Question NW282 to the Minister in The Presidency for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation
04 March 2024 - NW282
Mbhele, Mr ZN to ask the Minister in The Presidency for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation
Whether she will furnish Mr Z N Mbhele with copies of the performance (a) agreements and (b) assessment outcomes that were signed between the current administration and the Directors-General (DGs) since May 2019, as the DGs are senior accounting officers in the national government departments responsible for strategic management and implementation of their departmental programmes; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details? [
Reply:
(a) The Performance Agreements (PAs) of National Directors-General (DGs) and Provincial Heads of Department (HoDs) are signed between the relevant Ministers/MECs to outline the agreed performance areas and indicators in a particular financial year. The Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME) monitors the signing of performance agreements and provides recommendations to the performance agreements based on a quality assurance process. The DPME are not part of the signing of the agreements which is between the DG/HOD and the particular Executive Authority (EA) and is therefore not in a position to share the performance agreements.
(b) The DPME facilitates and acts as a Secretariat during the performance evaluations of National DGs and is not in a position to share the performance information that is between a particular Executive Authority and a DG. This will result in a loss of credibility in the process of the HoD evaluation. Assessment outcomes of National DGs is a personal matter between the Executive Authority (EA) and the DG and the DPME as the third party cannot share this information. It is suggested that individual EAs and DGs be approached to release the information. Further to this, the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA) emphasises the fundamental human right to protect people’s privacy. This applies both with PAs and performance assessment outcomes until such time that the South African government declares these as public documents. To ensure a high level of confidentiality, the officials dealing with this work undergo “top secret” security clearance every five years.
The DPME will present the adherence of Departments with regards to implementation of the Policy on Performance Management Development System for the Heads of Department for 2022/23 and 2023/24 financial year at the Portfolio Committee on Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation meeting taking place on 8 March 2024. It is proposed that further engagement be held at the meeting above.