Address by the Minister in The Presidency: National Planning Commission, Trevor A Manuel, MP on the Presidency's Budget Vote debate, June 24 2009
Mister Speaker
His Excellency, President Zuma
Honourable Deputy President Motlanthe
Honourable Ministers and Deputy Ministers
Honourable Members
President Zuma, in announcing his new Cabinet last month, established a Ministry for Planning in The Presidency. Before discussing the broad objectives, key institutions and the proposed Green Paper, I wish to briefly sketch the context and rationale that gave rise to the need for a planning ministry.
Countries that have grown rapidly over two to three generations have often had clear strategies which required difficult trade-offs and a careful sequencing of policies. Often, long run growth and development requires long term investments in people, in democratic institutions and in infrastructure. Countries are often reluctant to make correct trade-offs because trade-offs sometimes imply pain in the short term or pain for some people, with long term uncertainty. If a country chooses to spend more on education, it must spend less on something else. If a country chooses to invest more, it must consume less today.
Governments all over the world are confronted with this dilemma of how to make trade-offs that involve long term benefits and short term pain. Democracies instinctively deal with policies that provide benefits within a single term of office. But many of the challenges that confront us today require a much longer term perspective. Addressing our skills constraints requires a long-term perspective. Reducing unemployment requires a long-term strategy. Reducing CO2 emissions requires a long-term plan. Addressing our future water and food requirements require long-term plans that have opportunity costs in the short term with payoffs in the longer term. The creation of a planning ministry in the Presidency is about incorporating these ideas into our policy thinking and enabling government to make long term investments even though the return may accrue long after we've left office. Most importantly, it is about governments learning to do better.
A government which is focused on the development imperative and on improving on both the quantity and quality of services to citizens must place an emphasis on its own learning. Much of this learning arises from the rigour of analysis of the implementation of its policies. The authors Ashraf Ghani and Clare Lockhart, in their book, "Fixing Failed States", shares the following observation of how things fall apart. They observe various centres of power vie for control, multiple decision-making processes confuse priorities, citizens lose trust in the government, institutions lose their legitimacy, and the populace is disenfranchised. In the most extreme cases, violence results. This negative cycle creates a sovereignty gap.
Mister speaker, it is this fragmentation that we seek to avoid.
To sketch the context for the planning ministry, allow me to outline what the broad roles and functions of the Presidency are in relation to planning. To do this, we need to locate the functioning of the Presidency in our system of government. The seat of the executive of government is Cabinet, headed by the President. The executive arm of government has to operate collectively. This implies that key decisions are taken collectively and members of the executive share collective responsibility and accountability for the decisions of the executive.
The Presidency has many functions, three of which are key in setting out the context today. The first is the policy coherence function. It is the task of the Presidency to ensure policy coherence throughout government, that policies support the overall objectives of government, that inconsistent policies are changed, unintended consequences are recognised and managed and contradictory policy outcomes in government are minimised.
A strategic approach to planning that sets out a coherent vision backed by clear and measurable targets and programmes does not materialise out of thin air. Institutions and mechanisms are needed. The Economist James K Galbraith, sets out the argument for planning thus:
The experience of the wider world-even that of the most despised countries-provides no general case against economic planning and also none in favor of unfettered markets as a substitute for a planning system. On the contrary, it shows that in a properly designed system, planning and markets do not contradict each other. They are not mutually exclusive. Rather, the choice of one or another for any particular problem is a matter of what works best for the purpose: it''s a question of a social and political division of labor, of what tools are needed for what goal.
Hence, the output of the planning function is clear direction, a coherent vision for the future supported by medium and long term plans. These plans should encapsulate the priorities of government and articulation of the policy tradeoffs it faces and its key policy choices. These plans and policy choices are to be made by the executive, collectively. The role of the Presidency is to lead the process of developing a coherent agenda and plan for government.
The second role of the Presidency is to ensure that the agreed upon agenda is reflected in the work and priorities of all of government, to ensure policy coordination in government. In any system, individual ministers, government departments, provinces, municipalities, state enterprises and other agencies should shape their actions in terms of an overall agenda or plan. This policy coordination function is carried out through Cabinet directly by the President, through cabinet committees by the respective chairs of cabinet, through clusters of directors general, through Minmecs, the President's Coordinating Council, through the budget and numerous other institutions and processes in government. The policy coordination function is critical to ensure that government's agenda is implemented with the vigour and consistency that citizens expect and hence it is located in the Presidency. In summary, it is about driving the agenda of government.
The third function is the performance management function. The Presidency must develop the capability to monitor the performance of government, evaluate the impact of programmes and to intervene where performance is sub-optimal. This function is not about removing the accountability that vests in individual ministers, provinces or municipalities. It is a recognition that citizens expect more and better from their government and holds the executive collectively responsible for delivery. There are several techniques to drive better performance, the details of which will emerge in the next few weeks. Our marching orders here are the clear focus on performance and accountability set out by President Zuma in his State of the Nation Address. Two elements in this tool box are the ability to set clear targets linked to government's priorities and to intervene to unblock institutional blockages to better performance.
These three functions of the Presidency are interlinked. They cannot be separated through artificial barriers. Government's plan and priorities must drive the setting of targets. Assessments of performance must feed into the coordination role of government and informs what the agenda should be in various government clusters. Information gleaned in the monitoring function informs government's agenda and the agenda determines what is measured and monitored.
President Zuma, Deputy President Motlanthe, Minister Chabane and I have collective responsibility for these three roles. We are politically accountable for these roles. However, all ministers, parliament and each institution in government are also accountable for performance and delivery and have specific responsibilities to ensure that government achieves its objectives.
Minister Chabane and I have agreed to release two green papers simultaneously - one on planning and coordination and one on performance monitoring and evaluation. The purpose of these green papers is to provide all stakeholders with a sense of government's thinking in this regard and provide them with an opportunity to input into the process of deciding how these functions will be performed.
The precise role and function of the Planning Ministry and National Planning Commission as well as the importance of a national strategic plan and vision that has the support and backing of the wider society will be outlined in a Green Paper to be released for discussion by the end of July.
It is intended that this green paper will be presented to parliament as a discussion document in the next month or so. We look forward to an active engagement with you on these issues.
Let me turn now to one or two of the specifics of the planning function. The planning function will coordinate the process whereby government develops its long term vision and plan. This long term plan must take into account the key long term challenges facing South Africa and articulate the vision for the type of society that South African's desire.
The process whereby Cabinet collectively agrees to the Medium Term Strategic Framework is the second major task of the planning function. This document sets out governments priorities, informs resource allocation and provides a framework for the sequencing of programmes and reforms. The MTSF then needs to be broken down into detailed outcomes that can then be used to inform the priorities of government. For example, if the MTSF says that raising the literacy rate of Grade 3 school learners, then this is what the Presidency will measure and this is what will inform interactions between the Minister of Basic Education and the Presidency.
The Planning Ministry has a key role to play in building the organisational and technical capability of the state to ensure government delivers on its policy commitments. We envisage the creation of a nerve centre in the Presidency which would develop links with organisations such as the DBSA, HSRC, CSIR and other science councils, universities and relevant think tanks to provide expert opinion on long term developmental issues such as water security, climate change, food security, defence capability and migration. The expertise exists in the country and does not have to be replicated in the Presidency. What we do need is the capacity to commission research, to synthesise the evidence and to be able to feed these into the policy processes in government.
There is also a need to encourage a more systematic approach to long term planning in government and in state owned enterprises. This is particularly true in sectors such as spatial planning, energy, transport and water security where long term perspectives are important. This is critical for private sector investment too. Investments in the mining sector require policy certainty and energy security in the energy sector. Land use planning and agricultural investment are intertwined.
What will the planning function not do? There is a notion floating around in some circles that The Presidency will take over existing planning responsibilities from national departments and state owned enterprises (SOEs), and even from provincial and local governments. As my preceding points on the role and functions of the planning ministry show, nothing can be further from the truth. Micro-planning and sectoral planning will not be undertaken from the centre. Rather the Planning Ministry will seek to encourage, support and harness sectoral and sub-national strategic plan-making and initiatives and mainstream these within the national planning process. That is giving concrete expression to sectoral priorities and priorities emanating from provinces and municipalities.
A further misconception that has been created is that The Presidency will play the role of gatekeeper for plans and that all government institutions would be required to get clearance from The Presidency before a plan is adopted. This would be foolish and undesirable, let alone totally impractical leading to massive delays in implementation. On the contrary the task of The Presidency would be to ensure that the quality of planning by government departments, state owned enterprises and provincial and local governments achieves a high standard, and that the quality of planning in these institutions continues to improve.
Finally, Honourable Speaker, these are many questions that still have to be answered. This administration has only been in place for six weeks. We request the patience and space to be able to work through this very complex set of issues. In several cases, ministers have to sit down together to work out who does what, what the relationships are and how we account for what is delivered. In doing this, I want to assure this house that we will be guided by a spirit of cooperation and collective accountability. Turf wars are unacceptable. It will take time to resolve some of these issues.
We are working tirelessly to refine the system of government to define our roles and to allocate responsibilities. In some ways, this is an ongoing process, a process of perpetual improvement. In other ways, some of the institutions are new and require time to mature. I assure you that we will involve you and all stakeholders in discussions on these critical issues facing our country. The green paper processes will contribute towards refining the way in which the centre of government works.
Our endeavours, Honourable Members, are premised on the need to strengthen democracy, to strengthen the trust that citizens have in this democratic government and its institutions. Our efforts are for a better democracy, capable of anticipating and responding to the needs of all of our citizens.
Thank you.
Source: The Presidency
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