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 any plan is adopted. This would be both 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, SOEs and provincial and local governments achieves a high standard, and that the quality of planning in these institutions continues to improve.
Finally, Chairperson, there are many questions that will still have to be answered. The administration has only been in place for six weeks. We request patience and space to be able to work through this very complex set of issues. We are not taking them lightly, and we aren't being silly about them. But I think that we learnt from our own experience, and there are certain issues of security that are fundamentally important to the future of this country, water being one amongst many. In several cases, Ministers have to sit down together and work out who does what. Some of these are not straight-line functions.
If you want to deal with water, you need the Minister of Water and Environmental Affairs, but you also need the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries. You need the Ministry of Mining; you need the Ministry of Energy; you need Co-operative Governance; you need Science and Technology.
There are a series of different things that we have to do together, and these are the solutions we must provide, drawing on the quality, expertise and research that is available in this country. It is these kinds of tasks that I think we must understand to together define our collective commitment as public representatives of the people, to democracy, not just for now, but into the future. So, as we deal with these issues, I want to assure the House that we will be guided by a spirit of co-operation and collective accountability. Turf wars are simply unacceptable. It will take time to resolve some of these issues and construct the proper fit, and I think we want to say to Members of Parliament, in good conscience, that we will work at this and continue to work at it because it is quite an unprecedented undertaking.
We are working tirelessly to refine the system of government to define our roles and 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 this entire House and other 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, hon 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. The budget of the Presidency is about providing all of this to improve on the quality of our democracy, and we ask that you support it as you have indicated this afternoon. Thank you very much. [Applause.]