Honourable Speaker
Honourable President Jacob Zuma
Honourable Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe Honourable Members Honoured guests
Ladies and gentlemen.
Today we present the budget vote of the Presidency which performs the functions of leading the state and government. This office has a tremendous responsibility to ensure that our country is effectively and efficiently governed and that government delivers much needed services to our people. The dual responsibilities of Head of State and Government come with heavy demands that require a well organised and responsive Presidency.
This budget vote is presented almost at the end of all budget votes by the entirety of government departments. This house has witnessed and listened to presentations by members of the executive outlining their delivery record and successes they have made since the beginning of this administration. This house has equally been presented with challenges and plans to continue with the mandate of improving people’s lives for the 2013 to 2014 financial year.
We deliver this vote during the month of June, when the country commemorates the 37th anniversary of the Soweto and related uprisings of 1976. As the country commemorate the struggle of the youth of 1976 who laid their lives for all of us to have equal rights and freedom we enjoy today, we ought to realise that the youth of today have different and very challenging struggles. They have to fight against the abuse of alcohol and drugs, economic emancipation, access to quality education, unemployment and HIV and AIDS.
The 37th National Youth Day and Youth Month are commemorated under the theme “working together for Youth Development and Drug Free South Africa”. This is a befitting theme given the challenges of the day. These young people of our country need a National Youth Development Agency which is aware of these challenges and responsive to their needs. This NYDA should be able to reach out to every young person in our country and assist them to reach their potential.
This budget vote is also presented on the eve of our country celebrating 20 years of freedom. These 20 years of freedom has come through hard work and sacrifices by our people and since then, we can as the ANC government say life has indeed changed since we got our freedom in 1994.
As evidenced through the results of the Census 2011, the RDP housing programmed has built over three million housing units since 1994. The percentage of households with access to potable water has increased from 60 per cent to over 90 per cent. Access to electricity has increased from 50 per cent of households to approximately 80 per cent.
To further demonstrate these achievements, Minister of Energy, Dipuo Peters recently delivered electricity to the 5.6 million houses. Only 36% of households had access to electricity in 1994, today about 85% households have access to electricity. This tremendous achievement and many others in other areas reaffirm our assertion that live has changed in South Africa since the advent of our democracy.
As honourable members would recall, some of our achievements are recorded in the mid-term review we published last year. As a follow up to the review, we have started doing research work for the production of the 20 year review of the country’s progress towards becoming a non-racial, non-sexist and prosperous society.
We have set ourselves a target to publish the 20 year review by the end of this year. It will record the progress we have made and the challenges we have.
Honourable Members
When the ANC took office at the beginning of this administration in 2009, it undertook to know where people live and deliver services to them faster and smarter. To this effect and in the spirit of working together and that of participatory democracy, President Jacob Zuma has led from the front by beginning with the process of proactively engaging with citizens.
The President established the Presidential Hotline which has since received 160 914 cases with success rate of over 90%. He further undertook several Siyahlola visits to communities to witness if government is delivering and also intervene where required to have services delivered timeously. During these visits, the President brought hope and dignity to those who never thought government services will ever touch their lives.
Since 2009, as the ANC committed that it will work together with our nation the President visited eight communities in North West, Gauteng, Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga and the Western Cape focused on projects on Social Infrastructure, public transport infrastructure, Human Settlements, education and people living with disability. These visits have managed to bring our people, water, electricity and in some cases unblocked much needed services to communities.
Honourable Speaker, the mandate of the Presidency is to
- support the President and Deputy President in leading and galvanising the whole of government and society to implement the electoral programme; it is also to
- serve as a centre for strategic coordination in implementing government’s programme so as to ensure that all energies and efforts are properly aligned behind the achievement of a common and a unifying vision; and
- lastly is to monitor that the programme of government is implemented and evaluate whether it is achieving its intended objectives.
Honourable Members
In fulfilling his governance responsibilities, the President and Deputy President also convenes a number of forums to consult on variety of issues and share government plans with business, labour, communities and academics among others.
In the year under review, the President also convened a meeting with Principals of the fifty (50) Further Education and Training (FET) Colleges. The purpose of the meeting was to outline the role of FET Colleges in South Africa, particularly in respect of the country’s New Growth Path and the envisioned industrial development trajectory.
Part of the monitoring activities of The Presidency included the Ministerial performance assessment by the President, in line with the commitment made in this regard.
Social cohesion and nation building remain the key strategic priorities for the government and our society as a whole. Some of the key initiatives undertaken in this respect include interaction with SA Hindu Maha Sabha during the 100 years celebration, engagement with Jewish Community, renaming of King’s House to Dube House and Presidential Guest House to Makgatho Presidential Guesthouse. The President also led the nation at the National Social Cohesion Summit, official opening of the Steve Biko Heritage Centre, Alexandra centenary celebrations and renaming of the Bloemfontein Airport to Bram Fischer Airport among others.
In this year, we will implement programmes which include the marking of the Union Buildings centenary, the centenary of the 1913 Natives Land Act, and the celebration of the 20 years of freedom in South Africa in April 2014.
In 2010 during our budget vote the President announced the appointment of the Presidential State Owned Enterprises Review Committee (PRC). The PRC was established to review the role of SOEs in a developmental state. The main thrust of the review was to ensure that SOEs effectively respond to a clearly defined public mandate and support the developmental state goals, whilst pursuing financial sustainability goals. The PRC report has since submitted its report to Cabinet and Cabinet resolved that the President should appointed an Inter-Ministerial Committee to oversee the implementation of the PRC recommendations. The recommendations propose a transformation process to be undertaken by government, these will be considered against the implementation of the National Development Plan.
The Presidency has and will continue to facilitate and coordinate the President’s engagement with the leadership of critical statutory bodies that he chairs, such as the President’s Coordinating Council (PCC), Presidential Infrastructure Coordinating Commission (PICC), National Nuclear Energy Executive Coordination Committee (NNEECC) and the Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) Advisory Council. Government has approved the implementation plan of the Presidential Infrastructure Coordinating Commission (PICC). The PICC has set the pace of accelerated infrastructure development in South Africa across the three spheres of government. The Plan now comprises a total of 18 Strategic Integrated Projects (SIPs). Our work in this area is ongoing.
The Presidency will therefore continue to support the Deputy President, Kgalema Motlanthe on the work of the Inter-Ministerial Committees on the Human Resource Development Council (HRDC), the Energy Advisory Council (EAC) and the War on Povert; as well as the SA National Aids Council (SANAC). The Deputy President will also continue to lead government’s targeted short-term assistance packages as part of a larger basket of anti-poverty measures and a coordinated programme on poverty alleviation.
The Director General in the Presidency also plays a significant role in the functioning and supports to the President in fulfiling his constitutional duties. The Director-General, besides being the administrative head of the Presidency, he also serves as the Secretary of Cabinet, Chaiperson of the Forum of Directors General (FOSAD) and Chancellor of the National Orders.
Honourable Members
Our foreign policy and our relations with other countries is underpinned by key principles aimed at safeguarding our independence, peacekeeping and security, stability, and economic development of our country and our continent. South Africa’s stature and role in the international arena has thus grown significantly in the last two decades since the advent of democracy. This stature and role has been demonstrated in various ways. For instance, South Africa has been twice voted in to serve in the United Nations Security Council in a matter of a few years. Recently, South Africa hosted a successful COP17 Conference in Durban, and was invited to join the BRICS group of nations. In March 2013 South Africa also successfully hosted the Fifth BRICS Summit, which had four key focus areas, being the promotion of African infrastructure development, and the establishment of a BRICS-led development bank, a BRICS think-tank and a BRICS business council.
Additionally South Africa played an increased role in terms of peace keeping efforts and mediation of conflicts on the African continent. During this year and beyond South Africa will continue to play this leading role in the international arena. The focus of South Africa’s international engagements will be the African Continent and strengthening South-South alliances, as well as engaging actively with partners in the North. In terms of the African agenda, in the first quarter of the 2013/14 financial we celebrated 50 years of the founding of the Organisation of African Unity now known as the AU; which was a celebration of half a century of the coming together of African leaders to form an organisation to fight for the freedom of all Africans.
South Africa also enjoys bilateral relations with a number of countries of the world with particular focus on Africa’s development. In the year under review the President undertook 19 visits across the globe to advance our foreign policy objectives.
Honourable Members
Turning to administration, to improve the operational environment of The Presidency, many concerted efforts were made in the 2012/13 financial year to correct the basics, improve internal controls and business processes, in order to address administrative challenges. As a result, we received an unqualified audit opinion with matters of emphasis for 2011/12. We believe these interventions have already shown positive results in ensuring management processes and systems in The Presidency work. The Presidency will therefore continue to ensure that it maintains a positive audit opinion, strengthen identified weak internal controls, and improve compliance in regulatory areas.
In 2012 we undertook the baseline review of the budget allocation of The Presidency, aimed at aligning the funding needs of the organisation to its growing mandate; especially in relation to the Presidency’s increasing obligations and responsibilities in the international arena.
Austerity measures, to identify cost saving in existing programmes to relieve the pressure and address the unauthorised expenditure, were also put into place at the end of 2011. The Presidency placed emphasis on sound financial management principles, so as to ensure the economical, efficient and effective use of state resources. We therefore generated a saving of R79.9 million on our budget.
In this financial year we received an amount of R1,095,7 million which is allocated as follows R462,1 million for Administration, R77,7 million for National Planning Commission, R392,7 million for the National Youth Development Agency, R160,4 million for Brand South Africa and R2,8 million for Statutory allocation.
In the past financial year, The Presidency spent 92 % of its budget with savings realized from compensation of employees, goods and services and capital expenditure.
The Presidency also continues to support the work of the former Presidents and Deputy Presidents.
For all these efforts, I would like to thank the Director-General in The Presidency, Dr Cassius Lubisi and Chief Operations Officer, Dr Batandwa Siswana, members of the audit committees and staff of the Presidency for the sterling work.
In Conclusion, we are of the firm view that an effectively managed Presidency will enable government to coordinate government to deliver on the ANC electoral mandate. Therefore we are confident that we are indeed on the right track. The sound financial discipline and austerity measures we introduced are bearing fruit. As we enter the last year of this administration, we are confident that we have an administration which can manage a smooth transition to the next administration after the national elections next year. We are also confident that, despite the challenges we had, we have governed in a manner our people expected. The ANC will continue to manage this country in a manner that addresses challenges poverty, inequality and unemployment and we look forward to another electoral mandate from our people next year.
I therefore command the budget of the Presidency to this house.
I thank you.
