Question NW603 to the President of the Republic
12 May 2016 - NW603
Lekota, Mr M to ask the President of the Republic
Whether, in view of the fact that he, the Minister of Finance and the Statistician-General for Statistics South Africa, Mr Pali Lehohla, amongst others, are all pinning their hopes on the National Development Plan (NDP) to generate the economic growth our country needs, he would (a) take immediate and decisive steps to issue an invitation to every political party and organised interest groups which publicly, unreservedly and fully support the NDP to gather at an economic CODESA to agree to steps that would see the plan being fully implemented and (b) ensure that the mooted economic CODESA will set up an NDP Support Group that will closely and continuously monitor progress and issue reports for government to act on; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details; 2) whether he has established whether every member of the national Executive was willing to subscribe fully and unreservedly to the NDP and speak in open support of it at all times; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?
Reply:
1. The National Development Plan (NDP) was formulated through a thorough consultative process. Various stakeholders and members of the public were consulted in several road shows and extensive public engagement programmes by the National Planning Commission. The Plan was adopted by Parliament in 2013 with the objective to accelerate economic growth, eliminate poverty and reduce inequality by 2030. The Plan is already being implemented. The 2013 Budget was the first to be tabled within the framework of the National Development Plan (NDP). The NDP remains the cornerstone of all our budget allocation decisions. The Plan has been translated into a five year Medium Term Strategic Framework (MTSF), which is government’s five year programme of action. In this way, it forms part of the strategic plan of every government department.
The key priority for South Africa at the moment is to remove all possible impediments to implementation. The government cluster system ensures that there is alignment, facilitation and monitoring of implementation of priority programmes which feed from the NDP. Parliament is also able to monitor the implementation through the normal parliamentary oversight processes.
We have also introduced innovative programmes such as the Operation Phakisa Big Fast Results methodology. The programme is being implemented in a few sectors such as the ocean economy, information and communication technologies in schools, health and mining. Operation Phakisa is proving to be an effective implementation mechanism. Other programmes such as the Industrial Policy Action are also aimed at implementing the NDP, in order to promote inclusive growth and create jobs.
Every member of the Executive subscribes to the NDP. All government programmes are informed by the NDP.