If Collins Chabane, Minister in the Presidency for Performance Monitoring and Evaluation, cannot meet his own deadlines, how can he expect to keep other ministers up to the mark?
This is one of several questions asked by Athol Trollip, the parliamentary leader of the Democratic Alliance.
He pointed out on Tuesday that almost a year after President Jacob Zuma announced that performance-monitoring mechanisms would be introduced for government ministers, Chabane announced yet another delay in the signing of ministerial performance agreements.
“President Zuma has made much of his administration’s supposed commitment to excellence and performance,” Trollip said. “However, the fact that the very department tasked with monitoring performance is itself poorly performing speaks volumes about the likelihood of these commitments translating into tangible change. In practical terms, the first year of this administration’s term in office will now not be properly evaluated.
“If ensuring excellence and accountability is the primary purpose of the Performance Monitoring and Evaluation Ministry, then it has already failed on both counts.”
He added that Chabane offered a number of reasons for his department’s failure to deliver on mechanisms key to monitoring accountability and promoting high standards in government. The newness of his ministry, vacancies in key departmental positions and confusion over the role the ministry is supposed to play in the performance agreement process were named as contributing factors.
“The repeated failure of the Performance Monitoring and Evaluation Ministry to meet its deadlines raises a number of critical issues: the ministry’s lack of a clearly defined role, despite being established almost a year ago; the failure of the government to resolve staffing problems reportedly so severe that they are preventing the ministry from fulfilling its mandate; the process used to monitor performance of ministers over the last twelve months given the absence of performance agreements.”
He said that ministerial performance agreements were introduced to ensure greater government accountability, with the aim of improving service delivery.
“The failure of President Zuma and Minister Chabane to meet their targets has critical implications for government’s ability to deliver on its promises,” he said. “As a result, South Africans will pay the price for their incompetence.” — I-Net Bridge