Introduction
The media and public will recall that when cabinet adopted the outcomes approach it reflected a deep commitment on the part of government to put the country on a firm path towards ensuring that government delivers according to the wishes of citizens and is held accountable. Detailed planning on each outcome by the coordinating departments and key partners was completed at the end of last year and Cabinet received the first set of quarterly progress reports in February and March. At yesterday’s Cabinet meeting the second set of reports were tabled and discussed. We provide a brief summary of key results achieved and some of the challenges being experienced. The relevant ministers will provide more detail through media briefings in the coming weeks.
The 12 outcomes
The 12 outcomes that Cabinet is focusing on achieving are:
- Quality basic education
- A long and healthy life for all South Africans
- All people in South Africa are and feel safe
- Decent employment through inclusive economic growth
- Skilled and capable workforce to support an inclusive growth path
- An efficient, competitive and responsive economic infrastructure network
- Vibrant, equitable, sustainable rural communities contributing towards food security for all
- Sustainable human settlements and improved quality of household life
- Responsive, accountable, effective and efficient Local Government system
- Protect and enhance our environmental assets and natural resources
- Create a better South Africa, a better Africa and a better world
- An efficient, effective and development oriented public service and an empowered, fair and inclusive citizenship
Summary of key results and challenges
In terms of Outcome 1, key achievements included the finalisation of the teacher development plan, the development of standard workbooks in literacy and numeracy aimed at Grade 1 to 6 learners and the roll-out of the Annual National Assessments which will provide parents in all schools with a picture of how their school compares to other schools in the district. It was reported that the Fundza Lushaka Bursary scheme has attracted 30 000 applications; however there seems to be challenges in the ability of provinces to absorb graduate teachers. The development and distribution of learner workbooks and text books has significantly improved, but a number of schools still don’t receive learning materials in time as the experience during President Zuma’s visit to the Eastern Cape has shown.
Drug abuse is an important contributing factor to self-destructive behaviour amongst South Africans. The Departments of Health and Social Development have worked closely with international agencies and the United Nations to develop strategies for managing substance abuse. A Health Sector Mini Drug Master Plan was produced during the reporting period, which will contribute significantly to curbing drug abuse. During the reporting period, the local malaria incidence was reduced, however, importation of malaria cases, especially during malaria prone seasons such as periods where there is flooding in the SADC region, remains a challenge.
With regard to the outcome on safety and security we have an increase in the number of police personnel and a number of additional regional and district courts have been established. The latter has led to a marked improvement in addressing backlog cases. However, challenges remain in relation to the rate of finalisation of cases before court due to what is reported to be human resource and financial constraints.
The outcome on employment and inclusive growth also saw considerable progress in achieving agreement around the New Growth Path, collecting data on income distribution, and the development of a counter-cyclical fiscal and monetary strategy, targeted programmes for the auto and clothing industries, supporting local procurement by the state, addressing uncompetitive pricing in fertilisers and food and reduced telecommunications costs. A system has also been set up for regular reports on the employment impact of the state as required by the January Cabinet Lekgotla and considerable work has been done to establish management systems for the Jobs Fund. Challenges still exist with respect to stimulating savings, addressing the strength and volatility of the Rand and the price of iron ore and steel. Concerns exist around the low levels of investment, including by the public sector, and inflationary administered price increases.
In terms of higher education universities are indicating that they will not meet their graduate targets in areas such as engineering, natural and physical science and animal and human health. Furthermore there is not adequate reporting on new bursary schemes for increasing the number of engineering as well as accounting graduates. On a positive note, excellent progress has been made in terms of basic literacy and frameworks for Occupation Classification System task teams have been established. There are also tangible improvements in enrolment at further education and training (FET) colleges and in the number of artisans trained, albeit still not at the desired pace. Other challenges include developing-second chance bridging programmes leading to matric-equivalent qualifications and further engagement will be required with business to strengthen the placement of college graduates into the workplace.
Government’s infrastructure development also notched up some important achievements with the development and approval by Cabinet in March 2011 of the Integrated Resource Plan and the Independent Systems Market Operator Bill, with the latter to stimulate greater private investment in electricity generation. Importantly almost 195 000 additional households are reported to have been given electricity connections and five contracts have been signed adding 373 MW of added capacity to the national grid. Over the period six regional bulk water projects have been constructed, 8 dams have been rehabilitated and a number of water treatment works and water supply schemes have been completed. In terms of communications technology, five new broadband points of presence have been built to increase broadband penetration. In rail Transnet moved an additional 5 million tons and with respect to roads both Tshwane and Johannesburg have rolled out Phase A1 of the Bus Rapid Transport (BRT) system, but funding for rolling this system out to a further 12 municipalities is constrained and the plan has been reduced to 5 municipalities. Funding is a big constraint and alignment across the major departments involved in economic infrastructure remains a challenge.
Sustainable agricultural reform is not a mere matter of farm acquisition, but requires capacity building and ongoing support to ensure the sustainability thereof. In this regard, good progress has been recorded in the outcome on rural development with the cumulative figure for land acquisition exceeding the annual target in land redistribution and the recapitalisation of farms in distress as well as support to small holder agribusinesses.In this regard of the 6 209 smallholder farmers established, 3 910 were supported. Significant progress has also been recorded in providing poor households with access to nutritious food through the establishment of household and community gardens.
With respect to Human Settlements, a strong programme and institutional mechanism for social housing delivery was put in place, informal settlement upgrading is getting the requisite support and resources and a clear plan is being put in place to acquire appropriately located land for housing development. The partial accreditation of eight municipalities towards the full assignment of the housing function will assist with integrated planning for services, infrastructure and housing linked by transport corridors to the dominant economic nodes. This is supported by the coordinated delivery of bulk and basic services facilitated through an intergovernmental committee that has been established between the departments of human settlements (DHS), cooperative governance (DCOG) and water affairs (DWA). Key challenges relate to financial restructuring of housing programmes and institutions as well as improving coordination between the three spheres of government. Terms for the engagement of the private sector need to be set up in order to achieve the targets set for private sector lending for housing for low and middle income groups.
With regard to the outcome on local government, access to essential services has marginally improved and 45 municipalities are implementing the Community Work Programme affording almost 90 000 individuals with work opportunities and a steady income. Municipal financial audit outcomes also show some visible improvements with the number of municipalities with disclaimers dropping to 58 in the 2009/10 financial from 111 in 2008/09. However, municipal financial management still remains an area of concern. Another key challenge is the technical capacity of municipalities to plan, implement, operate and maintain critical infrastructure.
Turning to the outcome on protecting and enhancing environmental assets and natural resources, there is good progress in terms of the protection of water resources especially wetlands, however slow progress is being made in rehabilitating degraded land. The protection of ecosystems and species shows good overall progress, however, an alternative strategy to address the prosecution of environmental crimes needs to be finalised. There is also good progress with the processing of water use licences and environmental impact assessment applications. However, challenges still remain in relation to the processing of some applications critical to complex development initiatives. Capacity and financial challenges are affecting the ability of municipalities and provinces to implement effective waste management practices.
In terms of Outcome 11 on creating a better South Africa and contributing to a better and safer Africa in a better world, South Africa continued to meet its obligations with respect to deployment in peace support operations and enhancing regional economic integration.
Finally, in pursuit of a more efficient and effective public service, a number of guidelines and policies are under development to improve service delivery. Good progress has been made with the issuing of guidelines and regulations for strengthening procurement and supply chain management and financial management. This will make tender processes for large tenders more transparent and reduce the risk of corruption. Service user satisfaction surveys are in the process of being introduced to obtain first hand feedback from citizens at key service delivery points. Monitoring visits to key front line services such as clinics, licensing centres and home affairs offices are also on the cards.
Conclusions
In conclusion, given that actual implementation only gathered pace this year, significant achievements were recorded against the targets and milestones set out in the various Delivery Agreements informing the Programme of Action, but as discussed challenges remain. Going forward, the focus of the Implementation Forums charged with coordinating the implementation of the outcomes will be on dealing decisively with blockages and taking concrete measures to improve delivery performance.
