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Polity
Article by: Creamer Media Reporter Published: 12 Feb 2010
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| Chabane outlines plan to improve govt performance | |
| Minister in the Presidency for Performance Monitoring and Evaluation Collins Chabane on Friday outlined some of the 12 performance outcomes that government has set itself. He noted that Cabinet had already approved nine of the 12 outcomes last year, with the remaining three to be discussed in Cabinet in the next two weeks. President Jacob Zuma said in his State of the Nation address on Thursday that department's performance would be monitored to improve government's performance. One of the key outcomes would be the creation of decent employment through inclusive economic growth, with government aiming to increase income and employment on an individual level and to promote equality and economic growth on a broader scale. In order to deal with the problems of a low workforce participation and high unemployment, South Africa had to promote stable macroeconomic policies that would allow for exchange rate stabilisation, as well as countercyclical monetary and fiscal policy, stated Chabane. Further, he said that the industrial policy should support labour-absorbing sectors, while also improving competitiveness at firm and sector levels, decreasing concentration and increasing innovation and productivity. "Trade policy must improve quantity and diversification of exports. A robust business regulatory environment must be developed, demonstrating improved performance against international indicators," the Minister added. The creation of a skilled and capable workforce was another key priority. "Key activities will be, among others, to build the capacity of agencies at various levels in the system to plan and forecast, and expand incentives for companies to create industrial apprenticeships and learnerships," said Chabane. In terms of education, government planned to focus on ensuring a high quality of teaching and learning, improved literacy and numeracy and a better senior certificate examination performance. Teachers would be expected to be in class on time and teaching for seven hours a day. "We will conduct curriculum coverage assessment at each school, at least once every year. We will provide learning support material, especially workbooks and textbooks, on time, to all learners and teachers in every school," said the Minister. Further, in order to achieve a "measurable improvement" in the literacy and numeracy rates of grade three, grade six and grade nine learners, yearly independently moderated tests would be held to assess the literacy and numeracy skills of learners in these grades. The tests would be internationally benchmarked, with results to be sent to parents. A fourth outcome would be the development of an efficient, competitive and responsive economic infrastructure network, through adequate electricity provision; the improvement of South Africa's ports, rail infrastructure, pipelines and communications technology; water provision; and the construction of roads. LOCAL GOVERNMENT Meanwhile, Chabane said that, in terms of local government, it wanted to ensure that the basic needs of communities are met and that a clean, responsive and accountable administration was established. To that end, government would ensure the development of intergovernmental agreements on the ideal scope of services; the development and implementation of a differentiated approach to municipal financing and support; and the development of a revised and simplified and differentiated integrated development plan (IDP) process, to ensure effective planning and intergovernmental cooperation. "We also need to implement and expand Operation Clean Audit 2014, develop a debt collection and revenue enhancement strategy, implement and support municipal budget and reporting regulations, review current supply chain management regulations, and develop a municipal priority skills strategy," said Chabane. OTHER PRIORITIES Government has also set itself targets to ensure the accelerated delivery of housing opportunities and the expansion of access to basic services; to increase the life expectancy of citizens by ensuring access to healthcare; and to reduce the levels of overall crime levels, ensure an effective and integrated justice system, and effectively manage the country's borders. "We will fight corruption in society and initiate various measures to fight corruption in the system," the Minister added. Lastly, government planned to develop "equitable, sustainable rural communities", by ensuring the quality of local governments in rural areas create enabling environments for economic growth in those regions. "We will increase the capacity and accountability for rural local government and at the same time simplify the requirements of the IDPs to be an accurate reflection of local needs and plans," commented Chabane. The better provisioning of government services would be a priority for the old homeland areas, while government would also expand the community public works system. Chabane also noted that 3 000 of the 4 000 outstanding land claims would have to resolved by 2014. The Minister said that Zuma would send letters to each Minister or group of Ministers responsible for the outcomes, which would form the basis of their performance and delivery agreements. The Ministers would be expected to establish delivery forums that would bring all parties inside and outside government to develop detailed service delivery agreements that would indicate each party's contribution to achieving the outputs and outcomes with typical information on budget contribution, implementation timelines and personnel allocation, explained Chabane. Zuma would also receive bimonthly reports on progress in each of the outcomes and would meet regularly with the Ministers to discuss progress. |
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