Chairperson, Mr President and Deputy President, hon members, comrades and friends, like other democracies, South Africa requires managers with strategic capacity: those with a consciousness and an understanding of the challenges facing the country and its people, who not only understand that inequality, poverty, unemployment and crime remain major challenges facing us, but also know and understand the strategic interventions required to address these challenges.
Like other societies in transition, ours requires the strategic capacity which would offer much needed clarity and coherence for implementation of our national priorities - the creation of descent work and sustainable livelihoods, education, health, rural development and land reform, as well as the fight against crime.
Having provided strategic leadership to masses of our people under difficult circumstances during the darkest days of apartheid in South Africa and the past 15 years of democratic governance, the ANC has once again been given a mandate to lead the struggle of the masses of South African people.
With the establishment of the Ministry for Planning Commission for monitoring and evaluation, we see the seriousness of the ANC about its popular mandate to lead the people of South Africa into a better future in the short-, medium- and long-term. Without doubt, this accords with the commitment of the ANC, the people's movement, to develop monitoring and evaluation capacity in the strategic centres of the state.
We know and understand that national, provincial and municipal levels of the government require the strategic capacity which will derive content from both people's experiences gained during the liberation struggles and aspirations of the people without which the government will be badly managed, which may result in services that are inaccessible, unaffordable, disorganised and of low quality. The consequences of this would undoubtedly be severe for poor people.
Strengthening strategic management and leadership of the government remains a necessary imperative that has to be understood within the context of constructing a developmental state, a state premised on being people- centred and people-driven. I talk of a state that has as its primary mission the desire and commitment to improve the quality of life of all the people, especially the poor.
Central among the attributes of the developmental state is its capacity to lead in the definition of a common national agenda and in mobilising all of society to take part in its implementation.
We talk of technical capability and ability to translate broad policy objectives into concrete programmes and projects of the democratic government.
In transforming the South African state, of great importance is the challenge of transforming both the form and content of the administration of this state to eradicate all manifestations of apartheid in our state, especially in the administration.
However, this would require administrators with the administrative and technical capability and capacity to identify and eliminate manifestations of apartheid tendencies. Without venturing into the debate of whether the state exists to manage class contradictions, with a strong strategic capacity the state will be able to develop strategies and strategic plans for both policy implementation and monitoring and evaluation.
To be able to provide strategic management and leadership, public managers located at the centre of government would have to be empowered to be able to devise both the clear direction for the entire government and the means of getting there.
However, this does not only require further training and realignment of the existing managers, but also the creation of competitive positions at the centre. While strategic management and leadership relates to management of the strategic decision-making process, the success of this government will be determined on the basis of the effectiveness and efficiency of its strategic bureaucrats.
Some scholars believe that poorly functioning bureaucracies impede efforts to promote economic growth and reduce poverty, which are fundamental challenges requiring decisive and effective intervention of government. However, for it to make interventions, the democratic government requires strategic capacity. Without doubt, the strategic capacity and capability of the government requires a strong capacity for formulating and co-ordinating policy in the strategic centre of government - the Presidency.
However, this would require effective and efficient delivery systems as well as capable and motivated human resources at this centre and at the level of the provincial and local government throughout the country. As service delivery primarily occurs at the level of provincial and local government, it remains critically important for the centre of government to ensure that strong strategic capacity is also developed at these levels of government.
In conclusion, let me emphasise that people have to understand the strengthening of public administration within the context of fundamentally transforming the state and developing institutional capacity for a developmental state.
Bab'u Nxamalala, Mr Zuma, we are told that when strategic capacity at the centre is weak, the plans of government become ill-informed and unco- ordinated and budgets are based on unrealistic and unsound assumptions. Left unattended, this could result in future incoherent strategic policies and macroeconomic instability in the country. The ANC supports the budget. I thank you. [Applause.]