fact that South Africa was placed 140th out of 144 countries on the quality of education by the World Economic Forum's Global Competiveness Report should have necessitated some form of drastic action from this department, which is mandated to monitor the performance of Ministers and their departments.
Furthermore, the Minister of Basic Education has failed to address school infrastructure problems as a result of underspending, and the Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation has not done much about this. Also, the SA Democratic Teachers' Union, Sadtu, has been calling for the resignation of Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga for months now, saying they have lost confidence in the leadership and that teacher morale and performance have been at a record low.
We still maintain that the Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation must have teeth so that appropriate action can be taken when recommendations are not implemented.
Last year a marine conservation organisation ... [Time expired.] Thank you.