The Minister of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, says Cabinet’s approval of the Integrated Planning Framework Bill will ensure integrated planning across government and fast track the implementation of the National Development Plan (NDP).
“The bill is aimed at establishing an institutional framework to integrate planning across government and ensure alignment between national, provincial and local government planning and other sectors.
“The bill proposes a five-year implementation plan for the NDP to ensure focus on resourcing and immediate, short and medium term deliverables to ensure the achievement of our long term developmental goals of the NDP,” said Dlamini-Zuma.
She made the remarks as she opened the presentation of the Presidency Budget Vote on Tuesday.
Her presentation was followed by President Ramaphosa, who outlined the progress made on projects announced during his State of the Nation Address.
Last month, Cabinet approved the Bill for publication in the Government Gazette, for public comment.
Realignment of budget with NDP priorities
The development of the Integrated Planning Bill is intrinsically linked to Cabinet’s decision to mandate the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME) and National Treasury to develop an annual Budget Prioritisation Framework (known as the ‘Mandate Paper’).
The document aims to establish the strategic framework for decision-making on budget priorities that are required to advance the goals of the NDP. The Mandate Paper focuses on strengthening the three key levers of NDP implementation, namely growing the economy; enhancing the capabilities of South Africans, and building a capable State.
“It ensures that the various national departments, provinces and local government align their budgets with the goals of the NDP. In our endeavours to monitor government performance and set new targets for the remainder of the NDP, we will produce the 25-year review as the basis for our development strategies,” said Dlamini-Zuma.
The 25-year review is of particular significance, as it will inform the implementation of the next Medium Term Strategic Framework (MTSF), covering the period 2019 – 2024.
Learning from service delivery protests
Dlamini-Zuma also reflected on the service delivery protests that engulfed the North West in April. She said government must learn to identify problems before they reach crisis level.
“Our experience in the North West demonstrates quite clearly that the challenges our society faces are intertwined and need an integrated approach for effective governance of our institutions for service delivery.
“It also raises the need for our monitoring and evaluation experts to continuously monitor communities so that we can detect early warning signals to prevent the eruption of violent protests. In the spirit of Thuma Mina, we must be proactive and lend a hand to assist and find solutions before there is a crisis,” said Dlamini-Zuma. – SAnews.gov.za
