Gaye Davis
POLITICAL decisions on the reallocation of Reconstruction and Development Pro-gramme functions are expected to be made within the next two weeks.
A task team set up by Deputy President Thabo Mbeki has already begun its work. Its members are Cabinet secretary Professor Jakes Gerwel, advisers to Mbeki Moss Ngoasheng and the Reverend Frank Chikane, RDP director general Bernie Fanaroff and Tanya Abrahamse-Lamola, chief director of the RDP’s Development Facilitation unit.
“Our task is to look at what’s there and to make recommendations to the deputy president as to what should go where. He will then discuss the recommendations with his ministers,” Ngoasheng said.
No decision has been made on relocating the RDP’s development and planning unit within Mbeki’s office, but there is a view that the presidency needs a planning and strategic management capacity, Ngoasheng added.
“The level and extent of this is under discussion. We will present the deputy president with the various options and he will take the decision.”
Another aspect of the team’s investigation is “to look at various options which may or may not include a political driver of the RDP”, Ngoasheng said.
It is understood that RDP officials are concerned that no one will be politically responsible for that part of the RDP which deals with change once functions are re- allocated to line-ministries.
Ngoasheng said the RDP office has “done a splendid job” in getting the government to work in non-traditional, cross-sectoral ways. “I personally think that that kind of work needs to be nurtured and continued.”
The team wants to resolve things as soon as possible, he said. “We want to create certainty in people’s lives, in departments and in the provinces — everyone is waiting for some guidance.
“We want to complete our work as soon as we can. We should have an indication within the next two weeks with regard to political decisions on the reallocations,” he said.