Hon Chairperson, hon Minister and other Ministers present, the Deputy Minister and other Deputy Ministers present, hon members, distinguished guests and the media fraternity present today, I hope that I don't finish my 13 minutes, Minister, so that I can give you the remaining minutes for your response.
Creating decent work, fighting poverty and eradicating income inequalities have been and will continue to be at the centre of the agenda of the ANC. The Department of Economic Development, therefore, is on course. Hence the presentation of the Budget Vote today to share with the country what exactly is meant by the government when it says that 2011 is the year of job creation through meaningful economic transformation and inclusive growth.
The department has introduced a very powerful tool or framework known as the New Growth Path, NGP, which is aimed at changing the lives of the people for the better. It is promising to grow the economy by an average of 7%, helping to create five million jobs in that process. This will be done through interventions that the department has already alluded to in the Minister's policy and budget speech.
We would like to commend the Minister, his department and his colleagues in the Cabinet cluster for their hard work. I want to say to them that there is light at the end of the tunnel. That light brings hope to millions of our electorates - nearly two thirds - who endorsed this government as the government of choice, entrusting it with the responsibility of transforming their socioeconomic conditions.
The electorates understood then, and still understand now, that transforming an economy that had an average growth rate of 1,2% up until 1994 to one of 3,6% is not as easy as some people would want us to believe. They also understand that jobless growth can be as disastrous for the plight of ordinary people than its success. Hence they are appreciative of the efforts made thus far and the will to reduce unemployment further to 15% by 2020.
The electorates understand that we have made a commitment to the international community to halve poverty levels by 2014. So far, the measures put in place are convincing enough that the government is at work to eradicate poverty, eradicate income inequalities and create decent jobs. We are convinced, Minister, that the ideals of the revised Industrial Policy Action Plan, Ipap2, the New Growth Path and the integrated Resource Plan 2, among other things, are going to be realised.
The resources distributed so far to support these interventions or programmes are encouraging and highly commendable. However, we would urge the people entrusted with the responsibility to implement this on behalf of our government to do so with the speed and urgency required. They must do so with honesty and with the utmost dedication and zeal. We would encourage those in these departments and institutions to leave the comfort of their offices and boardrooms in order to reach out to the people so as to have a first-hand understanding of the people's plight. This will help them to respond appropriately and appreciate those people's conditions.
The year 2011 has been declared the year of job creation through meaningful economic transformation and inclusive growth, as I indicated earlier. We want to thank the department for setting aside the budget internally and in the entities to help unleash the programme of action for the realisation of the ideals of the national democratic revolution. However, we would like to encourage you to intensify your oversight work of other departments and public entities to ensure that the ideals of your interventions in the economy come to fruition.
In the same breath, we would also like to urge all stakeholders and partners in economic transformation and development to forge cohesion for the purpose of achieving greater growth and development. The committee considered the department's strategic plan and the budget of 22 March 2011. We are satisfied with the content and intent for the Medium-Term Expenditure Framework, MTEF, period. However, we would like to urge the department to urgently fill all vacant funded posts for the financial year in order to speed up the implementation and oversight of the New Growth Path and other related policies and programmes.
The department must play a leading role in fast-tracking changes related to the spatial economic landscape of our country, lest economic emancipation of the previously disadvantaged - who are still not enjoying the fruits of liberation - will be compromised forever. The economic cluster must foster progress in this regard and ensure that every line-function department responsible plays its part in fostering development in these areas. There must be commitment towards alignment, co-ordination, co-operation and integration of plans and programmes within the three spheres of government.
South Africa is a unitary state. Therefore, we cannot afford to continue seeing disparities in the implementation of programmes and projects, and also in terms of outputs and outcomes in development issues. We need to see standardised implementation protocols and outcome procedures throughout the country that will be translated into standardised training with intended outputs and outcomes. What I mean here is that everybody must aim for the same target. We shouldn't have people aiming at different targets while we have meagre resources. We must focus those resources on one thing, so that we can achieve our goals in a speedier manner.
In conclusion, allow me to extend my gratitude to the following: members of the portfolio committee for their unwavering support, active participation, encouragement and, above all, their co-operative spirit; the Minister hon Ebrahim Patel, the director-general and the department, including the Deputy Minister, for their co-operation and readiness to lend a hand at all times to all the boards of entities under the Department of Economic Development.
The committee recommends that the Budget Vote be supported with its recommendations. I thank you. [Applause.]