During the period of reporting South Africa faced a noticeable increase in service delivery protests. In response to these protests and other related delivery challenges government has intensified mechanisms aimed at improving synergies among and between national, provincial and local government levels in order to improve service delivery. South Africa’s vision 2030 strives for continuous improvement through performance monitoring and evaluation. The establishment of the Department of Performance Monitoring and Evaluation and the Planning Commission in 2010 was a clear demonstration of Government's commitment to ensure that government performance makes meaningful impact in the lives of its people. The government of South Africa is working tirelessly with partners to achieve desired outcomes and to improve service delivery through changing the way government works. Government is doing this through a set of focused priorities such as :priority setting through Medium Term Strategic Framework; implementation of the National Development Plan, robust monitoring and evaluation related to the achievement of outcomes, institutional performance monitoring, monitoring of frontline service delivery; evaluation and supporting change and transformation through innovative and appropriate solutions, interventions and results-oriented approach across the three spheres and other organs of state. South Africa has made significant strides in reducing poverty through income transfers, poverty supporting programmes and through access to basic services, health care and education. This is evident in feedback provided by the Anti-Poverty Strategy Discussion Document and the 3rd Country Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Report which note that South Africa has experienced a remarkable decline in poverty owing largely to a significant income transfer programme, massive reallocation of pro-poor expenditure in basic services such as housing, water, electricity and sanitation. Notwithstanding remarkable progress made by the country towards poverty alleviation and general socio-economic development, the major challenges remain. These include the triple and cyclic challenge of poverty, unemployment and inequality. Some studies show that South Africa remains one of the most inequitable countries in the world. 28