Manuel said the revised green paper on national strategic planning clearly stated the National Planning Commission would have no executive powers and that Cabinet would make the final decisions.
This comes amid a fierce contest between the ruling African National Congress and its alliance partners — the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) and the South African Communist Party — over the powers the commission will have over the formulation of economic policy. It suggests Manuel and the commission would have no executive powers and play an advisory role to the government, but also that the alliance partners would not be allowed to monopolise SA’s economic policy formulation arena.
It will also take some political pressure off Manuel, who has faced claims from the alliance left that he would be an “imperial” prime minister.
Manuel said although he was confident the revised document would receive support from different sectors and organisations, not everyone would be satisfied. “There is a fair amount of support now.”
The green paper — which was first released by the Cabinet in August and approved last month following a consultative process in Parliament — dealt with the work of the commission and how it would function, said Manuel.
The document states that the first output of the commission would be to draft a Vision 2025 and a long-term strategic plan.
“The Vision 2025 will be an articulation of the type of society all South Africans would want to see in about 15 years’ time. It will set out the high-level aspirations for the nation in terms of social, economic and political development,” the document reads.
Manuel said the commission would release a draft vision and long-term strategic plan within 18 months.
The commission would also produce research reports and discussion papers on key “cross- cutting issues” that affect development. “These thematic papers will cover issues such as food security, climate change and human resource development trends and will be tabled in Parliament for discussion.”
Manuel called for the public to nominate people to serve on the 20-member commission. “We seek the best, brightest minds in our country that can use their sectoral expertise to contribute towards a broad development plan.”
Nomination forms are available on the Presidency website and the closing date is February 10. Manuel said President Jacob Zuma would announce the names of the commissioners before the end of March.
Manuel said a secretariat based in the Presidency would be established to provide technical, administrative and professional help to the commission.
Source: Business Day
Read the full text of the briefing at Times Live
No comments:
Post a Comment
Have your say!