National Planning Commission
On 27 February 2010, Minister Trevor Manuel announced that the response to the invitation to nominate people to serve on the National Planning Commission had resulted in an overwhelming 1 279 nominations by the closing date of 10 February 2010. These nominations have since been categorised according to fields of expertise, skills and experience. We are encouraged by the incredible range of talent and experience in a wide range of fields and by the enthusiasm of the nominees to serve on the National Planning Commission to develop a long-term vision for South Africa.
We have completed the preliminary work so that the president would announce the names of the commissioners as soon as possible. We have organised the information and the names have been submitted to the President who is in the process of applying his mind with regard to the list of appointees.
Bearing in mind that the work of the National Planning Commission revolves around the drafting of a long-term national vision and strategic plan around a common set of objectives and priorities to drive development, it is critical that the finalisation of the appointments be given due consideration. It is therefore important to afford the president the time to apply his mind before making the final announcement of the candidates to serve on the National Planning Commission. In light of this, an announcement on the names of the commissioners will be made in due course.
Establishment of the Performance Monitoring and Evaluation Department
The Monitoring and Evaluation function has since its establishment made strides in setting up systems and defining its mandate. As a new function in government it had to be defined and reach consensus with all stakeholders on how it should be carried out.
The department had set itself targets of tabling a position paper by September 2009 and developing the performance outcomes by November 2009. The position paper titled Performance Monitoring and Evaluation: Our approach was tabled and approved by both Cabinet and Parliament in October last year. The performance outcomes were finalised on schedule and ready for approval at the Cabinet Lekgotla early this year. The performance outcomes were approved by Cabinet and announced in the State of the Nation Address.
The performance outcomes are informed by seven priorities that government has identified to deliver on, namely heath, education, fight against crime and corruption, rural development, creation of jobs, human settlements and local government. Twelve performance outcomes were developed and nine were approved and the remaining three will be discussed in Cabinet in due course.
Based on the approved outcomes, President Jacob Zuma has sent out delivery letters in key performance areas to ministers, detailing what is expected of them, with clear outputs, targets and deadlines. As indicated in the position paper, the ministers are expected to convene a delivery forum with all affected departments and stakeholders to develop a detailed delivery plan which will be signed as a delivery agreement.
These delivery agreements will require participation and commitment from all stakeholders on how implementation will take place. The departments are in the process of discussing the delivery agreements and these will be presented to the President in May.
The department had to develop the performance outcomes based on the Medium Term Strategic Framework 2009 to 2014 to make sure that people of South Africa receives services.
The process has been long and necessary to ensure that every stakeholder is consulted and there is consensus on how the function should be carried out and what should be measured. The system is going to change how government works and gives concrete expression to the government’s new way of doing things. This process will be concluded in May 2010.
The departmental structure has been approved by the Department of Public Service and Administration and Director-General, Dr Shaun Phillips, has been appointed to head the department. The Director-General will start with the process of setting up the department.
Ministry of Women, Children and People with Disabilities
The Department of Women, Children and People with Disabilities has now been proclaimed. The department has also finalised its strategic plan. The process of appointing a Director-General for the department is underway and the shortlist has been compiled.
As some of the functions of the department were formerly part of the Presidency’s special programmes - specifically the office on the status of women, the office on the rights of the child, the office on the status of disabled persons - personnel who were part of these programmes have now been transferred to the department.
Restructuring in the Presidency
- Migration of the Presidential Hotline to Monitoring, Evaluation and Administration
In his State of the Nation Address on 3 June 2009, President Jacob Zuma announced his plan to establish a Presidential Hotline to improve access of the public to government. The hotline was opened on a pilot basis on 14 September and officially launched on 7 October 2009.
In launching the hotline, President Zuma said, “The public liaison service and hotline is a significant step towards advancing accessibility, interaction, accountability and effectiveness in our service to the people. As we have already indicated, the main purpose of this service is to improve service delivery. It is definitely not a public relations exercise.”
To date, the presidential hotline has logged about 44 000 queries and of these, about 20 000 have been resolved.
Our assessment of the presidential hotline has revealed that it is more than a channel of communication between citizens and government. The queries we get from citizens are an indicator of how government is performing in its delivery of services to the public. The queries we resolve or fail to resolve speak to government’s monitoring function. We have a duty to monitor and evaluate which departments, provinces and municipalities are responding to citizens’ queries, what the turnaround times are, and what the trends are in terms of the issues raised by citizens.
To this end, an executive decision has been taken to move the Presidential Hotline to Performance, Monitoring and Evaluation and Administration Department. The presidential hotline, specifically the resolution rates, will be a standing item during Cabinet meetings at least once per month.
- Policy Coordination and Advisory Services (PCAS)
Following the establishment of the national planning and the performance, monitoring and evaluation functions in The Presidency, a review of PCAS was necessary. All the functions of PCAS are being retained in the Presidency, but are now being located in the NPC, the PME department and the Cabinet office.
- Cabinet office
The Cabinet office supports the national executive in its strategic management of government business. It ensures effective decision-making and better coordination, oversight, monitoring and implementation of government policy and maintaining the effectiveness and integrity of government systems.
In line with the above, the Cabinet office provides strategic and administrative support to Cabinet and to the Deputy President in his role as the leader of government business.
With the reconfigured Presidency, we are aligning and enhancing policy support, analysis and advice capacity within the Cabinet office. This will see a movement of some former PCAS staff to the Cabinet office.
- Restructuring of communications
Due to the unique and demanding communication needs of the President as head of state, the communications Branch has seconded various staff to the private office of the president. These include the spokesperson, speech writing and media liaison support personnel. These secondments apply only to the private office of the president.
The communications branch will continue to service the communication needs of the entire Presidency and retains responsibility for development and coordination of the overall communication strategy.
Conclusion
We are nearing the end of the first year of this administration and are confident that The Presidency has strengthened its institutional capacity to provide leadership to the State. President Jacob Zuma, Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe and the two Ministers in the Presidency �" Minister Trevor Manuel and Minister Colins Chabane - have provided and continue to provide leadership and steady diplomacy which has made this administration stronger despite the challenges which confronted us in our first year in office.
Enquiries:
Vusi Mona
Cell: 082 047 2260
Source: The Presidency
