Why a Green Paper?
A Green Paper is a consultation document setting out government's intended policy position. This Green Paper outlines government's position on national strategic planning. As a discussion document, it affords government an opportunity to test its ideas on this very important matter among the public and to benefit from inputs and comments from the ensuing public discussion.
Why do we need national strategic planning?
As a nation we have come a long way since achieving democracy, but we are still confronted with massive challenges. Unemployment remains very high, poverty and inequality are persistent and opportunities to better education, healthcare, public transport and basic household amenities for many remain skewed.
Though we have made progress we are short of where we expected to be and where we could have been. An honest appraisal, such as government did in its Fifteen Year Review, points to shortcomings in implementation, insufficient even if improved co-ordination, lack of effective partnership between government and social partners where it really matters, and too often pursuit of short-term advantage by major social players rather than focus on long-term benefits.
International experience tells us that a national plan informed by a consensus on where we want to be can make a huge difference. National strategic planning should therefore help improve government's overall effectiveness and provide a framework for mutually reinforcing action by government and social actors
Planning along with performance monitoring and evaluation are not done for their own sake. They are meant to enable the country more effectively to pursue its goals: a more equitable growth path; decent jobs and sustainable livelihoods; accessible quality education and skills development; reduction in poverty and inequality; rural development; improved health care and community safety and social cohesion.
What are the gaps in the current system?
The absence of a coherent and clearly articulated long-term plan and vision has affected government's ability to provide clear and consistent policies across sectors and spheres. Government's capacity to rally all of society around a common set of development objectives has also been negatively affected. Moreover it has hampered government efforts to prioritise resource allocation among competing objectives. Additionally weaknesses in coordination have led to policy inconsistencies and consequently poor service delivery outcome in several cases.
What does this Green Paper deal with?
The Green Paper deals with the tasks of the national planning system, the goal of which, broadly defined, and is to achieve united action around the country's development goals. It focuses on the concept of national strategic planning and outlines the processes, structures and systems in The Presidency to meet this objective. It looks at how these relate to the rest of government and how they would engage broader society in social dialogue.
The Paper proceeds from the understanding that planning is not a panacea that can by itself guarantee good development planning outcomes. Thus, it emphasises other critical attributes and prerequisites such as solid institutions, a highly capable state, strong relationships between major social forces and single-minded focus on achieving strategic objectives. It therefore raises matters of principle at a high level rather than details of structures and relationships among specific ministries, spheres and departments. It focuses on the architecture and processes of national strategic planning for which The Presidency will take responsibility.
Once consultation on these issues is completed, work will start of setting up the appropriate structures and mapping out the detailed relationships. The intense work of developing South Africa's long-term vision and the other planning outputs will only come after that.
What will be the products or outputs of planning?
There are four main outputs of the planning function:
* A long term vision for South Africa, e.g. Vision 2025, which would be an articulation of our national aspirations regarding the society we to which we aspire: A National Planning Commission comprising of external commissioners who are experts in relevant fields would play a key role in developing this plan. The Minister in The Presidency for National Planning would serve as a link between the Commission and Government, feeding the work of the Commission into government.
* The five-year Medium Term Strategic Framework (MTSF) and the annual Programmes of Action: These are documents adopted by extended Cabinet meetings involving the other spheres, drawing on the electoral mandate of the national government. The Minister in The Presidency for National Planning, supported by a Ministerial Committee on Planning, would coordinate the development of these documents.
* Research and discussion papers on a range of topics that impact on long-term development: These include topics such as demographic trends, global climate change, human resource development, and future energy mix and food security. This work will be undertaken by the Minister, working with the National Planning Commission.
* Frameworks for spatial planning that seek to undo the damage that apartheid's spatial development patterns have wrought on our society: This includes the development of high level frameworks to guide national and sub-national planning and infrastructure investment.
Why a national strategic plan?
The social and economic problems and challenges we face are deeply structural and complex in nature and require long lead times to resolve. Addressing the historical legacies and the colossal challenges confronting nation states such as the effects of climate change and preservation of the ecosystem requires a well articulated vision, clear plans, a capable state and close partnerships between government, labour, business and local communities.
The rationale for planning is that government requires a longer-term perspective to enhance policy coherence and to help guide shorter term policy trade-offs. A long-term plan will help departments and entities across all the spheres of government to develop programmes and operational plans focussed on meeting society's broader developmental objectives.
The core of a national plan is a vision consisting of a statement of objectives describing where a country wants to be by a certain time, together with the essential steps that are needed to reach that point. Such a vision is would define a specific and concrete destination and how to get there. The most successful and inspiring examples of rapid development have been in countries pursuing a national strategic plan.
What are the structures that will undertake the tasks of planning?
Cabinet collectively remains the key policy-making executive authority in government. The Green Paper outlines the main structures that constitute the backbone of the national planning function, which will be accountable to the President and to Cabinet.
The National Planning Commission (NPC)
The National Planning Commission would consist of respected intellectuals, leaders and experts from outside of government. Its task would be to produce a draft long-term vision and overarching plan for the country as a whole. Commissioners will be appointed by the President and the Minister for National Planning will chair the commission and provide the link between the NPC and government.
Ministerial Committee on Planning
At the executive level a Ministerial Committee on Planning appointed by the President will be established. The committee's work will be coordinated and chaired by the planning minister. The President and Deputy President will be ex officio members. In addition to processing the work of the NPC, this committee will provide political guidance to the planning process, support the planning ministry in driving strategic planning and ensure consistent and integrated programmes across multiple layers of policy-making, planning and implementation.
Ministry for National Planning
Acting with the authority, under the guidance of and on behalf of the President, the Minister for National Planning will be responsible for coordinating the planning process, leading the work of planning across government and in the NPC and managing government's interaction with social partners. Politically, the ministry will be accountable for the delivery of the planning outputs and products outlined above.
National Planning Secretariat
The Minister in The Presidency responsible for national planning will be supported by a National Planning Secretariat, which will also provide administrative, research and other support to the National Planning Commission. In addition to supporting the work of the NPC, the secretariat based in The Presidency will have the technical responsibility for scanning and researching key trends and aligning planning capacities across government and be administratively accountable for the delivery of the planning outputs. In the cause of its work the secretariat will establish strong ties with its administrative and technical counterparts in the departments, provinces, municipalities, state agencies and non-governmental agencies.
What will be the relationship between the Ministry for Planning and national departments and spheres of government?
The proposals in the Green Paper flow from the understanding that our system of governance is such that the Constitution gives considerable leeway to individual spheres and departments to design policies, plans and budgets. While this flexibility exists, policies, plans and budgets have however to be designed within clear national guidelines and frameworks.
At the same time, the strategic plans that the departments and spheres develop in their line function areas will serve as inputs into the overarching national strategic plan. As such, we envisage iterative processes leading up to the adoption a national vision and plan. The Presidency will develop institutional linkages with counterparts responsible for strategic planning and policy coordination in departments, provinces and municipalities to orientate policy development in line with the overall shared strategic framework derived from the iterative processes.
The Presidency has a core responsibility to ensure policy coherence, policy co-ordination and performance monitoring and evaluation. It will therefore take firm responsibility to lead, especially in crystallising government's strategic posture, eliminating fragmentation, ensuring the products of planning across spheres are aligned and resolving disputes of the kind which have in the past led to paralysis.
What will be the role of Parliament and the public?
Parliament
The Green Paper envisages a critical role for parliament in overseeing the planning process and ensuring successful implementation of the national plan. In particular, parliament has a valuable role to play in subjecting the planning outputs to rigorous democratic scrutiny by enriching the vision and ensuring it is embraced by broader society.
It is anticipated that in fulfilling this role of democratising the planning process, parliament will set up appropriate mechanisms from both houses.
Other structures of consultation
The Green Paper considers broader societal consultation in the planning process as fundamental. Besides parliamentary processes, the Minister for National Planning will lead the interactions with society through institutions such as sector forums, National Economic Development and Labour Council (NEDLAC) and a variety of interest groups. A key consideration is that the quality of the engagement has to shift from a lobbying and negotiating mindset to one based on true partnerships and a commitment to forge common cause representing the highest aspirations of South Africans.
Networks of expertise
In order to deliver on the products and outputs of planning the planning ministry will require cutting edge technical expertise. Part of this will be available in-house in the Secretariat. However several categories of external expertise will also be drawn in: state-funded research institutions, state owned enterprises, development finance institutions, specialist institutions in universities, think thanks and private research organisations.
What is the link between the planning and the performance monitoring and evaluation functions in The Presidency?
The planning and the monitoring and evaluation functions in The Presidency are closely linked, in two important ways:
* Good planning should provide excellent criteria to judge progress. Planning is meaningless without long-term objectives and milestones on the road to those objectives. For these reasons, the monitoring and evaluation function in The Presidency will have to be involved in finalising planning instruments (including the vision, the medium term strategic framework, and programme of action).
* There is a feedback loop between monitoring and evaluation, and planning. Performance monitoring and evaluation will assess progress, identify constraints, weaknesses and failures in implementation, and identify mechanisms of correction or enhancement. As such the processes and results of M&E will be critical to strategic planning.
The location of both systems in The Presidency will facilitate a systemic and on-going relationship between the planning system and the M and E system.
What will happen after the release of the Green Paper?
The Green Paper will be submitted to Parliament, and it is envisaged that hearings will be conducted to get the views of the public. The Paper has also been placed on the government website; and members of the public are invited to send their comments to The Presidency.
For comments and enquiries, please contact:
Hassen Mohamed
Tel: 012 300 5455
Fax: 086 683 5455
E-mail: hassen@po.gov.za
Issued by: The Presidency
4 September 2009
