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Almost a year after President Zuma announced performance monitoring mechanisms would be introduced for government ministers, Collins Chabane, Minister in the Presidency responsible for Performance Monitoring and Evaluation, has announced yet another delay in the signing of ministerial performance agreements. President Zuma has made much of his administration's supposed commitment to excellence and performance. However, the fact that the very department tasked with monitoring performance is itself poorly performing speaks volumes about the likelihood of these commitments translating into tangible change. In practical terms, the first year of this administration's term in office will now not be properly evaluated.

If ensuring excellence and accountability is the primary purpose of the Performance Monitoring and Evaluation Ministry, then it has already failed on both counts.

Minister Chabane offered a number of reasons for his department's failure to deliver on mechanisms key to monitoring accountability and promoting high standards in government. The newness of his Ministry, vacancies in key departmental positions and confusion over the role the Ministry is supposed to play in the performance agreement process were named as contributing factors.

The repeated failure of the Performance Monitoring and Evaluation Ministry to meet its deadlines raises a number of critical issues:

• The Ministry's lack of a clearly defined role, despite being established almost a year ago
• The failure of government to resolve staffing problems reportedly so severe that they are preventing the Ministry from fulfilling its mandate
• The process used to monitor performance of ministers over the last twelve months given the absence of performance agreements

Ministerial performance agreements were introduced to ensure greater government accountability, with the aim of improving service delivery. The failure of President Zuma and Minister Chabane to meet their targets has critical implications for government's ability to deliver on its promises. As a result, South Africans will pay the price for their incompetence.

In this year's State of the Nation address, the President announced that 2010 would be "a year of action". With agreements critical to the performance of his government still unfinished and unsigned, 2010 has been a year marked more by government's inaction than evidence of a sincere commitment to real change.

In the debate on the motion of no confidence recently brought against the President, senior ANC members such as Jeff Radebe engaged in bold "breast beating" by punting President Zuma as a leader focused on outcomes. Yet what outcomes can there be if there are no measurable objectives?

I will be submitting a parliamentary question to Minister Chabane to determine the exact reasons for the delay so we have a full explanation of why his Department has failed to deliver.