Implementation of Millennium Development Goals: Chair of Chairs' overview on Parliament' role and Department of Public Service and Administration briefing

Meeting report

Introduction
The Chairperson tabled apologies from the Hon. Richard Baloyi, Minister, and the Hon. Ayanda Dlodlo, Deputy Minister of Public Services and Administration. She also tabled apologies from the Hon. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, Minister of Home Affairs and Chairperson of the Cluster for Governance and Administration, and from the Public Service Commission which was unable to send a Commissioner. The Chairperson noted that the Committee worked closely with the Commission in evaluating the impact of Government in a number of areas including assessment of Government's implementation of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

Chair of Chairs’ overview on Parliament’ role in implementing the Millennium Development Goals
The Chairperson introduced the Hon. Cedric Frolick, House Chairperson of the National Assembly and the Chair of Chairs, who gave an overview of Parliament's role in implementing the MDGs and related matters. He referred to the recent meeting of parliamentary speakers from the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region at which Minister Trevor Manual commented that the Millennium Development Goals Country Report 2010 was not a report card that had to be given to an international body. It was more about human development and what the country and the Government had to do to ensure the human development of the poorest of the poor. Mr Frolick said this provided the focus for parliamentarians in assisting Government in the implementation and monitoring of the specific programmes that had been designed and budgeted for to achieve these goals.

Hon. Frolick stated that the MDGs committed the international community to an expanded vision of development which vigorously promoted human development as the key to sustained economic and social progress in all countries. In terms of this expanded vision, the importance of creating a global partnership for development was recognised. The MDGs had been commonly accepted as a framework for measuring developmental progress. According to the MDG Country Report for 2007 and 2010, South Africa was well on its way to achieving the Goals by 2014. However, the reports acknowledged that challenges existed.

One of the findings of the United Nations (UN) was that more focused work had to be done by legislatures to monitor progress towards the attainment of the MDGs. In order for Parliament to produce its own report, committees that had a vital role to play in overseeing progress towards attaining the targets had been requested to exercise more explicit and regular oversight over departments and relevant entities as 2014 approached. It was thus proposed that a seminar be held on the role of legislatures in the achievement of national priorities and global commitments. In doing this, Parliament would be responding to the call of the UN for more focused work to be done to monitor the progress on the attainment of the MDGs. In recognition of the need to prepare a co-ordinated response based on the recent concrete oversight work done by committees, the proposal was that a seminar be held that would involve not only the relevant committees in Parliament but also representatives from the provincial legislatures, the relevant Government departments and stakeholders from civil society including academic institutions.

It was recognised that parliamentary committees had been working independently to assess the progress made on the MDGs by departments and entities over which they had oversight. These committees would be required to report on their findings by the end of May 2011 and these reports would be collated into a consolidated report. The multi-party women's caucus and the relevant portfolio committee was also being tasked with soliciting provincial perspectives from women specifically on progress made towards attaining the MDGs in the provincial legislatures and in local government and to prepare a report on their findings. The focus of Parliament would be on local government and the delivery of healthcare and other basic services encapsulated in the MDGs to the people at community level. Committees would have to visit the municipalities themselves to assess the visible impact of Government’s progress and to more directly identify the challenges that existed.

The proposal stated further that the contents of the consolidated report would be scrutinised and discussed at the proposed seminar which would be held at Parliament at the end of July/August 2011. Together with the report that had emanated from the International Consultative Seminar of the Speakers’ Forum, Cape Town, 16-18 March 2011, on the same theme, it would be possible for Parliament to prepare a co-ordinated response. A representative of the women's caucus would also present findings of the caucus’ oversight visits to the provinces and municipalities. Whereas the Speakers of the legislatures would have attended the consultative seminars of the Speakers’ Forum, the proposal was that the seminar to be held in July/August 2011 would not only involve the stakeholders in Parliament but also the provincial legislatures and other institutions. The intention of the report that would emanate from this seminar would be debated in the National Assembly during the third term of this year in preparation for the UN Conference which would be held in September 2011 and at which the matter of the MDGs would feature strongly.

Hon. Frolick stated that following on the presentation of the Budget by the Minister of Finance, the different departments were presenting their budgets and the relevant committees had been alerted that the departments should expressly report on the MDGs which should be part of their reports moving forward. Furthermore, in their quarterly reports on financial performance, departments had to state explicitly what was being done in terms of the MDGs. Likewise the strategic plans being presented by departments should also reflect what was being done to achieve the MDGs.

Ultimately all that information would be collated into one report towards the end of May 2011. Since it was an ongoing process, annual reports of the various departments would be scrutinised when they were submitted towards the end of the year to monitor the specific performance per MDG. This would give the legislature a clear understanding of where it was in terms of the MDGs, where the challenges were, and what role the parliamentary committees could play in terms of oversight to ensure that the MDGs were attained.

Hon. Frolick stated that Parliament would also be relying strongly on the Portfolio Committee and the line function Government department, the Department of Public Service and Administration (DPSA), to play a role in the seminar proposed for July/August. When the budget review and recommendation process started in October 2011 it would be expected that the MDGs would feature prominently, thus giving expression to what the President had referred to as an 'activist Parliament, a parliament that was responsive towards the needs of different communities.

In that light the MDGs formed one of the key projects of Parliament for 2011and the next financial year. The MDGs went together with the development of a public participation process that would enable ordinary citizens to interact easily with members of Parliament. Linked to that was the full implementation of the oversight and accountability model adopted by Parliament in February 2009 which stated very clearly how Parliament should exercise its oversight function. The second flagship programme of Parliament was the Conference on Climate Change which would be held at the end of 2011. Hon Frolick said these processes were related and if climate change became rampant the impact would be greatest on the poorest of the poor.

Department of Public Service and Administration.  Presentation
Mr Themba Maseko, Director-General, Department of Public Service and Administration, added to the apologies tabled by the Chairperson by stating that the Minister had an important engagement with the provincial administration in the Western Cape and the Deputy Minister was out of the country. Mr Maseko noted that because of time constraints the Department was presenting only its own input and not that of the cluster. There was a commitment to ensure that the Department was in line with what Parliament had decided and to place the MDGs firmly on the agenda of the cluster itself and start co-ordinating the work.

Mr Maseko gave a commitment that the matter would be tabled at the director-general level in the cluster. He would also ensure that the Parliamentary directive that all reports to Parliament such as the budget presentations and quarterly reports should reflect on the MDGs would be forwarded to all Departments.

Mr Maseko gave the background to the MDGs stating that they had been adopted by world leaders in 2000 with the target achievement date set at 2015. The MDGs provided concrete numerical benchmarks for tackling extreme poverty and the promotion of basic human rights such as the right to education, health, water, security and shelter and provided a framework for the international community to work towards the goals identified in the Millennium Declaration of September 2000. The eight MDGs identified were the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger; the achievement of universal primary education; the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of women; the reduction of child mortality; the improvement of maternal health; combating HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; ensuring environmental sustainability; and the development of a global partnership for development.

Mr Maseko observed that while the reference period of the MDGs was 1990 -2015, South Africa's reference period commenced in 1994 with the achievement of democracy. He noted that South Africa was on course to achieve the MDGs by 2014. The characteristics of the MDGs were that they were time-bound goals with quantifiable targets and internationally agreed upon indicators. The Government had integrated the MDGs into its Medium Term Strategic Framework for 2009-2014 and this had been translated into ten strategic priorities which had now become 12 Outcomes. Government had decided that every department and cluster would be responsible for implementation but Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) had been assigned the responsibility of compiling a report. The report being presented had been compiled by Stats SA which acted as a co-ordinating mechanism within Government. All departments submitted their reports and Stats SA compiled the reports. Mr Maseko noted that the MDG Report was not only a government report but a country report and an opportunity was given to civil society organisations to also give their input on how the country was moving towards the MDGs.

Mr Maseko drew attention to the link between the Government’s strategic priorities and outcomes for the RSA and the MDGs and gave a progress report on each of the eight goals (see presentation). Mr Maseko indicated that statistics provided in some instances were not current and would be updated by the relevant departments.

On the first MDG, aimed at the eradication of extreme poverty, statistics indicated that the proportion of the population living below the poverty line had declined and that access to free basic services by indigents had increased.

Progress had been made in terms of Goal Two, the achievement of universal primary education, and the completion rate of primary education by those aged 18 was 93.8% in 2009.

In respect of Goal Three, the promotion of gender equality and empowerment of women, statistics indicated that there were more girls in both secondary and tertiary education. It was noted that the proportion of seats held by women in the national Parliament had increased from 25% on 1994 to 44% in 2009. The public service had a gender equality strategic framework in place but the 50% target was unlikely to be met as indicated in the statistics on the representation of women at senior management level in the public service as at September 2010. (See presentation).

The statistics for Goal Four, reducing child mortality, reflected that the under-five mortality rate had risen from 59 in 1998 to 104 in 2007 per 1000 live births and life expectancy at birth had also declined. Statistics for 2007 indicated that infant mortality rate remained stable at 53 deaths per 1000 live births.

Statistics for Goal Five, improving maternal mortality, indicated that the maternal mortality rate was high and was increasing. The proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel had increased to 94.3% in 2009 and antenatal care coverage had increased from 76.6% in 2001 to above 100%.

On Goal Six which targeted HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, indications were that the spread of HIV might have stabilised amongst persons two years and older. The proportion of people with HIV who had access to Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) had increased from 13.9% in 2005 to 41.6% in 2009. South Africa now had the largest ART programme in the world and this might have contributed towards stabilising HIV prevalence. The number of men tested for HIV rose from 17% in 2006 to 31% in 2009 and for women from 38% in 2006 to 71.2% in 2009.

Reporting on Goal Seven, ensuring environmental sustainability, Mr Maseko drew attention to the increase in the number of species threatened with extinction and the increase in carbon dioxide emissions. He also noted that the proportion of the population living in slums had remained static. The target for the provision of water from an improved drinking source had been achieved.

On Goal Eight which identified the development of a global partnership for development, Mr Maseko reported that the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita had increased from R22 758 in 2001 to R49134 in 2009. Foreign Direct Investment as a percentage of GDP had dropped from 8.4% in 2001 to 1.4% in 2009. A number of continental and global partnerships had been coordinated at the public service level such as was being done through the African Peer Review Framework which promoted improved governance in Africa.

In conclusion, Mr Maseko listed the challenges which had been identified to meeting the MDGs. These were high levels of income disparity, structural unemployment, the impact of HIV and Aids and the recent global economic recession.

Discussion
The Chairperson noted that Parliament had received the Country Report 2010 on the MDGs on which the presentation had been based. She stated that the expectation had been that the Committee would receive the indicators of where the administration and governance sector was at present and the Committee had not received what had been expected from the presentation. There had been a communiqué from Parliament to Government on what had been expected and that responses were needed from the various clusters. The Chairperson said that feedback was needed from the governance and administration cluster and she proposed that the meeting be reconvened in the following week focusing on the same assignment. The Chairperson said that the DPSA should have taken the lead and in terms of the communiqué the DPSA should have modelled the appropriate response. This reflected on the Committee as it was also responsible for the impact of Government.

Mr Maseko stated that there had been some discussion on which presentation to make at the meeting as the Department had prepared two. It was decided to give a global presentation but the Department had also prepared a departmental and cluster presentation. The Department accepted the proposal to return as the presentation had not yet been signed off by the Minister.

Ms J Maluleke (ANC) agreed with the proposal that the DPSA should come back to do the presentation.

The Chairperson reiterated that the miscommunication should be addressed and that the communiqué from Parliament to Government be made clear to all the relevant players and that the assignment be carried out as requested.

Mr L Ramatlakane (COPE) stated that he agreed fully with the proposal and asked for a commitment from the Director-General that he would have the presentation signed off in time for the meeting proposed for the following Wednesday.

Mr Maseko responded that he could make that commitment without any reservations as all it needed was the Minister's approval.

The meeting was adjourned.