Department of Planning Monitoring; Evaluation & NYDA & Statistics South Africa on their and Quarter 2 & 3 performance

Meeting report

Opening Remarks
The Chairperson said new Members had joined the Committee from the DA, namely Ms D van Der Walt, Ms Z Jongbloed and Mr Y Cassim. This was to ensure that the Portfolio Committee did good oversight as expected by its constituencies. She added that the different presentations must focus more on quarter 3 in terms of pre- determined objectives; non- performance of what was expected as well as the financial packing in terms of expenditure.
Apologies were received from the Minister and the Deputy Minister who were attending cabinet functions.

Briefing by the NYDA
Mr Khathu Ramukumba, CEO, NYDA, briefed the Committee on the Agency’s 2nd and 3rd quarter’s performance 2016/17. In the 2nd quarter, 45% of targets were achieved and exceeded, 14% targets were within 80% of achievement, 27% were outside 80% while another 14% was to be measured in Quarter 4. In Quarter 3, 62% of the target was achieved and exceeded, 10% was with 80% of achievement, 14% was outside 80% and another 14% was to be measured in Quarter 4. Details of Quarter 3 Performance report were as follows: 474 new youth owned enterprises against a target of 471; 42 794 youths were supported through NYDA jobs programme against a target of 42,844. A total of 129 002 young people had access to programmes that improved health and wellbeing against a target of 150 750. There were 4 evaluations produced by NYDA against 9; a total of 340 youths in conflict with the law as well as 797 youths with disability were supported through training against a target of 750 and 375 respectively.

Mr Waseem Carrim, CFO, NYDA, briefed the Committee on the Financial Performance in Quarters 2 and 3. Quarter 2 budget was R191 459 400, expenditure was R159 711 103, which was 83% of the budget. In Quarter 3, there was a budget of R280 760 389, and expenditure was 91% of the budget. NYDA was on track to spend its annual allocation for the financial year under review. The areas of underspending were in Education and skills development where costs relating to Solomon Mahlangu Scholarship Fund had not come through as well as research and policy where expenditures to independent service providers would be incurred in Quarter 4.

Discussion
Mr M Ntombela (ANC) said concerning programme area 5 governance, on information dissemination access points, what points were targeted, where were those access points? How did that reach out to the youth? Which organs of state and private sector companies were engaged in relation to programme area 4. On the number of youth in conflict with the law, the target was not reached. What factors were responsible for this? The Committee expected state institutions and the Department to work together. What were the details of the Buddibox retail project that the NYDA launched in collaboration with the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality? Who were the beneficiaries and how were they selected? Certain communities were visited by NYDA but the aspirations of those communities were not met. Were there mechanisms put in place to go back to the Communities and say the NYDA had not meet the aspirations but these were the plans put in place to meet them?

Mr Y Cassim (DA) said a lot of the targets dealt with numbers. Was any credence given to the quality of these kinds of support? What was the success rate of the people being supported across the board and what was the trend over the years? Concerning programmes which dissected with other departments, to what extent did these other departments have duplicate programmes to that being run by NYDA. What was the demand and how was that interacted by other Departments? How were the beneficiaries selected?

Mr S Motau (DA) said on slide 4, 62% of the targets was achieved in quarter 3. There was a catch up of 38% within the last quarter. Would the bulk of that be as a result of the Solomon Mahlangu Scholarship Fund that was delayed as well as the non- achievement of target under health and wellbeing? Will these two areas bring about a 100% achievement of targets? What impact would the target on health and wellness have on alcoholism and drug addiction as South Africa was now one of the leading drug centres of the world and the consumption of alcohol was very high?

Ms Z Jongbloed (DA) said with reference to slide 6, the target to establish entrepreneurs had been exceeded. What was the suitability of these business ventures NYDA had been involved in? How were the developments of these businesses tracked? NYDA was doing a lot in training and empowering young people. What happened to all those that had been trained? Most of the nine million unemployed people in South Africa at the moment were youths

Ms D van Der Walt (DA) asked what was the programme per Province? What exact percentage of the budget was allocated to salaries? All KPIs were about numbers. Numbers were important but more important was quality and outcome. How many youths had been trained and absorbed into the system?

 Ms W Newhoudt-Druchen (DA) said on what was evaluated, the Committee needed the content. She was concerned that some cities wanted to cut Wi-Fi budgets. Would there be an intervention from NYDA? What information would the Youth Agency make to avoid the cutting of the Wi-Fi zones? She was concerned about HIV/AIDS. Did the Youths not care or was it that they were not aware of the disease? Where was NYDA in terms of raising awareness about HIV/AIDS? There was also no mention of interventions for people living with disability in the area of wellness.

The chairperson said the NYDA talked about recrafting its Annual Performance Plan in terms of having some shifts. Would that shift make any impact in terms of changing the plan of the NYDA? Did the NYDA not think the Act should be reviewed as the Act did not allow the Agency to collaborate actively with provincial and local governments? Did the NYDA now have a confirmed organogram that related to the state of the actual mandate of the Youth Agency as well as overall expenditure in terms of administrative costs? She asked the Agency to give the Committee a sense that there would be no disgruntled employees that would sue the NYDA.

Mr Ramukumba said some of the questions would require detailed answers in writing.

In response to the question on access points, the access points were conducted in partnership with local municipalities. NYDA signed agreements with municipalities who provided office spaces. Most municipalities were in financial challenges as a result there were no officials to man these offices and service sitters were engaged. The NYDA was in negotiation with the Service Sitters to renew the agreements and increase the intake.

On the organs of state in private sectors, the NYDA will provide a list of the partnerships there were in writing.

On the question of young people in conflict, the programme was achieved. There was a workable relationship with the Department of Correctional Services.

 On the beneficiaries of the project with the City of Ekurhuleni, the beneficiaries were selected through an open invitation for people who had an interest in entrepreneurships. All young people in Ekurhuleni had an opportunity to participate.

On the question of commitments to Communities that were not met, the NYDA kept a log of all communities that had been visited and all commitments made and would ensure such commitments were attended to within the financial year.

On the question of numbers versus targets by Mr Cassim, for the first time, NYDA put in KPI targets which spoke to programme monitoring and evaluation report. There would be an evaluation of all the projects so that it would be determined what improvements needed to be done. All projects were being reviewed.

On collaboration and duplication, there were efforts to avoid duplication. NYDA targeted programmes that went beyond education to life skills training. The focus was on technique, for example, of passing the matric examination. A decision was taken to give this programme to the Department of Basic Education as a result of limited budget.

On the questions raised by Mr Motau, the reason for a lower performance was because of the programmes that had been indicated to be behind like policy and research and also programmes that were by nature implemented in the Q4 such as matric rewrite.

In reply to Ms Newhoudt-Druchen, due to limited resources, focus areas were selected at a particular point in time. The focus area for now was alcohol and drug abuse.  The NYDA lobbied the Department of Health to also champion other areas of wellbeing. HIV/AIDS had happened mainly through collaborations.

In reply to Ms Jongbloed, the NYDA had outreach Officers which conducted site visits to find challenges as well as provide intervention. There was a preliminary review and the report suggested that 53% of the beneficiaries of the NYDA grants were still thriving. There would be a more detailed review. This report on the review as well as the outcome of the evaluation would be shared with the Portfolio Committee.

On Wi-Fi, the NYDA had concluded the project of making all its offices Wi-Fi hotspots. The NYDA would advocate for the necessity of this services in all the other cities.

On people living with disability, the NYDA was focusing for the first time on the Annual Performance Plan (APP) so that the Agency can reach more young people living with disability.

On APP for 2017/18, the NYDA would bring it before the Committee. The only focus area for the determinant of change for Leadership was that through the guidance of the transitional Accounting Officer, NYDA had sought to focus mainly on job creation and sustainable enterprises for young people.

On the review process of the Act, it was sitting with the Ministry though the proposals had been made by the NYDA.

The NYDA had a confirmed organogram that was in line with the merger that had happened many years ago. Of the 76 employees that had voluntary Severance Packages (VSP), 13 of such employees had queried the tax that had been deducted from the VSP packages. NYDA had asked SARS for individual tax directives and had only acted on the directives received from SARS. The Agency will compile a list of all beneficiaries of NYDA products and services across the range and share it with the Portfolio Committee.

On percentage of budget allocated as salaries, CFO Carrim replied that the NYDA had Human Resource (HR) issues. There was duplication of functions. In 2015/16 financial year, when there was restructuring, the Agency spent R209m of its allocated R409m on salaries. National Treasury had said salary must not bridge 40% of all allocations. It was brought down to 35%. If that were not done it would have amounted to 50% of the allocation.

The Chairperson said other follow up questions would be done in writing. There should be a reply to the questions in two weeks in writing from the NYDA.

Briefing by Statistics South Africa
Mr Pali Lehohla, Statistician General, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA), briefed the Committee on the second and third quarter performance 2016/17. 79% of the Quarter 2 targets were achieved as scheduled,6% were achieved early, 5% late, and 16% were delayed. Actual spending was 52%; vacancy rate 9.1%; women in filled Senior Management Service (SMS) posts 41.1% and staff with disability 1.2%. In Quarter 3 79% of the targets were achieved as scheduled, 13% were achieved early, 4% were late while 17% were delayed. Expenditure was 73.0%; vacancy rate 9.8%; women in filled SMS posts 40.6%; Staff with disability 1.2%. In 2015, total expenditure by South African households was R1.72 trillion. Spending patterns in SA from 2006 to 2015 were as follows: food and non-alcoholic beverages 12.9%; Goods and Services 14.7%; Transport 16.3%; housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels 32.6%. Average annual household expenditure by province were: Northern Cape R81 258; North West R69 192; Gauteng Province R140 676; Mpumalanga R83 517; KwaZulu-Natal 73 503; Eastern Cape R72 390; Free State R85 298; Western Cape R163 220; and Limpopo R61 011.

Discussion
Mr Motau said alcohol consumption was a huge problem in SA. When Stats SA made presentations to Cabinet on this kind of information, what kind of reaction did it get? As inequality increased, more people got desperate and took to alcohol. What could be done to get out of the situation?

Ms Jongbloed said it seemed the Department was not doing well in terms of empowerment of Women in senior management positions as well as people with disabilities. What was the strategy to rectify this? The signing of performance contracts was at 71%. Why was it not at 100%?

Ms Van der Walt asked what changes could be made so that other provinces came up to the level of Western Cape and Gauteng in household consumption.

Mr Ntombela said the release of statistical data impacted on other mandates. Did Stats SA invite other Departments when publishing statistical data? How could Statistics SA be positioned so that it became an integral part of other Departments?

Mr M Dirks (ANC) asked where South Africa ranked in consumption of alcohol compared to other Countries of the world.

Mr Ntombela asked where SA stood in statistics on drug abuse. There were countries fighting alcoholism and drug consumption. South Africa was number 38 on this list. This was not good enough.

Mr Dirks questioned the age group of young people involved in drug abuse.

The Chairperson appreciated Stats South Africa for being the best performing Management Department in SA. She congratulated the Department for the award received and advised the Department not to change their performance in any way. Did DAFF ever call Stats SA to make to make a presentation on food security? With reference to the NDP, Did Stats SA help to direct the attention of the departments and not only deliver the steps? There was a disjuncture in terms of responding to the NDP as well as areas of focus. Were the figures given by the NYDA right? Most South Africans spent money on transport. What categories were spending more on transport?

Mr Lehohla replied that there was a need to get the architecture right so that the planning was very clear. An intrinsic working relation was necessary and that was being worked on. This would create a formal structure. The number of black graduates have doubled but for the wrong reasons. The report that was released yesterday had said a lot about how the plan should be. The planning should talk to the NDP. How was the plan executed? Who were the beneficiaries of the plan? The quality of the services must be assured. Interaction with National Treasury was necessary. The function of statistics was to provide the crystal ball. National Treasury had to pay attention to the crystal ball. SPLUMA had to be engaged so that the issue of housing and transport could be resolved. There was need to move with speed.

On food security and culture, South Africa was still looking for agricultural census till date. These things had never been prioritised. SA was going ahead but it was a bit late. The Agricultural census was very expensive because SA was starting from scratch. There were a lot of mixed opportunities. It must be ensured that the same mistakes were not made.

On the level of consumption of drugs and alcohol, it was a problem across the country and it had to be attended to. It used to be a problem associated with Mitchells Plein and the back of Northern Cape but had now cut across the whole Country. South Africa must rise to the situation. The ingredients were unemployment among the youth and inability to progress to university. These ingredients were speeding up. Consumption of alcohol was 3.5% of expenditure and in the Free State it was 6%, which was worrisome.

On if Stats SA invited other Departments before publishing; the report was released before inviting the Departments as it was easier to respond that way. It had been agreed that subsequently Stats SA and other Departments would sit together and discuss the content and work together on when departments would respond. If the report was released to the Department before it was published, it would be politically interfered with if found unfavourable.

Ms Celia De Klerk, Chief Director, Stats SA, addressed the question on why 71% and not 100%. She explained that it was due to the fact that Stats SA was moving, people packed away their performance contracts and agreements. The DPME was planning a catch up in terms of performance. Stats SA would be back on track in the last quarter

On representation of women at SMS level, vacancies had been reduced in the budget cut. Female representation was more than adequate. It depended on how many people moved out of the organisation to enable progression and others took over. The figures below the SMS level were very positive for future female employment.

The Chairperson said the Committee would appreciate an updated report on the new figures before two weeks’ time.

Mr Risenga Maluleke, DDG, Stats SA, added that the profile did not start very well when SA cameinto Democracy. Stats SA was actually training the one body. For a census to be accepted internationally there would have to be a statement by the Statistics Council. In the last census in 2011, analysis was done by employees of Stats SA who were mainly trained internally to a level of Ph. D. There had been concerted efforts in capacity building. The Department had said it would not celebrate 100years of the existence of stats SA but 20 years that was representative of the whole of South Africa.

On sharing information with Cabinet, following every release of the census as well as large scale sample surveys, Stats SA had always made efforts as well as arrangements to go and present to Cabinet. The Department had also presented to Provincial Premiers and their executives.

On alcohol in South Africa, Mr Ashwell Jenneker, DDG, Stats SA, added that consumption had increased. There was a survey of 194 countries and SA was 19th across the world and number 3 in Africa behind Namibia and Gabon. It was something that was increasing and had to be addressed.

Ms Newhoudt-Druchen asked the reason why the Western Cape and Gauteng were the highest in terms of household consumption. Was this as a result of the quality of life or the number of people per Province?

 Mr Lehohla replied that it was as a result of some level of uneven development as well as concentration. It was a concern in terms of inequality, distribution and concentration.

The Chairperson said the Department had good plans and was in the right direction. The Department should do what it was supposed to do at the right time for the correct reasons. Certain Departments should be prioritised. What was needed to be done by those Departments? Why were they not done? If there was no good working relationship between the DPME and DPSA, there would still be a disjuncture.

 Mr Lehohla said that Stats SA needed to attend to planning. It was useful to monitor and evaluate it was actually putting these plans through the eye of the needle to see if the plans work or not.

Briefing by the DPME
Mr Tshediso Matona, Acting DG, DPME, briefed the Portfolio Committee on the second and third quarter report. 200 000 households in informal settlements have been upgraded, NDP 2030 goals included reducing unemployment rate to 6%, eradicate absolute poverty. Highlights of 2016/17 commitments were 30 days’ payment of invoices, and operation Phakisa Ocean economy had since 2014 unlocked R7b in investments and created 6903 jobs. In Quarter 2, there were 45 targets, 13 were exceeded, 22 were achieved, 5 partially achieved, and 5 not achieved. In Quarter 3 there were 37 targets, 7 were exceeded, 16 achieved, 5 were partially achieved while 9 were not achieved. Number of improved plans produced in Quarters 2 and 3 were 2 on either side. The targets to review and produce 1st and 2nd drafts of strategic plan and APP as well as submit to National Treasury and DPME were not achieved. The target of draft MTSF finalised and submitted to Cabinet Lekgotla in Quarter 2 as well as MTSF finalised in Quarter 3 were not achieved. There were 25 improvement monitoring visits in Quarter 2 as well as Quarter 3. The Department had developed a number of tools and methodologies in order to shift the focus to priority areas.

Mr Pieter Pretorius, CFO, DPME, spoke on the financial performance of the Department. Expenditure for Quarter 2 was R185 060 000, Quarter 3 was R172 382 000; 100% of valid invoices were paid within 30 days; the target of 10% or less of vacancy rate was not achieved in the two quarters as there was 11.4% average vacancy rate; the 90% target was exceeded as 94% achievement in the submission of mid-term performance reviews. The Department was on track to spend all the money allocated to it.

Discussion
Mr Ntombela said the Committee would appreciate detailed information on the improvement in ocean economy. He would have appreciated comparison with other years in order to appreciate the improvements. Provincial plans were constituted by the Departments in a particular province, was this how it was or was it different from this? If it were different, what was the difference?

 Ms Newhoudt- Druchen asked what was the ideal clinic in the health components of Phakisa? What were the improvements? In the National Youth Policy (NYP) what Deputy Ministers were involved in the drive to improve Phakisa? Some second and third quarter targets were not met as a result of the fact that some the structures were not approved. What were these structures?

Mr Motau noted it was said that 200 000 households in informal settlements had been upgraded. What did that mean?

Mr Cassim said some of the NDP goals were ambitious. What was the role of the Department and what intervention did it take? In situations that certain targets could not be met because of constraints, what could happen? There were certain department which as a result of the ideological differences of Ministers that were involved and the approach to the NDP, perhaps the goals of NDP were not taken seriously in that department. Were any departments not moving decisively towards the goals of the NDP, and which were these Departments?

Ms van der Walt said there was a by-law to pay invoices on 30 days. What intervention was the Department taking to ensure that this happened? On Stats SA, it was said that the DPME yesterday released a report on education. Where could the Committee get that information? On data war centre, 27 Municipalities were selected. How were they selected?

The Chairperson said since SPLUMA had been transferred to DPME, did the budget follow the function? If not, what did it mean? What was the impact of the non-approval of the organogram by the DPSA? What was the lifespan of Phakisa as well as the plans in place to hand over to the Departments as they had become more of public relation exercises? It should be a lifestyle that was continuous. In late 2015 the Committee made an oversight tour to a mining centre. There were issues of job security, housing, employment as well as social economic issues. In addition to the question raised by Mr Motau, how many unoccupied houses were there? What was the DPME intending to do there? Regarding invoices, how many had been paid and how much was outstanding?

Dr Matona said some of the questions would require detailed submissions.

On Phakisa, different components were unfolding. The essence of Phakisa was the co-ordination. The greatest undoing had been the co-ordination and implementation. There were good policies which were well researched and evidence based but co-ordination was the undoing. The government must be a Phakisa government. There was need to work in a systematic way. The Department will report on that on as and when there were outcomes and results.

On ocean economy, the figures indicated were what the initiative had unlocked into that sector as additional investment that had not existed before and would not have materialised if Phakisa had not been launched.

On the ideal clinic, it was a clinic that was operated in accordance with a set of pre-determined international standards of World Health Organisation such as the way patients were received, staff components as well as the procedures. Some of the standards were high and others were low. The Department helped in areas where the standards were low. When the Department monitored, it observed that there were long queues and patients waited for long hours before they were attended to.

The Chairperson said the Committee knew the intention of Phakisa. The Acting DG should be specific so that the progress and performance of Phakisa could be monitored. If   there were no specific details it could be provided at a later date.

On provincial plans, as stand-alone plans, Dr Matona replied that the Provincial plans were initiated by the provincial governments and sometimes they picked up on what was in the National plan. The provincial sphere was an independent sphere in terms of planning. Provinces made great efforts to ensure that what they did was aligned with NDP and the DPME assisted the Provinces in this regard. The planning calendars at local and national levels were sometimes misaligned. In terms of the law, provinces were required to generate their own plans and this had to be complied with in terms of process.

 On the impact of delayed approval of the structure on target, there two areas which were filling of posts and the APP. The Department had asked to submit the APP slightly late in order to reflect the new strategy as well as the new structure.  In most cases, the DPME was on course to meet its targets.

On the report on informal settlements, in terms of certain circumstances, it was best to upgrade these settlements by providing certain infrastructure as opposed to removing the settlements. The numbers there were the updates from 2014 till date. The infrastructures were water, road, electricity etc.

On the question regarding NDP. Mr Matona it was a very important question. When the NDP was concluded, the outlook was very optimistic. For a combination of domestics and external factors, those conditions were not okay. The question was what should the DPME do? Should it adjust or stick with its plan? The Department conducted a review to see areas where targets would not be met. This might lead to a revision of the NDP. The environment was not a friendly one for its NDP targets. To enhance the DPME’s implementation as well as accountability, the Department must satisfy itself that it had done its best.

On invoices that were unpaid after 30 days, some of the periods to pay were received through the Presidential hotlines. DPME convinced the Department as well as the service providers concerned to thrash through the issues find reasons for non-payment. These were tracked down and managed properly. There were systems that were payments within 11 days. Sometimes the reasons might be contractual where a service provider and the beneficiary were misaligned about what was expected. When the issues were in court there was nothing DPME could do. It was a complex issue and the DPME was working on it.

On SPLUMA, he would have a meeting with the DG rural development and Land Reforms to deal with this. The Ministers had agreed on function transfer. The administrative issue around funds and resources had not been resolved. It was really about National Development Framework

On the question raised by the Chairperson on the sustainability of Phakisa, the DPME was monitoring that and those were all underway. The participants were officials that were very committed. The co-ordination was also taking place at the highest level which was ministerial and the Ministers were committed.

On ideological or political reasons, in most cases, it was simply an issue of poor planning, capacity and organisational issues.

 On the Deputy Ministers of which Departments were involved in the driving of Phakisa, Ms Bernice Hlagala, Director, Youth Directorate, DPME, replied that the Department involved in overseeing implementation of National Youth Policy were the Department of Health, Department of Higher Education and Training, Department of Transport, and Employment Development Department. Departments not involved were National Treasury, International Relations. The list would be furnished to the Portfolio Committee.

The Chairperson said when the Committee directed questions to the Director General; it was because there were people to represent that office. No one should be tempted to downplay the role of the Committee and the Committee’s recommendations. It would help to work as a team. She would hate to see a day when the Department dragged its feet to come to the Committee as a result of interpersonal mastering skills. There were sequences to be followed and such sequences should be respected. There should be respect and diplomacy

Adoption of minutes
Minutes of 02, 09, 16 ,23 and 30 November 2016, and 25 January 2017 were adopted with minor amendments.

Conclusion
The Chairperson appreciated the support from the Members. The Committee Support staff should circulate the oversight programme so that Members can input on it. The draft programme of the workshop to be held should also be circulated and all participants informed on time to avoid working under pressure. There should be a follow up to DPME to ensure that documents were given to Members two weeks before the sitting of the meeting to enable the Members to engage it.

The meeting was adjourned.