Chairperson, Speaker, Mr President, Deputy President, hon members, it's a bit disappointing when Mike Ellis finds nothing to rile me with so late in the afternoon. 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.
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 requires 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 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, share the following observation of how things fall apart. They observe that -
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.
It is this fragmentation that we seek to avoid and now, against this backdrop, I would like to address myself briefly to the comments in the speech this afternoon by the hon Leader of the Opposition. I am a bit worried, mama, you've owned him as your son; I praised him the last time and he's off the rails already. [Laughter.]
You see, when we express, as you did this afternoon, hon Trollip, a resistance to ideas for change that are premised on equity, when we express a yearning for the status quo ante, then we linger back to the days of apartheid, of deep inequality and we try to block democracy.
In any government anywhere in the world - and you can look at parliaments across the world, the trend is the same - there will be ideas, embryonic; they find resonance within a government and are taken forward. Part of taking the ideas forward is to formulate legislation. That legislation is not imposed by edict or decree. They go to a democratically elected parliament where they are debated, amended and then adopted.
There is nothing wrong with it; in fact, it is kernel to the existence of democracy, but many of the Bills you spoke of this afternoon don't even exist. So we will credit you for having such a fruitful imagination, but many of the Bills that you spoke of don't even exist. [Interjections.]
If we want to deal with the issues, then wait. Don't construct the straw man and don't open the debate on the national health insurance when there aren't even ideas on the table. The Minister of Health in the debate on the state of the nation address said, "Please don't shoot it down".
Allow us to formulate the ideas - that will be done in closed rooms. Once the ideas have been clarified and tested and there is a collective responsibility of government, when we bring it to Parliament, there will be an opportunity to debate it. Don't shoot it down, because you should not be party to denying the fundamentals of democracy in this country. [Applause.]
I can tell you about the 17th amendment as well, and I would invite you to look at the Gazette of 15 June and see the preconditions set out in the 17th amendment and then, sir, you will understand how wrong you were in what you said here this afternoon. But we will leave that for when the 17th amendment is debated after there has been public comment on the issue. I do, however, invite you to read that Gazette, sir.
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.
What you need to understand is that the hon Nzimande can't say anything to criticise me in public, because we are collectively responsible for the same things.
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 favour of unfettered markets as a substitute for the 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 labour, of what tools are needed for what goal.
It is this background that a number of members here, the hon Dandala, the hon Buthelezi, hon De Lille and also the hon Meshoe, refer to. It's correct; planning has to be a core part of democracy. You shouldn't want to throw it overboard because it used to have the term "central" and that was a kind of swear word. Planning has to be part of what we do. 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 trade-offs 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 co-ordination 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 co-ordination function is carried out through Cabinet directly by the President, through cabinet committees, through clusters of Directors-General, through Minmecs, the President's Co-ordinating Council, through the budget and numerous other institutions and processes in government.
The policy co-ordination 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, to evaluate the impact of programmes and to intervene where performance is suboptimal. 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 his 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, obviously, 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 co-ordination role of government and inform 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 indeed achieves its objectives.
Minister Chabane and I have agreed to release two Green Papers at about the same time: One dealing with planning and co-ordination and the other dealing with 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.
It is like legislation, hon Trollip. We don't come here and say, "Let's think about what we should put in the Green Paper". We take a few ideas, put them together and say let's have a discussion about it. That's how democracy works. Welcome.
The precise role and function of the Planning Ministry and the 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 the Green Paper to be released for discussion, probably by the end of July or perhaps early August. It is intended that this Green Paper will be presented to Parliament as a discussion document. So we look forward to your engagement on these matters, because we need an active discussion about it.
Let me turn now to one or two of the specifics of the planning function. The planning function will co-ordinate 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 our country and articulate the vision for the type of society that South Africans desire.
The process whereby Cabinet collectively agrees to the MTSF is the second major task of the planning function. This document sets out government's priorities, informs resource allocations and provides a framework for the sequences of programmes and reforms. The MTSF then needs to be broken down into detailed outcomes that can be used to inform the priorities of government. For example, if the MTEF says that raising the literacy rate of Grade 3 school learners is important, then this is what the Presidency will measure, and this is what will inform interactions between the Minister of Basic Education and the Presidency, certainly acting through Minister Chabane, in the instance. 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 point of synthesis in the Presidency, which would develop links with organisations such as the Development Bank of South Africa, DBSA, the Human Sciences Research Council, HSRC, the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, 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 vitally important. This is critical for private sector investment, too. Investment in the mining sector requires policy certainty and energy security in the energy sector. Land-use planning and agricultural investments are, obviously, intertwined.
What will the planning function not do? I would like to say to the hon Meshoe, in his absence, the planning function will not set government up for failure. We haven't come here, we haven't fought a hard battle, we haven't won the trust of the electorate of South Africa to come here and say that now we are going to set up a Tower of Babel, now we will self- destruct, and we want to fail to serve the people. We will do everything but that.
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. I have heard the hon Ellis say that the Planning Ministry will even have to do the dental implants in hens to prepare for the day when the DA rules.
As my preceding points on the role and functions of the Planning Ministry show, nothing could be further from the truth. Microplanning and sectoral planning will not be undertaken from the centre. Rather, the Planning Ministry will seek to encourage, support and harness sectoral and subnational strategic plan-making and initiatives - I think you should prepare a sepia copy. It is going to be very, very, very old before it ever sees the light of day - and mainstream these within the national planning process.
That is giving concrete expression to sectoral priorities and priorities emanating from provinces and municipalities. I just need to bring others into play. This picture that Mike Ellis has here is of a hen with teeth. It's because I said to him that the DA is becoming the government in this country - there is a better chance of hens growing teeth. So, they've now produced a hen with teeth, but it is still not likely. [Laughter.]