Manuel's three-tier challenge

Cape Town - Trevor Manuel, the minister in charge of the country's new planning commission, will craft a "wall-to-wall" planning framework for all three tiers of government.

But there is still no clarity on what powers he will wield to enforce this framework.

Manuel himself is not giving interviews until his new structure is in place. However, his presidency colleague in charge of monitoring and evaluating government output, Collins Chabane, said Manuel will staff his unit with industry experts.

Provincial and local governments are likely to be among the key issues the commission will have to deal with.

Previous ministers have repeatedly expressed frustration at provinces' undermining of service delivery by spending money unwisely and ignoring national priorities. Also, a growing number of municipalities are battling to keep afloat.

However, questions remain on how the planning commission will manoeuvre around provincial and municipal independence.

A constitutional amendment before parliament will, if passed, allow national government to intervene in municipal affairs. However, a parliamentary two-thirds majority cannot be taken for grated.

Chabane was not able to elaborate on the exact powers Manuel's ministry will be able to wield to enforce the national plan.

The question is also relevant to cabinet ministers.

"The monitoring and evaluation ministry and the planning commission are not established by a statute which defines issues like their powers and what information they can access," Chabane said.

"As we put these structures in place, we will need to look at what instruments (including legislation) are needed."

He said his own role will be to ensure that concerns by the likes of the auditor-general are dealt with timeously.

- Fin24.com