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The Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration met over two days to consider the annual performance plans (APPs) of the Department of Public Service and Administration, the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation and their entities.

During the two-day meeting, the Portfolio Committee was briefed by the two departments and the Public Service Commission, National School of Government, Centre for Public Service Innovation, National Youth Development Agency (NYDA) and StatsSA on their annual performance plans for the 2017/18 financial year

The Public Service Commission, which was established in terms of Section 195 and 196 of the Constitution, has only 3% left in its budget to carry out its work that includes investigation, monitoring, policy implementation and evaluating maladministration in the entire public service.

“Underfunding of the Public Service Commission inadvertently weakens the oversight capacity of the Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration, as the work of the of the Public Service Commission finds its expression in the oversight performance of the Committee,” said the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration, Dr Makhosi Khoza.

With that very little budget left, the Public Service Commission is also responsible for monitoring the National School of Government whose responsibility includes developing a professional, responsive and capable public sector, driven by the imperative of a developmental state.

“The school currently has just over R50m to meet its mandate. “But, ironically, the government departments have more than R4bn for training of civil servants but they spend that money at universities and consultants rather than at the National School of Government,” said Dr Khoza.

The Committee calls on the National Treasury to review the current funding model for the National School of Government and urges everyone who works in the Public Service to use the school for training. “We are extremely concerned as the Committee about poor innovation in the public service as a result of underfunding. We are losing out on digital revolution,” said Dr Khoza.

“We are also calling on the National Treasury to ensure that the Public Service Commission, Centre for Public Service Innovation and the National School of Government are sufficiently funded to ensure high level of professionalism and efficiency in the public service,” stressed Dr Khoza.

The Committee also noted with concern the cutting of the budget allocation to StatsSA, saying it might compromise the integrity of the institution, which is very key for government planning and development of fiscal policy.

“StatsSA is a very critical planning tool, how do you plan as government if you compromise the integrity of statistics? As this Committee, we need an urgent meeting with National Treasury about these budget cuts, the reality of the situation is that you don’t cripple the enablers – it does not make sense,” said the Chairperson.

The Committee also believes that the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Planning should play a central role towards the realisation of the targets of the National Development Plan (NDP).

However, the Department’s annual performance plan (APP) presented to the Committee did not show any “concrete evidence” or progress towards achieving the targets of the NDP by the year 2030.

“In terms of the NDP, by 2030 we should create about 11 million jobs. This department is supposed to be leading in the implementation of the NDP, it’s now seven years down the line and we are still talking about planning and 2030 is only 12 years away. By now we should have achieved at least 25% of the NDP’s targets – quality of education – has it improved? Have we created or lost jobs since the adoption of NDP?” she asked.

The Committee also raised concerns about the delays in the confirmation of the board of the NYDA.

The Committee heard that underfunding arises from, among other things, the R30bn which the National Treasury was asked by the government to get in order to meet the higher education student fees shortfall for 2017.

Issued by Parliamentary Communication Services on behalf of the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Public Service and Administration, Dr Makhosi Khoza