Parliament told the Department of Communications (DOC) yesterday to rework its strategy presentation so that the legislature can hold it accountable and allow the parliamentarians to accept, modify or reject its budget.
Ismail Vadi (ANC), chairperson of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Communications, pointed out to the DOC delegation, that - in terms of the new Money Bills Act - the oversight committees had to report back to the national assembly about departmental budgets. The DOC delegation was headed by DG Mamodupi Mohlala.
“In the past, we just used to thank you for your time in coming here. Now we have to make reports and we have the option to accept, change some things or even reject the budgets,” he said.
Other members of Parliament were united in their criticism of the DOC's presentation, saying that, while it provided a lot of information, much of it was either irrelevant or did not allow them to make informed decisions on various items listed under the R2 billion budget. The budget is expected to decrease to R1.8 billion, in the 2011/12 financial year, and then fall to R1.6 billion, in the 2012/13 period, as various projects come to an end.
“What we need is a very clear format showing what line items there are, what Cabinet approval has been granted and what part of the budget has been allocated with very clear time lines,” said Johnny de Lange (ANC). “In that way, we can make decisions about whether or not these are achievable and if necessary reallocate monies.”
Lindiwe Mazibuko (DA) said that, while the information appeared comprehensive, it was not necessarily so. “I am not saying that every detail has to be presented, but we must understand what the department's main objectives are for the year and we need to understand how to hold the department accountable.”
Another DA MP, Niekie van den Berg, asked: “What I want to understand is when what is happening?”
Juli Killian, Cope MP, asked what austerity measures the DOC had put in place and why there were so many acting positions.
Patricia de Lille (ID) asked the department to draw up a schedule of its policies past and present. “How are we to measure you if there is no continuity? It is all very well to say this is a new administration, but it doesn't mean a completely clean sheet,” she said.
Mohlala and her staff replied to these queries by saying they had not been informed of any possible new format as a result of the Money Bills Act. They stated the current format was the one approved by National Treasury, and asked for guidance from the committee on how it wants the strategic plan to be presented.
Mohlala said detailed information for many of the items lay within the various business plans and strategies, and these could be made available if necessary.
According to Mohlala, there are only two senior staff members (deputy director-general level) who are currently in acting capacities, “...mainly due to historical reasons”.
Vadi set the DOC four tasks, namely a report on the status of the digital broadcasting migration and its regulations; a revised presentation; a request for continuity and change schedules of policies past and present; and, lastly, a report on declarations with regard to performance management agreements.
Communications minister Siphiwe Nyanda is scheduled to present his budget vote speech on 20 April. Eric Kholwane (ANC) pointed out that the new format had to be presented to the committee before then.
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