Cape Town – Minister in the Presidency responsible for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Jeff Radebe says statistics are an invaluable tool to help government plan properly and to put the country on a stable path of development.
“If we are to ensure success of the National Development Plan programmes, the National Youth Policy 2020, Integrated Development Plans at local municipalities, the Nine-Point Plan and all our policy and programmatic responses to the trio challenge of inequality, unemployment and poverty, we must have reliable data to inform such broad policy interventions,” he said.
The Minister was tabling Statistics South Africa’s Budget Vote in Parliament on Wednesday.
He said statistics play an integral part in informing policy development and direction as collected data can best inform the State of areas where challenges lie.
Minister Radebe said from time to time, government adopts various policy and programme instruments to attend to the challenges in business, government departments, labour, non-governmental organisations and civil society at large.
He said statistics tell the executive whether or not the existing government programmes are appropriate tools that can resolve the given challenges.
“Thus this budget vote is about the validation of the policy and programmes we have adopted and recommendations for the change of course where results dispute the appropriateness of the interventions we may have chosen.
“In doing all this, we are guided by the broad trajectory of our historic mission crystallised in the Constitution, the soul of our nation, of which we celebrate its 20th anniversary this year,” he said.
New report profiles youth challenges
On Monday, Statistician General Pali Lehohla released the Vulnerable Groups Series I: The Social Profile of Youth 2009 – 2014 report, which takes stock of challenges faced by youth.
The report revealed the manner in which youths are still trapped in unemployment, social and economic exclusion, disease, crime and difficulties in getting into higher education.
Minister Radebe said these challenges persist despite the resources, effort and energy that government puts into its youth policy instruments.
“Data as presented by Stats SA helps to highlight the change of course necessary to arrest the challenges of youth development. The National Youth Policy 2020 and the Integrated Youth Development Strategy attempt to do precisely that by responding to policy issues in a concerted way that involves all government departments and all private sector institutions.
“Statistics tell us the NYDA [National Youth Development Agency] can only be a champion of youth development but capacity-wise, it cannot be the panacea of all youth development,” the Minister said. – SAnews.gov.za
