Hon Deputy Speaker, Your Excellency, Mr President, Your Excellency, Deputy President, hon Ministers and Deputy Ministers, hon members and honoured guests, the role of the Office of the President, as the highest office of the land, is to oversee and co-ordinate the work of government and the state as the leading institution on interstate and international relations. The Office of the President also has the responsibility to ensure that government achieves all its objectives and meets its targets in the electoral term.
The President of the Republic also assumes the role of head of state and has the responsibility to defend and uphold the integrity of this state. This is the role often forgotten or not fully recognised by our society. This is the role that includes overseeing and ensuring that other levers of state - which include the legislature, the executive and the judiciary - are operating optimally. It is against this background that we have reconfigured the macro-organisation of the national government to ensure that government is able to operate optimally and allow the President the space to exercise his role as head of state.
Let me remind the House that the Presidency's budget is intended to support the President in leading and galvanising the whole of government and society to implement the electoral programme; to serve as a centre for strategic co-ordination and implementation of government's programme so as to ensure that all energies and efforts are properly aligned behind the achievement of a common and unifying vision; to monitor whether the government programme is implemented; and to evaluate whether it is achieving its intended objectives.
The Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation and the National Planning Commission are fully functional and provide the necessary capacity for national planning, monitoring and evaluation to enhance the performance and efficiency of the state.
In the last financial year, much progress was recorded, once again demonstrating a capable institution geared to ensure that government's work impacts on the lives of our people. In our administration's midterm reflection, we noted that the introduction of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation and the National Planning Commission not only impacted on and started to change the way government works, but also introduced greater efficiencies towards improving the performance of government.
Another significant accomplishment for the 2011-12 financial year is that the executive has begun to focus on frontline service delivery monitoring, with the President and Ministers visiting institutions such as hospitals, schools, police stations and municipalities on an ongoing basis. With the term of the current administration having just passed its midway point, the Presidency has compiled a midterm report on which the President has already elaborated in the earlier address.
The Presidency has also institutionalised the monitoring of key priorities, with quarterly reports being presented to Cabinet through our office. There will be, moving forward, more engagement with Ministers who co-ordinate the key outcomes as well as regular visits to provinces, municipalities and communities to monitor whether government is serving citizens the way it should. The President will continue to meet regularly with Ministers leading the outcomes to ensure progress.
In this financial year and over the remainder of this administration, the Presidency will also focus its efforts on increasing engagements in the international arena. South Africa's participation and leadership in the international arena has been one of the hallmarks of the democratic order since 1994. The expectation for South Africa's leadership in the SADC region, on the African continent and in the international community has increased even further over the past two years. The involvement of the Presidency in international and multinational institutions has increased tremendously.
The establishment of the Presidential Infrastructure Co-ordinating Commission, PICC, was coupled with the establishment of the short-term Job Creation Commission, led by the Deputy President. The Presidency will provide necessary support to the President and the Deputy President in order to ensure that this critical priority of government is implemented.
Much has been said about Brand SA by the Deputy Minister - I won't dwell on it.
Turning to the budget, one of the key shortcomings highlighted in the previous strategic plan of the Presidency is the inadequate resource allocation to support the implementation of the organisation's strategy and the related unsustainable funding model used to make budget allocations to the Presidency.
The allocation of our budget is shared between the administration, with R397,667 million and the National Planning Commission, with R95,575 million. The National Youth Development Agency, NYDA, received only R376 million, while Brand SA received an amount of R148,779 million. This is hardly adequate to meet the many demands of the Presidency to execute its strategy. In the recent past, the Presidency has received budget allocations which are not proportionate to its increased responsibilities.
The myopic, shallow and Russian roulette type of constitutional interpretation by one of the members here is dangerous to society. [Interjections.] No, I'm referring to the leader of Cope. [Laughter.] His analysis is one of Russian roulette.
Let me point out a few facts. You can then pick some and analyse them. For the first one I will speak as an artist. If you allow artists to go on a free-for-all, you will end up with a nation that is just full of insults everywhere. That's why we have to act with restraint. [Interjections.] As citizens, we all have equal rights which are guaranteed by the Constitution and which include the rights to freedom of expression and dignity.
All institutions established by the Constitution, including the Presidency, must be respected by everybody. [Interjections.] The actions of individual members of society should not lead to the degeneration of society, distortion of our values, and creation of a disorderly society. [Interjections.]
The hon member has misread the role of the President in guaranteeing the rights of individuals - it is not the President in his individual capacity. The President has the responsibility to ensure that the institutions which are supposed to guard, protect and ensure that there's equity in the country are functional and appropriate. Thank you very much.