Pretoria – Performance Monitoring and Evaluation Minister Jeff Radebe says his newly reconfigured department remains in a strong position to carry out the planning function throughout government.
President Jacob Zuma in May announced the merger of the National Planning Commission (NPC) Secretariat in the Presidency with the Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation to form a new department.
Briefing the media ahead of his Budget Vote Speech, Minister Radebe, on Monday, said the merger was the perfect opportunity to “create capacity for more effective planning, monitoring and evaluation”.
“It is our plan to address poverty and unemployment, thereby removing the suffering experienced by our people. It is also our plan for reducing inequality.
“We know that our post-apartheid achievements are not enough, as long as some of our fellow citizens go to bed hungry, receive inferior education and are subject to poor quality health care,” the minister said.
In order to further improve national planning, Minister Radebe said that he will now be responsible for Statistics South Africa, which is under the leadership of Statistician-General Pali Lehohla.
Building a better South Africa
Minister Radebe said they will continue to use the National Development Plan (NDP) as the beacon towards a prosperous South Africa by the year 2030.
The minister acknowledged that without fully and effectively addressing constraints to economic growth, such as energy and infrastructure, it will be difficult to transform the economy.
“We have said repeatedly that many priorities in the NDP are not about new policies and programmes, but rather about giving effect to existing laws and policies and improving their implementation,” he said.
The minister said that this medium term strategic framework (MTSF) serves as a five-year building block towards achieving the vision in the country’s long-term plan.
“Measures have been put in place to ensure that the five-year strategic plans and annual plans of all national and provincial departments are aligned to the MTSF, and therefore to the NDP,” he said.
Budget
The department has been allocated R208.2 million for the 2014/15 financial year.
According to Minister Radebe, the budget is divided into three programmes: administration, R63.8 million, outcomes monitoring and evaluation, R78.2 million and institutional performance monitoring and evaluation, R66.2 million.
The budget for the NPC for 2014/15 is R113.4 million. – SAnews.gov.za
