The Presidency increasingly plays the primary coordination and oversight role in the government. Its policy unit acts as a project manager, chivvying departments along in their work, and as a clearinghouse of ideas, setting the terms of debate within the government, sometimes to the irritation of departmental officials, who feel they are better acquainted with the issues, or more accountable for risks.
It is an approach that owes a fair amount to British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s style at No 10 Downing Street, which is characterised by five-year plans, and targets for the public service, along with measures to cajole and compel line managers and agencies to get with the programme.
But it also draws on the success of elite Asian bureaucracies such as Japan’s ministry of trade and industry, credited with guiding the post-war economic miracle that turned a feudal island state into the world’s second-largest economy.
It is this notion of a ”pilot agency” for development that was behind rumours last year of an imminent merger between the departments of public enterprises and trade and industry to drive the government’s microeconomic reform strategy in a way that neither had managed hitherto. For now, however, it seems clear that the Presidency is content to keep that role for itself.
These are President Thabo Mbeki’s promises to the nation for 2005 — a presidential Powerpoint you can use to keep him on his toes:
Service delivery
March 2005: A final action plan for Project Consolidate will be completed. This is a two-year programme aimed at streamlining national, provincial and local government to bolster service delivery. Project Consolidate allows for greater national government oversight — instead of provinces taking over the administration of failing municipalities, the national government will deploy specialist teams of administrators to tackle weaknesses.
May 2005: R220-million will be invested for commuter transport and safety from the Rail Commuter Corporation. This is in line with the Constitutional Court order last year that Metrorail Rail invests more seriously in commuter safety.
May 2005: Summit on corruption.
June 2005: Project Consolidate will submit the first of its six-monthly progress reports to the Cabinet.
December 2005: Outstanding claims in the land-restitution programme will be complete. The Department of Land Affairs still has to process 27 000 claims. About 50 000 have been processed since 1994.
December 2005: All metropolitan councils and 47 district councils will have a multipurpose community centre (MCC) — a one-stop shop that offers a range of government products and services under one roof, and simplifies the process of applications for passports, identity documents, pensions and other social grants. By 2014, all 284 municipalities will have a MCC.
December 2005: An improved Batho Pele campaign, including unannounced ministerial visits, name badges and internal communication within the public service, will be asserted.
2005: Set up two community courts per province.
March 2006: Community development workers will be deployed in each of the 284 local municipalities to ensure service delivery reaches the poverty-stricken.
2006: Draft legislation will be submitted to the Cabinet, which aims to streamline the pubic service through a framework of norms and standards across the vertical and horizontal structures of public administration.
2006: More than 30-million paper-based fingerprint records of the Department of Home Affairs will be computerised through the Home Affairs National Identity System, a key pillar of the government’s e-programme.
April 2007: Complete four new correctional services facilities.
2008: The provision of clean running water to all households.
2010: Decent and safe sanitation for all South Africans (300 000 households a year).
2012: Electricity for all South Africans.
Two nations/boosting the economy
May 2005: The Forum of South African Directors General will submit to the Cabinet a review of the functioning of the government system as well as a plan to stem the skills gap.
2007: Eskom will add R5,86-billion to the gross domestic product when it brings three decommissioned power stations into operation. The creation of new jobs as a result will peak at 36 000 in the same year. This is part of the government’s sea change to use big parastatals to serve developmental aims, rather than to sell them off.
May 2005: Discussions on investing 5% of investible capital of financial institutions in productive capacity will be completed. The decision that 5% of the funds held by institutional investors will be pumped into the real economy was taken at the 2003 growth and development summit.
December 2005: A socio-economic survey of the 21 communities identified under the Urban Renewal and Rural Development Programme launched in 2001 will be completed.
Regulatory environment
April 2005: An administered prices index (such as electricity and telecommunications) will be made available by Statistics South Africa to cut both business and private costs.
May 2005: The Agricultural Credit Scheme will become operational. This was established last year through the capitalisation of R1-billion to assist small-scale agriculture. The Apex Fund to leverage money from existing microfinance institutions and established financial cooperatives to nascent microfinance institutions will also be launched.
December 2005: Government to complete the system of exemptions for small, medium and micro-enterprises (SMMEs) with regards to taxes, levies and central bargaining.
April 2006: A ”more streamlined” system for SMMEs, with regard to tax and levy payments and business registration, will be introduced.
Sector development
November 2005: Sector development strategies for telecommunications, agro-processing, community and social services, wood and paper, appliances and the retail and construction industries will be finalised.
Skills development/expanded public works programme
2005 to 2010: Implementation of a new Skills Development Strategy. Over the five years, R21,9-billion will be allocated to fund this strategy, which aims to improve cooperation between sector education and training authorities, further education and training colleges and higher-education institutions to bring key skills into the economy more quickly.
April 2005: The government’s early childhood development programme will receive additional funding.
Additional reporting by Nic Dawes. This information is drawn from President Thabo Mbeki’s State of the Nation address two weeks ago