Parliament, Monday, 08 July 2019 – The Portfolio Committee on Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities met and adopted its report last week on the annual performance plan for 2019/20 of the Commission for Gender Equality (CGE) and the Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities.
The CGE and the department briefed the committee on Wednesday on its annual performance plan. Responding to the presentation by the department, Committee Chairperson, Ms Nonhlanhla Ncube-Ndaba, welcomed the proclamation of the department by the President: “Our worry as a committee is how we will deal with your annual performance plan in light of the transitional arrangements.”
The committee said the department needs to be adequately funded given its expanded mandate. “Issues of underfunding need to be addressed with the new programmes that have been added to the department, as it now has a new mandate,” said Ms Ncube-Ndaba.
The extended mandate of the new department will look into issues of the youth, persons with disabilities, and the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA).
The committee expressed its concerns about the funding of the department and how it is currently structured. The committee noted with concern that the largest portion of the department’s budget is allocated for the compensation of employees, particularly in the administration programme. However, the core programmes received less as compared to the administration, both in terms of financial and human resources.
Ms Ncube-Ndaba said compensation of employees stands at 57%, and that it appeared as if the department’s organogram is bloated. “The budget is high and it does not make sense, I am asking myself that as you are not a service delivery department, I am worried about the merger and transfers that will come through from other departments.”
The committee noted with worry that the annual performance plan does not address issues of youth and persons with disabilities, given the expanded mandate. In addition, the committee was of the view that there was absence and a lack of focus on LGBTQI (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Questioning and Intersex) persons as well within the programmes of the department. In reflecting on the work by the fifth Parliament, the committee said it was of the view that the department does not seem to understand its mandate when examining what the department intends doing for the current financial year, and how that is reported on in the 2019/20 annual performance plan.
In terms of the sanitary dignity framework, the performance indicator states that the framework is still in the process of being finalised as consultations still need to occur. Even after the campaign has been launched, the framework is currently being used as a guide for its implementation in three provinces. The committee called for uniformity in the implementation of the programme. The committee said it was not clear about the status of the sanitary dignity framework which appears in the 2019/20 APP as work in progress yet the project was launched in KwaZulu Natal in April this year.
With respect to the national gender machinery, the committee questioned what the department is working on. To this end, the committee said it is failing to understand the issues the department is working on, as there is no visible community outreach. The committee said it does not see tangible work that goes out to the community. “What is the national gender machinery operating on if we don’t have a framework that guides it?”
The committee agreed that community mobilisation and outreach are important, but questioned how the indicator has been crafted in this regard, as it only reflects the reports. Instead, the committee proposed that the indicator should rather reflect the number of beneficiaries that have been reached, as opposed to reports that have been done.
Property payments under spending on goods and services is exorbitant, the committee said. The committee wanted to know what is the current plan in addressing office space as opposed to the department renting, taking into consideration the amalgamation of the youth and persons with disabilities portfolios.
The committee said the presentation failed to address issues on gender-based violence and LGBTQI. The committee said the department needs to be serious when it comes to doing its work.
On the Commission for Gender Equality (CGE), Ms Ncube-Ndaba commended the commission on the work it does. She said the commission is able to achieve tremendously on the little budget that it has been allocated. The financial constraints the commission experiences need to be looked into so that the CGE budget can be increased so that it can adequately deal with issues of gender-based violence and LGBTQI.
The committee noted with concern that the CGE’s provincial offices are located in urban areas or in metros and questioned how the commission renders services to rural areas. The committee noted that each provincial office was allocated five staff members and it (the committee) was concerned that other offices are not receiving the same budget. The committee wanted to know whether the offices are adequately resourced to deliver on the mandate and whether there any vacancies in provincial offices and if so, which positions?
The committee noted the importance of gender mainstreaming and questioned how the commission will ensure that gender mainstreaming is realised in all government departments.
ISSUED BY THE PARLIAMENTARY COMMUNICATION SERVICES ON BEHALF OF THE CHAIRPERSON OF THE PORTFOLIO COMMITTEE ON WOMEN, YOUTH AND PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES, MS NONHLANHLA NCUBE-NDABA
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