Minister Maropene Ramokgopa: Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Dept Budget Vote 2024/25

Honourable Chairperson of the Session,
Deputy Minister in the Presidency for Planning, Monitoring and
Evaluation, Mr Seiso Mohai,
Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Planning, Monitoring and
Evaluation, Ms Teliswa Mgweba,
Members of the Portfolio Committee on Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation,
Honourable Members of the House,
Director General of the Department of Planning, Monitoring and
Evaluation, Dr. Robert Nkuna and his team,
Acting Deputy Secretary of the National Planning Commission, Ashraf Kariem
Distinguished Guests,
Members of the media,
Fellow South Africans,

It is an honour to present the Inaugural Budget Policy Statement for the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME) for the 7th administration.

This Budget vote statement reflects our utmost commitment to ensure the success of this administration and the principles adopted by the Government of National Unity (GNU) as led by His Excellency President Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa. 

During the inauguration speech, the President called for all of us to work together and to build “a transformed, growing and inclusive economy that creates jobs for millions of job seekers and offer business opportunities to all entrepreneurs”.

The President was clear that the people are not interested in our ability to flex our divergent political ideologies, but that they want the basic necessities of a comfortable, happy, healthy, and secure life.

This parliament earlier expressed its appreciation of these aspirations when it adopted the National Development Plan (NDP) Vision 2030 in 2012. 

Our role as the DPME is to promote coherence in government through institutionalisation of planning, development of an integrated monitoring system, evaluation of critical government programmes and production of research outputs to inform decision making. 

Working together with the National Planning Commission (NPC), which is an advisory body of the President and custodian of the NDP, we recommit ourselves to all the objectives and goals of the NDP and will work collectively with all partners to coordinate and integrate plans and monitor progress in the implementation of the set development outcomes. 

The NPC is clear that the realisation of the NDP goals is not just the responsibility of government. Hence the Commission has issued a Call to Action for the rest of society to address the identified limitations and guide the country onto a higher growth trajectory.

We are aware that we only have six years left to 2030, and are grateful of the foresight of the NPC, which undertook to start the work on the country’s next long-term plan.

In the DPME we have commenced in earnest to give expression to the electorate’s voices as encapsulated in the NDP through the coordination of the development of a working planning framework. 

Going forward, we will continue to make strides in policy coordination through the revival of the Policy Coordination and Advisory Services (PCAS), strengthening integrated planning and improving harmonisation of planning and synergies across the state machinery.  

In this regard, we are consulting broadly to develop the Medium-Term Development Plan (MTDP) 2024 – 2025, which is a five-year plan of government, which will ensure alignment with national imperatives and promote inclusivity.

In order to ensure alignment of planning priorities and the national budget process, the DPME will continue to produce the Budget Prioritisation Framework (BPF).

We look forward to the President’s address at the opening of parliament in the next three days as it will give direction in terms of the key programmes of government. 

Honourable Chairperson, 
The Department continues to strengthen its monitoring systems to gather credible evidence and advise the President and Cabinet on progress in the implementation of the set medium- and long-term plans. 

Over the years, the Department’s Sector Monitoring Branch has produced in-depth reports on the performance of government and specific sectors. 

In May, the President launched the 30-year Review Report of South Africa’s democratic governance. The report candidly highlights some of the major success areas that we should celebrate as a nation and the areas of improvement that we should work on.

Since 1994, government has sought to promote transformation and build an inclusive and prosperous country by implementing progressive legislation, policies and establishment of critical institutions to advance and protect the country’s democratic gains and human rights.

Today, we can attest to the progressive realisation of democratic gains. The lives of the majority who were massively excluded from participation in the socio-economic activities of the country, and subjected to abject poverty and untold living conditions have improved considerably.

Since the launch of the 30 Year Review Report, the Department has met with various sectors of society to unpack the successes, lessons and challenges with a view to inform the country’s development agenda going forward.

For instance, there is a conference at the University of Johannesburg later this month to do just this. The ongoing engagements with the National Economic Development and Labour Council (NEDLAC) are drawing from social partners to produce recommendations for consideration in the 7th administration.  

Critical challenges that the 30-year review highlighted are at the centre of the ongoing reflections and are already shaping the development of the MTDP. 

Honourable Chairperson, 
In the Evidence, Evaluation and Knowledge Systems branch, the DPME evaluates critical government programmes with the intention to inform improved policy implementation and development impact. 

This branch conducts research, data analysis and undertakes evaluations on critical government programmes with the intention to inform improved policy implementation and development impact.  

The focus for 2024/25 is to reorient our approach to better support the priorities of the 7th Administration. We will start a process towards updating the National Evaluation Policy Framework (NEPF). The new NEPF will inform how we develop the next National Evaluation Plan and the Research Agenda to cover the period of the MTDP. We are developing dashboards and data sciences tools to modernise the reporting on the MTDP. This will include public facing dashboards to accompany the bi-annual reporting. 

We also draw insights from completed research and evaluations to influence policy decisions and improvement actions by departments. 

For instance, the cost-benefit analysis on electricity pricing policy helped strengthen the justification of the policy review of the approach adopted in 2008 and indicated the prerequisites for successful implementation. This complemented the Socio-Economic Impact Assessment System (SEIAS) in gauging the potential implications of major policy changes. 

The Research on Pathways to Change provided relevant policy research evidence to strengthen Pillar 6 of the National Strategic Plan on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (NSP-GBVF).

The evaluation on the National Food and Nutrition Security Plan 2018-2023 is instrumental in informing the development of the next phase of this plan for the period 2024-2029. This is critical given its relevance and the major gaps that South Africa faces on nutrition security. The Department of Agriculture will lead in taking this forward. 

The evaluation on Land Restitution Programme recommended measures to accelerate restitution and prioritisation of land development, settlement support and ways to improve how government institutions engage with affected communities. I will be meeting with the Minister of Land Reform and Rural Development to discuss these recommendations.

The evaluation on youth employment creation programmes has noted the challenges of fragmentation and limited impact on youth employment. There is a strong case for consolidating some of the existing programmes in order to enhance the overall design, implementation and impact. 

The evaluation on the implementation of the White Paper on persons with disabilities generated important insights on the gains thus far and how certain initiatives that benefit persons with disabilities can be sustained, and critical gaps on monitoring and enforcement. 

We will work with the Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities (DWYPD) and the Department of Employment and Labour and also the relevant civil society formations to ensure that recommendations for the youth employment programmes and the white paper on persons with disabilities are implemented.

In conclusion, we would like to urge honourable members to support this department’s allocated budget. 

The Department has been allocated budget of R450.189 million (four hundred and fifty million, one hundred and eighty-nine thousand rand) for the financial year 2024/25.  

We will use this budget to institutionalise planning, monitor and evaluate critical priorities and programmes of the Department and produce credible evidence that will inform future decision making. 

I thank you!