PRESIDENCY BUDGET VOTE DISCUSSION BY THE
HON. NKOSAZANA DLAMINI-ZUMA, MP, MINISTER IN THE PRESIDENCY: PLANNING,
MONITORING AND EVALUATION; AT THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY, PARLIAMENT OF THE REPUBLIC
OF SOUTH AFRICA, CAPE TOWN
23 MAY 2018
Thank
you, Deputy Speaker:
President
of the Republic, His Excellency Cyril Ramaphosa
Ministers
and Deputy Ministers present here
Honourable
members
Director-Generals
and other senior government officials
Distinguished
Guests
Ladies
and Gentlemen;
Introduction
It is
my great pleasure to make my contribution to the Presidency Budget Vote speech.
This is the year in which we commemorate the centenaries of the stalwarts of
our liberation struggle — Nontsikelelo Albertina Sisulu, a fearless champion of
human rights, and Nelson Mandela, the first President of a democratic South
Africa. We celebrate Ma Sisulu under the theme, “A Woman of Fortitude,” while
President Mandela’s centenary is organised under the theme: “Be the Legacy.”
We
must honour those who selflessly dedicated their life to the service of
humanity. We must embrace the spirit of thuma mina as Tata Madiba and others
did and became volunteers for transformation.
Deputy Speaker,
There was
deliberate and a very systematic intervention to disposes African people of
their land, livestock and wealth, a policy to keep them unskilled and excluded
from participation in the economy.
Developmental State
The
democratic government of the African National Congress (ANC) since 1994 has put
in place strong institutions of democracy such as chapter 9 institutions,
financial institutions, the judiciary and civil society organisations such as
NEDLAC. These are the pillars of our democratic developmental state. It is for this reason that the NDP is very
emphatic on the importance of the developmental state in tackling the root
causes of poverty and inequality. It clearly states that:
“South Africa requires both a
capable and developmental state, able to act to redress historical inequalities
and a vibrant and thriving private sector.”
What
this means in practical terms is that we should develop multipronged growth
strategies, so that while we address the pressing issues of poverty,
unemployment and inequalities, we simultaneously build a developmental state by
establishing strong institutions that reinforce economic growth. Independent
institutions such as Statistics South Africa (StatsSA) are the conscience of
the nation — bringing to light sobering facts important for evidence-based
planning and policy making.
The NDP
To
accelerate progress, we developed an integrated National Development Plan to
comprehensively address the challenges. The adoption of the NDP as the
overarching plan of the country in 2012, followed a rigorous public
consultation process, which involved multiple stakeholders, including state
entities, the private sector, civil society and labour. All these stakeholders
worked with the National Planning Commission (NPC) in developing this plan. The
core priorities of the NDP are to fight poverty, unemployment and inequality. Each institution
should contribute towards the achievement of our collective vision as
articulated in this lodestar of our nation.
Institutionalisation of Integrated
Planning
While
we have the NDP as the lodestar that guides our development endeavours, there
is a great need for coordinated and integrated planning across government. Our
current state of planning is fragmented, which undermines policy coherence and
coordination, resulting in poor implementation and outcomes.
The
Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME) developed and
presented the Integrated Planning Framework Bill to cabinet. The Bill is aimed
at establishing an institutional framework to integrate planning across
government and ensure alignment between national, provincial and local
government planning and other sectors.
The
Bill proposes a five year implementation plan for the NDP to ensure focus on
resourcing and immediate, short and medium term deliverables to ensure the
achievement of our long term developmental goals of the NDP. Last month the
Bill was approved by cabinet for publication in the Government Gazette for
public comments.
As a
developmental state we should have integrated comprehensive institutionalised
nationwide planning utilising the resources and talents in the NPC, StatsSA and
other institutions. The implementation of the NDP will be better achieved
through the new spatial planning moving away from the apartheid spatial
planning. The spatial framework that we inherited from the apartheid state is
designed in such a manner that the majority of our people do not have easy
access to resources and essential services.
Spatial
transformation particularly in municipal spaces is one of the necessary
interventions to change the socio-economic conditions of the marginalized
masses of South Africans. The NDP recognizes that, without deliberate and
focused efforts to change the spatial configuration, public and private sector
spending can exacerbate existing spatial divisions and reinforce economic
exclusion.
We
need to create an integrated spatial planning system that will ensure the
spatial development of African people so that they live closer to work
opportunities, require less travel to reach recreational centres, hospitals and
other essential facilities. To this end, work has started on the development of
the National Spatial Development Framework and we will closely monitor its
development.
Health, Education and Social Security
Deputy Speaker and Honourable members,
Our
democratic government has increased access to healthcare, the effectiveness of
our interventions is most evident in the manner in which the health of many
South Africans is changing. We have made significant strides in the expansion
of access to education, improved healthcare and the treatment of HIV/AIDS
infections. Most importantly, both life expectancy infant mortality have significantly
improved.
These interventions are further reinforced by the National
Health Insurance (NHI). Through the implementation of the NHI, we will ensure
that our people are able to access quality, cost-effective and holistic health
care that is located close to where the live and work. The NHI will enable us
to provide healthcare that is free at the point of service and that all the
resources available in the health sector are available in an equitable, fair
and inclusive manner.
Our
nutrition programme, which has successively alleviated hunger at our schools,
enabling many learners to benefit from the education system. We will ensure
that under nutrition, malnutrition, underweight and stunting especially those
children under five years of age are addressed. We have previously spoken about
how a staggering 17 million South Africans are cushioned from extreme poverty
through social grants.
Active Citizenry
Deputy Speaker and Honourable Members,
President
Ramaphosa has challenged all South Africans to make meaningful contribution
towards transforming our society and the development of an inclusive economy. In
his State of the Nation Address, the President paid tribute to Masekela through
the song, “Thuma mina,” and galvanised the nation to sing in one song, to speak
with one voice, and march in unison.
“Thuma
Mina,” is a clarion call to inspire active citizenry, as espoused by the
National Development Plan (NDP), our nation’s long-term plan. The song is a
challenge to all South Africans to make a meaningful contribution towards the
creation of a transformed and more prosperous society with a diverse and
inclusive economy as envisaged in the NDP Vision 2030. This call heralded a new
era— the era of collective responsibility. The era of active citizenry. We have
entered an era where we do not wait for handouts; but we raise our hands-up.
Radical economic transformation and the
Skills revolution:
Honourable Speaker,
A
radical shift in the manner and pace in which we do things is urgently needed
if we are to meet any of the targets articulated in the NDP. Radical
socio-economic transformation is premised on expediting fundamental changes
required for black people to attain true economic freedom. At the core of this
programme is the creation of decent work, accelerating shared and inclusive
economic growth, and transforming the structure of production and ownership of
business enterprises.
The
citizens must be the allies of the radical socio-economic transformation. We
need to make the relevant investments in order to achieve this. We must invest
in our most precious resource, which is our people. A skills revolution will be
important if we are to implement radical socio-economic transformation,
specifically in the science, technology, engineering, maths, research
innovation and entrepreneurship. We need to invest in vocational training and
efficient artisans.
Skills Revolution and Youth Development
Members,
We
need to equip our people with skills, knowledge and resources so that they can
actively contribute to our growth and development as a nation. The most
defining factor in our development endeavours will be a massive skills
revolution, of which young people must be the primary architects.
We
believe that innovators and entrepreneurs have a potential to boost economic
growth, increase employment and reduce poverty and inequality. Young innovators and entrepreneurs stand to
contribute immensely in the creation of millions of jobs that we need for the
realisation of an inclusive economy. We must invest in skills development so that we can
produce young men and women who will become exceptional innovators and make a
meaningful contribution to economic growth.
Poverty and Inequality
Honourable Speaker,
The
World Bank in collaboration with Stats SA and the DPME, produced a report on Overcoming
Poverty and Inequality in South Africa, which confirms the grim
reality that South Africa is one of the most unequal countries in the world.
The analysis of the report reveals that poverty is higher among female-headed
households, that Black South Africans consistently exhibit the highest poverty
rates, and that poverty declines with the higher levels of education. The study makes the following startling observations:
(a) Consumption
inequality is very high and has increased since the end of apartheid.
(b) High
level of inequality of opportunity.
(c) Wage
inequality is very high and is compounded by heavy polarisation two extremes.
(d) Wealth
inequality is very high, even higher than income inequality.
(e) How
intergenerational mobility is an obstruction to all inequality reduction
We
need to make deliberate and determined efforts if we are to change the current
poverty trends. Our policy interventions to address the current condition
should include fostering skills migration, accelerating the rollout of social
and affordable housing and expanding basic services in underprivileged
settlements.
Labour
income remains the most important source in reducing the level and depth of
poverty over 2006 – 2015, whilst income from social grants was the second. In
rural areas income grants was by far the largest contributor to reducing the
poverty gap. Whilst racial lines continue to determine poverty and inequality levels,
the skills and labour market, incomes are an increasingly important determinant
to deal with these challenges. The NDP states that South Africa requires both a
capable developmental state and a vibrant and thriving private sector.
The objective of this document is to establish the strategic framework
for decision-making on budget priorities that are required to advance the goals
of the NDP. The Mandate paper focuses on strengthening the three key levers of
NDP implementation:
·
Growing the economy
·
Enhancing the capabilities of South Africans,
and
·
Building a capable state
It ensures that the various national departments, provinces and local
government align their budgets with the goals of the NDP. In our endeavours to
monitor government performance and set new targets for the remainder of the
NDP, we will produce the 25-year review as the basis for our development
strategies. The 25-year review is of particular significance as it will inform
the implementation of the next Medium Term Strategic Framework (MTSF), covering
the period 2019 – 2024.
Realignment of Budget with NDP Priorities
The
development of the Integrated Planning Bill is intrinsically linked to the
cabinet’s decision to mandate the DPME and National Treasury to develop an
annual Budget Prioritisation Framework (‘Mandate Paper’). The Mandate Paper is
a significant step in the integration of governance across different spheres.
Service
Delivery Challenges
We are also mindful of the fact that there are a
number of factors that remain obstacles in the attainment of our objectives.
These include service delivery challenges that cause significant discomfort and
inconvenience to our communities. We are doing our best to attend to all the
pressing needs of our people.
Over
the past week, we had consultations with various stakeholders across the North
West province where there were violent protests. Although the issues are very
complex and diverse, we are convinced that they are not insurmountable.
With
every crisis we face, we must always draw lessons. Our experience in North West
demonstrates quite clearly that the challenges that our society faces are
intertwined and need an integrated approach for effective governance of our
institutions for service delivery.
It
also raises the need for our monitoring and evaluation experts to continuously
monitor communities so that we can detect early-warning signals to prevent the
eruption of violent protests. In the spirit of Thuma mina, we must be proactive
and lend a hand to assist and find solutions before there is a crisis.
Conclusion
This will be the realization of Madiba’s dream of a
selfless society, where everyone contributes towards the creation of a better
life for all. His words still echo today:
“There
can be no greater gift than that of giving one’s time and energy without
expecting anything in return.”
As I
conclude, Madam Speaker, I
would like to reiterate the call for all South Africans to contribute towards
the betterment of our society. We might be of varying religions, ideologies and
political persuasions, but we claim allegiance to one nation. Let us join hands
and work towards the creation of a better and more prosperous South Africa. It
is through working together that we can propel our nation forward.
Ngiyabonga.