Critical national government departments, including the Departments of Energy, Land Reform, and Public Works, have been underperforming up to the third quarter of the 2019/20 financial year. This was revealed in a report to Parliament’s Appropriation Committee on Tuesday. This is despite the fact that government spending has blown the deficit in the 2019/20 financial year, from 4% to 6.3%.
The worst performing government departments:
- Land Reform and Rural Development, which only met 30% of its targets;
- Public Works and Infrastructure, which only met 36% of its targets;
- Military Veterans, which only met 40% of its targets;
- Telecommunications and Postal Services, which only met 41% of its targets;
- Energy, which only met 44% of its targets;
- Higher Education and Training, which only met 47% of its targets;
Some of these departments are responsible for critical services. As such, the Democratic Alliance (DA) has written to the chairperson of Parliament’s appropriation committee to request an urgent meeting with the relevant ministers and their director generals.
We are of the strong belief that these ministers and their officials should be held fully accountable in their failure to deliver to the people of South Africa.
Common reasons given for underperformance include disputes between government departments, undue delays in supply chain management, no reporting by civil servants, amongst other reasons. Yet, government departments continue to spend millions on paying performance bonuses even though employees are clearly not even bothering to conduct their works properly.
These reasons also point to a fragmented, uncoordinated government. What adds insult to injury is that government spending continues unabated on these unmet targets, despite the fact that these targets are often ‘soft’ and do not measure outcomes.
The DA will keep fighting against runaway government spending, especially where such spending yields little to no results, through parliaments committees and questions.