the appointment of commissioners to the National Planning Commission

Statement by President Jacob Zuma on the appointment of commissioners to the National Planning Commission, Presidential Guesthouse, Pretoria

30 April 2010

Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe
Minister Trevor Manuel
Ladies and gentlemen of the media

Last year we announced that the new administration would do things differently and would work consistently to change the way government works, in order to improve service delivery. A key aspect of this exercise was to introduce effective planning as well as monitoring and evaluation capacity in the Presidency, to guide these functions in government.

Today we are pleased to announce the names of the members of the National Planning Commission, who are tasked with producing a national development plan and development vision statement for the country. The commission, assisted by a full time secretariat will develop well researched, evidence based proposals, cutting across the three spheres of government and across ministries and departments.

They will produce reports on a range of issues that impact on our long term development, such as water security, climate change, food security, energy security, infrastructure planning, human resource development, defence and security matters, the structure of the economy, spatial planning, demographic trends and so forth.

While each of these areas of work relate to an aspect of government's work, the commission is asked to take an independent, cross-cutting, critical and long term view of these issues. This exercise will enable us to make government's policies and plans are more coherent and focused on achieving the type of society that we all envisage.

The revised green paper on the National Planning Commission sets out the roles and responsibilities of this commission. Members of the commission represent various areas of expertise and reflect a diversity of experiences and perspectives. The commissioners are appointed in their personal capacities and do not represent any organisation or stakeholder.

Members of the commission:
Minister Trevor Manuel will chair the commission and feed its work into Cabinet and government in general. The Deputy Chairperson will be Cyril Ramaphosa.

The other members of the Commission are as follows:

* Bobby Godsell
* Elias Masilela
* Jerry Vilakazi
* Noluthando Gosa
* Jennifer Molwantwa
* Mike Muller
* Mariam Altman
* Chris Malikane
* Vivienne Taylor
* Marcus Balintulo
* Vuyokazi Mahlati
* Malekgapuru Makgoba
* Joel Netshitenzhe
* Anton Eberhard
* Bridgette Gasa
* Thandabantu Goba
* Phillip Harrison
* Ihron Rensburg
* Jerry Coovadia
* Karl von Holdt
* Mohammed Karaan
* Tasneem Essop
* Pascal Moloi
* Vincent Maphai

These individuals bring a broad range of expertise to the work of the commission. This includes expertise on finance, industry, telecommunications, biotechnology, water engineering, rural development, governance, energy, education, health, food security, and climate change, among others.

The work of the commission will commence immediately. The first meeting is tentatively scheduled for 10 and 11 May 2010 and will report on an ongoing basis to Cabinet. We congratulate these men and women and wish them all the best in their work as they guide the country towards sustainable development and prosperity. They are assured of our full support as government.

We urge all key sectors in the country to support their work as well as to ensure an improvement in the quality of life, especially of the poor and marginalised. We also wish to thank those members of the public who made nominations and to those who volunteered their services to the country.

Monitoring and evaluation

Our monitoring and evaluation function in the Presidency is also functional. Central to this is the conclusion of performance agreements with ministers. The deputy president and I spent yesterday meeting with ministers individually to discuss and sign their performance agreements.
We will continue the exercise today until we conclude the process with all 34 ministers.

The ministers will cascade these agreements to their deputies and Director-Generals to ensure the entire government reads from one script with regards to what is expected during this term. We are convinced that our vision of changing the way government works will truly yield results.

I thank you.

Issued by: The Presidency
30 April 2010
Source: The Presidency (http://www.thepresidency.gov.za/)