Commendable target can become a trap

Emerging from their two-day lekgotla last week, President Jacob Zuma and his Cabinet have adopted a new programme of action, setting a number of new performance targets in what is partially designed to be a bold display of a new focused, hands-on approach. And, it seems following from this, a number of non-performing ministers may be in for the chop in a possible Cabinet reshuffle.

All this is necessary and very commendable – if, indeed, it achieves what it aims to achieve. Two things are of concern, however. One is the politically dangerous setting of possibly unrealistically high targets and deadlines. The other is that the same was done a year ago by the Zuma administration – with most of those targets and deadlines not having been met.

While successive presidential State of the Nation addresses in recent years have been heavily criticised for announcing an array of wonderful initiatives without setting specific or detailed targets – thus allowing them to drift off into political oblivion – the opposite can be equally problematic. A fine and reasonable balance is required.

The danger of missed targets was aptly demonstrated by the recent recession having sunk many earlier well-intentioned government initiatives. Protests such as the service delivery protests seen across South Africa are also born out of the frustration created by such failed programmes and targets. With the unwelcome prospect of a possible double-dip second recession still hovering on the horizon, it would be unwise to again link the latest programme of action to targets that are too rigid or too ambitious.

However, the new programme of action and its targets should not be seen in isolation, and neither is this entirely new. The programme and its targets are part of a process started at the previous Cabinet lekgotla in January when Cabinet agreed on sets of high-level outputs, indicators and targets for each of 12 specified outcomes. These formed the basis for the performance agreements which President Zuma then entered into with ministers at the end of April.

Ministers were then asked to work with key partners to negotiate a Delivery Agreement which would clarify who does what, when and with what resources to achieve the particular outcome. President Zuma promised that once the Delivery Agreements were finalised, there would be careful monitoring of their implementation. Last week, he said the contents of the Delivery Agreements will form the basis of the government’s new Programme of Action that emerged from the latest lekgotla.

It is thought that this process will be used to inform any Cabinet reshuffle that may be on the cards – an anticipated development over which there is much current speculation in political and media circles.

However, while a number of new initiatives and targets have been announced in terms of the latest government programme of action, a number of those announced up to a year ago have either not been completed, are not progressing on schedule, or have missed their deadlines and targets altogether.

Among the latest targets are the following:

Education

The government aims to get 200 000 children between the ages of 7 and 15 into school before 2014 to promote universal access to education. Targets have been set for the improvements in results at various grades over time through providing all schools with appropriate learner and teacher support materials.

Health

New initiatives and further rollouts in terms of the Health Delivery Agreement aim to address diseases such as HIV, tuberculosis, malaria and others, as well as performance problems in the public health system. A major focus will be early treatment of patients who are HIV positive. Nothing was said of the proposed National Health Insurance plan, although President Zuma mentioned government success in its campaigns against polio and measles.

Crime

President Zuma again promised to employ further the successful policing and justice arrangements used for the Fifa Soccer World Cup to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the justice system and crime prevention. The Justice, Crime Prevention and Security Cluster has been mandated to create an Anti-Corruption Task Team which is tasked with fast-tracking the investigation and prosecution of cases of corruption. There has been considerable pressure from the ANC’s own allies and other spheres for the government to deal with corruption in its own ranks. No mention was made of this.

Human settlements

One target set by the government is to “positively impact on the quality of life” of 400 000 households by 2014 by upgrading informal settlements. President Zuma said this will provide households with security of tenure as well as access to essential services in sites which are close to economic and other social amenities. Each province has indicated what its contribution to the national target would be, he said. Although the government has made enormous strides with housing provision, past housing and service provisions targets have often failed to deliver as promised.

Rural development and land reform

President Zuma said the government will focus on the expansion of commercial farming and agri-processing opportunities to stimulate local economic growth and employment, while also increasing the number of small-holder farmers and their market share. In addition, a parallel strategy of providing predictable income for the poor through work in the Community Work Programme will be intensified.

Infrastructure development

The president promised that the government would build on the successful delivery of World Cup infrastructure, by forging ahead with the delivery of major projects including various power station and renewable energy projects, the Ingula pump storage scheme, the Mooi-Umgeni water transfer scheme and other water projects, the completion of the new petroleum pipeline, the completion of the Gautrain in the next year, and the countrywide expansion of bus rapid transit systems.

Youth development

There was a particular focus on the challenge of youth unemployment and skills, and a number of proposed initiatives were discussed in this regard, including increased access to post-school education and training, and post-Matric access to programmes that are occupationally directed. No mention was made, however, in post-lekgotla public statements of the earlier promised implementation of subsidised youth employment. The idea is not enjoying the support of all the ANC’s allies.

Economic growth and development

A presentation on the draft developmental economic growth path document that has been compiled since January was presented to the lekgotla. It was agreed that a special Cabinet meeting will be held shortly to focus on developing the document further, with the focus to be on large-scale employment creation. No major new promises were made on job creation, as this will be addressed in the  developmental economic growth path document.

Many have urged the government to embrace the very effective project management approach used to complete various construction and other projects on time for the 2010 World Cup. President Zuma himself has since also expressed the wish that the government should tackle its challenges in this way. However, the incompletion or missed targets and deadlines of various programmes create a high degree of uncertainty around the government’s intended programmes and outcomes.

Among these previous targets that have not been completed, are not progressing on schedule, or have missed their deadlines and targets altogether, are the following:

Local government turnaround strategy (March & July 2010)

In December last year, Cabinet approved and announced the government’s turnaround strategy for local government. In terms of the strategy, municipalities had to prepare and implement their own tailor-made turnaround strategies that had to be incorporated into their integrated development plans and budgets by March this year, while all municipalities had to be in full implementation mode of the national and their own turnaround strategy by July this year. Both deadlines have come and gone, with the majority of municipalities failing to comply – and national government doing nothing.

System of provinces (March 2010)

The ANC national policy conference in 2007 decided that there was a need or a comprehensive review of this system of provinces. At the ANC’s subsequent Polokwane conference, delegates resolved that the incoming national executive committee had to ensure that an ANC summit was held to formulate an input into the process of developing a White Paper on Provincial Government. Last year, Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Sicelo Shiceka promised that the future of provinces would be decided by March this year. So far, nothing has happened.

Task Team on Wasteful Expenditure (a year ago)

In July last year, the government set up a task team to monitor and review government expenditure. A year later, it is not known whether or not such a task team actually still exists or functions, while no report on its findings – if any exists – has been released. This despite the almost daily media coverage of massive wasteful expenditure by the government, such as revelations that numerous national government departments, state-owned enterprises and ANC-run municipalities spent over R135 million of public funds on tickets to major sporting events, including the Soccer World Cup; or the fact that the Minister of Higher Education and Training Blade Nzimande spent 15 days at a luxurious 5-star hotel in Cape Town, at a cost of over R40 000; or reports showing that North West Premier Maureen Modiselle has ordered a new BMW costing R1.1 million, while her current official car sits in an auto repair shop with some minor damage.

Education (ongoing)

In his State of the Nation Address in February this year, President Zuma announced that the government wanted to ensure that 175 000 Matric students achieve university exemption passes by 2014; and that learners in grades three, six and nine would write literacy and numeracy tests, aiming for a 60% pass rate by 2014. Not much progress, if any, has been made and the government has just recently been making various new announcements on more education plans, programmes and targets – the latest being the announcement following last week’s Cabinet lekgotla.

Human settlements (changed target)

The government had previously promised the eradication of informal settlements by 2014, but now President Zuma has again promised that by 2014, 400 000 households in informal settlements would have proper services and lend tenure.

Crime (this year)

In February this year, President Zuma said the government would increase the number of police officers by 10%. In fact, some 55 000 additional police officers were recruited, trained and deployed for the Fifa World Cup. This did wonders for visible policing and curbing crime. However, the promise that World Cup-style policing would continue to benefit the country after the soccer spectacle seems to have been an empty one, as the 55 000 extra officers seemed to have disappeared off the face of the earth the moment the final World Cup whistle was blown. It remains to be seen how effective the government will be in keeping this promise.

Job creation (December 2009 & 2014)

Before the April 2009 general election, the ANC promised in its election manifesto, among other things, that it would create 500 000 new jobs before the end of 2009, with another four million new jobs being created by 2014 – thus cutting the unemployment rate to 14%. This target, set in the middle of a recession, was highly unrealistic and drew criticism bordering on ridicule. Just two months later, in his State of the Nation Address, President Zuma shifted the goal posts, now promising these same targets, but couched in references to “job opportunities”, not the original sustainable decent jobs, and set within the scope of the Expanded Public Works Programme (EPWP).

In February 2010, President Zuma rather ambiguously claimed that first part of the job target had been met, namely that 500 000 “job opportunities” had been created in the EPWP, and that the government was on track to creating about four million more job opportunities by 2014. But these referred to very brief, unsustainable, low-paying “job opportunities” within the EPWP, mostly on various short-term infrastructure and construction projects, and not the real jobs originally promised. Neither did the president make any reference to the approximately one million real jobs lost in the same period due to the recession. In this period, the unemployment rate actually worsened to 25.2% in the first quarter of 2010.

Youth employment (this year)

As the majority of South Africa’s unemployed people – with a first quarter unemployment rate of 25% – are young people, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan promised the speedy implementation of a subsidised youth employment scheme in his February 2010 Budget Speech. However, so far nothing has come of this, with Gordhan recently telling Parliament that it was still under discussion in government.

Rural development (ongoing)

In February, President Zuma said the government had chosen the Greater Giyani Local Municipality in Limpopo as the first of the pilot projects for its new rural development plan. He said the government would work on the targeted renewal of rural towns through grants such as the Neighbourhood Development Grant Programme. So far, very little has come of this.

Digital broadcasting infrastructure & cheaper broadband (pre-World Cup)

Last year, and again early this year, the government announced the continued rollout of digital broadcasting infrastructure and a reduction in the cost of telecommunications through a number of projects then already under way, such as the construction of major undersea cables, to expand the country's broadband capacity. He was emphatic that rural areas would be included. Much of this was targeted to be in place for the 2010 World Cup in June. While some progress was made, such as the activation of the new undersea cable, much of this continues to be subjected to a slow and often faltering process of negotiation (among stakeholders) and actual implementation.

Land reform (target date postponed by 11 years, then scrapped)

The initial target date of transferring 30% of the country’s productive agricultural land to black ownership by 2014 had already been postponed to 2025, before a target date was altogether scrapped recently.

National Health Insurance scheme (2010 plus)

After the ANC decided that South Africa had to have a National Health Insurance (NHI) plan – the ANC Election Manifesto, ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe, the ANC NEC, and the Department of Health all last year came up with three different sets of deadlines. However, in all three cases the initial stages of implementation were to have been concluded by 2010. This has not happened and is highly unlikely to happen during the remainder of the year.