Minister of Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Budget speech & responses DA and ANC

Briefing

05 May 2015

Minister of Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, Mr Jeff Radebe, gave his Budget Vote Speech on the 05 May 2015

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Members of the media, ladies and gentlemen, a good day to you.
Last year, when I presented the department’s budget vote, President Jacob Zuma had announced the merger of the then Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation with the National Planning Commission (NPC) Secretariat and the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA). I am pleased to announce that the functions of both entities have been fully integrated into the strategic plans of the department, which has been officially renamed the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME).
 
Our mandate is focused on giving direction on implementing and monitoring the National Development Plan (NDP) and its impact on the lives of the people of South Africa, in order to overcome the triple challenges of poverty, unemployment and inequality.
 
The National Planning Commission’s term comes to an end later this month, and a call for nominations for candidates to be considered for appointment to the second National Planning Commission closed on the 10th of April 2015. The President will consider the nominees in due course, and it is envisaged that the new Commissioners will start the NPC’s second term in June for a five year period.
 
In the previous budget vote we outlined the priorities of the department for the next five years which include coordinating, monitoring and evaluating the implementation of the NDP. This administration has committed to institutionalizing long-term planning, building on the experience of the last five years.
 
The President tasked the DPME with managing and overseeing Operation Phakisa. Since the launch of its first project focusing on the “Oceans Economy”, key initiatives have been identified to realize the immense potential of the ocean’s economy to contribute to radical economic transformation.
 
Progress made since the launch of the Oceans Economy Operation Phakisa includes commitment of R7bn of public sector investment in our ports by Transnet Ports Authority, amongst other investments made. The following progress has also been recorded:
 
·                commencement of the construction of a new berth in Saldana Bay, the extension of the Mossgas Quay and the refurbishment of the Offshore Supply Base. This is valued at R 9.2bn of public and private investment.
·                the Department of Trade and Industry has designated that working vessels must meet a 60% local content target. The Treasury Instruction Note issued will ensure compliance with this in all tenders.
·                various aquaculture projects have been launched that are benefiting many rural communities by enabling them to make a living from our seas and inland fresh water reserves.
 
Furthermore, the Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) has developed skills implementation plans aligned with these initiatives. To this end, the South African International Maritime Institute (SAIMI) has been identified as the institution that would facilitate maritime skills development, with the support from DHET.
 
The second Operation Phakisa initiative introduced in 2014 was within the health sector. The focus of this initiative is on improving the quality of services in primary health care. We call this the Ideal Clinic initiative. It was undertaken in collaboration with provinces, districts, clinic managers as well as the private sector and non-profit sector. A detailed plan for improving service delivery in public sector clinics in all provinces has been developed and approved by the National Health Council.
 
Operation Phakisa Labs will also be conducted in the mining and education sectors. In mining, the focus will be on increasing investment, transforming the sector and improving the mineral beneficiation to drive radical economic transformation. In education, the focus will be on Information and Communication Technology approach to enhancing basic education.
 
Ladies and gentlemen,
The department has realised that many departments do not yet have appropriate information management processes and systems in place to generate reliable data. To address this, the department DPME will implement initiatives to build capacity in government. The department will work with StatSA to ensure that statistics will become an integral part of monitoring and evaluation to improve the performance of their departments.
 
One of the strategic priorities of the DPME is to evaluate the impact of government programmes on society at large. During 2014/15, six evaluation reports were completed and submitted to Cabinet. We aim to initiate at least eight evaluations during the current financial year.
 
Many evaluations have registered significant impact even before they were made public. As these evaluations feed into the system, we should see major contribution in the improvement of the effectiveness of government’s programmes.
 
To date, we have a total of 39 evaluations underway or completed covering around R50 billion of government expenditure. We are in the process of launching a call for evaluations for 2016/17.
 
The first completed evaluations are making a significant difference. For example:
 
The first evaluation on Early Childhood Development has resulted in a new ECD policy being developed and gazetted in March 2015. Among others, the focus will be on improving the quality of Grade R to maximise its impact on poor children and in poorly performing provinces, and strengthening the training and development of Grade R teachers. This has the potential to make a major difference to our children.
 
An evaluation of the Business Process Outsourcing Scheme of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) was undertaken to investigate whether the Business Process Services (BPS) Incentive Programme offered by the dti, is achieving its key objectives, namely job creation and increasing foreign direct investment. The programme aims to attract investment and create employment in South Africa through off-shoring activities. At its inception in 2011, it was envisaged that it will result in the creation of a total number of 15 149 jobs over 3 years. The evaluation sought to assess whether this outcome is being achieved. Key findings indicate that since the start of the incentive scheme, over 9000 jobs have been created and that the Business Process Service sector is a key sector for attracting investment and creating new jobs especially in the 18-35 age group, where job creation for young people is most needed. The evaluation has resulted in a redesign and re-launch of the scheme, to strengthen identified challenges. 
 
The evaluation of Grade R showed the importance of improving the quality of provision and not just expanding coverage. DBE is making significant efforts to the improve quality of provision through improving the qualifications of Grade R teachers
 
Since its inception in 2009, the DPME has introduced various tools to drive and institutionalise monitoring and evaluation practices within the public service. The Management Performance Assessment Tool (MPAT) is one such tool, whose specific focus is on monitoring management practices within national and provincial departments.
 
As at September 2014, all national and provincial departments participated in the assessment of management practices undertaken by the DPME. The preliminary results indicated that 29 performance areas out of the 33 areas measure have shown an improvement in the scores - in spite of raising the bar in some of the standards and putting more focus on content in the moderation process.
 
Ladies and gentlemen, one of the areas where we have been found wanting in terms of management practice is the payment of suppliers within 30 days within receipt of a valid invoice. A comparative analysis of national departments between 2013 and 2014 showed that there has been an improvement in the average number of invoices paid within 30 days. However delays in payment still remains a major challenge, with significant impact on small business, on growing the economy and on employment creation.
 
For instance, national departments reported 155 572 invoices worth R3.8 billion which were paid after 30 days. However, at the same time, 62 887 invoices older than 30 days worth R2.1 billion had not been paid. Provincial departments for the same period reveal a marginal improvement of 5% in the average number of invoices paid within 30 days. Provinces reported 241 332 invoices worth R13.4 billion which were paid after 30 days and 356 079 invoices worth R21.8 billion invoices older than 30 days which were not paid. This is a 52% regression n the average number of invoices that is older than 30 days which have not been paid.
 
The payment of suppliers within 30 days still remains a major challenge, with significant impact on small businesses which also contribute to growing the economy and creating employment. We have thus undertaken to establish a special unit to monitor the 30 day payment rigorously and unlock bottlenecks.
 
As you will know, it is our endeavour that we bridge the divide between small businesses and monopoly capital hence the creation during this administration of the Department focused on small business support, which in turn must help redress the historic  imbalances of apartheid.
 
Following the successful roll out of the Management Performance Assessment Tool (MPAT) for national and provincial departments, the DPME initiated a similar assessment of management practices tailored for municipalities.
 
This initiative referred to as the Local Government Management Improvement Model (LGMIM) was piloted in 2013/14 and tested in 12 municipalities.  Following the completion of the pilot phase, DPME together with partner departments reflected on these phases to discuss what worked, what did not work and what improvements may be required.
 
In the past financial year, we planned to assess 20 municipalities and produce LGMIM scorecards. This target has been exceeded and 30 scorecards have been submitted along with the uploading of evidence on the LGMIM site.
 
The DPME will continue to work very closely with Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) and other entities to ensure that there is improved management practice in municipalities, for better service delivery. Government regards the local government as the most important sphere of government that interfaces with the masses of the people.
 
Ladies and gentlemen, one of the key mandates of the department is to promote good monitoring and evaluation practices in government.  Since 2011 together with the Offices of the Premiers, we have conducted unannounced monitoring visits of frontline facilities in more than 600 facilities in all nine provinces. Results have shown that in about 65% of these facilities visited, managers have acted on the findings and this has resulted in visible improvements, while in others the culture of problem solving is very poor.
 
With regards to the Presidential Hotline, we continue to provide a service for the public to lodge their queries and complaints. Every year, we are able to process about 20 000 new complaints and queries. To date, we have recorded 207 000 complaints and queries at the Hotline, 35% are general queries and 65% are complaints. I can report that for all complaints and queries we received, 94% are recorded as resolved and 6% remaining to be resolved.
 
 One of the major points of emphasis in the NDP is the citizen-based monitoring work, which allows government officials and community members to focus on local service delivery challenges and successes through a process of feedback, dialogue and problem-solving.
We initially planned on piloting three facilities together with the department of Health, SASSA and Police, the DPME have since expanded this pilot to 10 facilities in Gauteng, North West and Limpopo provinces. In 2015, we plan to roll out to at least 16 targeted facilities in the Eastern Cape, Northern Cape, Western Cape and Mpumalanga.
 
Ladies and gentlemen, capacity building is a primary and key NDP imperative. The Department is playing its role in building capacity for planning, monitoring and evaluation across government. In the current year, we will revise our planning and M&E capacity development strategy. 
 
Internationally, we are recognised as key players in the area of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation. Just to highlight the wide recognition of our work and its international impact, our National Evaluation Policy Framework has been translated into Russian and has been used as far away as Kyrgyzstan and Bhutan. We have also been working closely with Benin and Uganda since 2012, and this year we will start a regional M&E project anchored by ourselves and these two countries.
 
Ladies and gentlemen, on the youth front, the 20 Year Review of government performance revealed that young people account for almost two thirds of the unemployed, thus bearing the brunt of unemployment. The NYDA places the figure of young people who are neither in an educational institution nor in employment at about 2.8 million. These young people remain on the margins of society, and are vulnerable to social risks such as violence, crime and substance abuse.
 
The President has mandated the Ministry to mainstream, provide oversight and lead government’s efforts on youth development. I have delegated full responsibilities of the youth development of our country to my deputy, Deputy Minister Buti Manamela, who will later unpack the youth aspects in detail in the budget vote speech.
 
Government takes the plight of the youth in this country very seriously. We have taken a different approach to tackling youth issues, and we have gotten rid of government’s approach to youth issues whereby ‘we would ask them what they think, ignore what they say and do as we want’, and adopted a new approach of consultation.
 
Deputy Minister Buti Manamela has been hard at work and at the helm of engaging with the youth of our country and the various youth organisations and sectors on the National Youth Policy (NYP) 2020. The commitment to deal with the challenges facing our youth is contained in the National Youth Policy (NYP) 2020.
 
The consultations culminated in the National Youth Policy 2020 Consultative Conference which took place in March, wherein young people were given a further opportunity to help sharpen the NYP 2020 through dialogue in plenary and panel discussions.
 
When we commenced with the consultative process of the NYP 2020, we initially had four pillars of the policy namely;
-       Skills and education
-       Economic inclusion and participation
-       Health and well-being of young people and
-       Nation building and social cohesion
 
Through the inputs received from the youth through this consultative process that took place, we have included another pillar to form part of the policy which is building youth machinery for effective delivery and responsiveness
 
The NYP 2020 conference inputs are in the process of being finalised, which be adopted during the youth month of June. The policy will then guide the drafting of the integrated youth development strategy which will be the blueprint for radically spearheading youth development against the backdrop of lack of skill and high unemployment. The DPME will monitor the implementation of the policy and its impact.
 
As we finalise the youth policy and this year been declared the year of the Freedom Charter in celebrating its 60th anniversary, we give meaning to it by championing the development of the youth who are future leaders of this country. Thus, by prioritising youth development through education, entrepreneurship and job creation, it will be both a tribute to the Freedom Charter as well as to the future of our country.
 
In conclusion, we acknowledge the challenges that the department continues to encounter in implementing some of the programmes, whilst at the same time we are pleased with progress in many areas of our work. 
 
We are a nation at work, we have rolled up our sleeves and are hard at work in ensuring a better life for all South Africans and all those who live in it.
 
I thank you.

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Democratic Alliance (DA) Response

African National Congress (ANC) Response

 

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