Cape Town - Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan says the National Development Plan (NDP) serves as a point of departure for his new budget, but this means a gradual re-alignment of policy and resources rather than any sudden shifts in spending.
"The 2013 Budget marks the beginning of a process through which government departments and agencies will align their planning and expenditure to the NDP," he said in his budget review.
The next medium-term strategic framework would reflect government's plans over the next five years on implementing the NDP, a blueprint for reducing poverty and inequality by 2030.
Many of the NDP's aims had long been part of government's strategic planning, but it had failed to deliver due to a "lack of effective planning, inadequate state capacity, and the absence of clear lines of responsibility".
Gordhan singled out the economy, education and state capacity as priority parts of the plan.
In practice this meant speeding up land reform, reviewing the regulatory environment for small businesses, and expanding public employment programmes.
It would see the introduction of school inspectors, and steps to strengthen the accountability of heads of government departments and parastatals.
It was also imperative to improve the way the state ran strategic infrastructure projects and to tackle corruption, Gordhan said.
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