Report on an Audit of Government's Poverty Reduction Programmes ...

1.1 BackgroundSince the new government came into power in 1994, it has shown great commitment in addressing the manyinequalities inherited from the previous apartheid government. Over the last twelve years, Government hasdramatically increased the proportion of public resources allocated to social spending. Income support tovulnerable households through social security and social assistance grants increased from R10b in 1994 to R70bin 2006 (PCAS, 2003; Manuel, 2006).In addition, Government has embarked on a number of initiatives to expand healthcare, provide public infrastructure,build houses and provide free basic services such as water and electricity (Manuel, 2006). All these are guided byan overall commitment to combat under-development and create a better life for all.In his 2004 Address to the First Joint Sitting of the Third Democratic Parliament, the President outlined thefollowing three pillars as the basis of Government’s strategy of fi ghting under- development and poverty in thecountry. These are:“• encouraging growth and development in the First Economy;• increasing the opportunity for jobs and addressing the challenges of the Second Economy; and• building a social security net to bring about poverty alleviation.” (Mbeki, 2004).Analysts have pointed out that the elements of this approach are largely the same as those laid out in the WhitePaper on Reconstruction and Development (RDP) of 1994 (Aliber and Nhlapo-Hlope, 2005). The primaryobjectives of the RDP were to improve the standards of living and quality of life for all South Africans and tocreate a sustainable democracy by prioritizing poverty eradication, access to land and providing basic services topeople within a peaceful and stable society characterized by equitable economic growth.In studies on service delivery improvement and monitoring and evaluation, the PSC has identifi ed several factorsthat remain challenges in the achievement of the above RDP objectives. One of these factors is the inappropriateprocesses and practices adopted in the governance and implementation of government programmes. Researchconducted by the Public Service Commission (PSC) into the national housing subsidy scheme showed that itwas constrained by factors such as poor coordination and the poor integration of service delivery systems andprocesses (PSC, 2003). Other problems that have been identifi ed by the PSC are that project managementsystems are often not introduced, criteria for support are not clearly defi ned and results are not monitoredor evaluated. This has resulted in Government concluding as part of the Ten Year Review that more directinterventions are needed.To achieve the objective of halving poverty by 2014 as stipulated in the Ten Year Review, released in October 2003,and in accordance with the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs), it is essential to improve the performanceof Government. The PSC’s State of the Public Service <strong>Report</strong> of 2004 highlights the need for Governmentto accelerate social development and address poverty more effectively to ensure that the above objective isachieved. Research undertaken by the HSRC has pointed out that poverty cannot be reduced by improvingperformance of Government per se. The prevailing pro-poor conditions need to be identifi ed and the availablenatural, human and economic resources utilised to bring about the kind of economic growth where the poorshare equally in the proceeds (Aliber and Nhlapo-Hlope, 2005). Improving road access to economic centreswhere people can fi nd employment, raising the standard of education and improving access to health facilitiesare all factors that need to be considered when implementing programmes and projects aimed at improving thestandard of living of people in South Africa.It is against this background that the PSC identifi ed the need to evaluate Government’s poverty relief programmeto see to what extent it has impacted on under-development, poverty and inequality in the country, especially inrelation to the three pillars highlighted by President Mbeki. Of great importance to any evaluation of this nature2