Johannesburg -
The debate in the ruling alliance over the National Planning
Commission has been settled, ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe
said on Sunday.
"In particular we agreed that there is a need for the NPC
located in the Presidency, which will be chaired by the Minister in
the Presidency for the NPC and whose main responsibility will be to
ensure an integrated strategic planning across government,"
Mantashe said, addressing a media briefing after a three-day
alliance summit with partners the SA Communist Party, the Congress
of SA Trade Unions and the SA National Civics Organisation.
"That debate is settled now," he said, flanked by Cosatu
president, Sdumo Dlamini and SACP general secretary, Blade
Nzimande.
Cosatu was vocal in its criticism of the Minister in the
Presidency Trevor Manuel's Green Paper on National Planning, saying
it vested too much power in the former finance minister's hands.
An alliance discussion document addressed issues raised by
Cosatu but the union federation wanted the commission to be headed
by the president. The ANC reiterated its support for Manuel to
chair the commission after its national executive committee meeting
- and the union has accepted this.
"The broad thrust of that latest document is acceptable to us
and that there are issues that still remain, to be nuanced and
worked on, but that excludes the issue of chairing which we have
settled on," said Dlamini.
"Our appeal is that people don't raise this matter anymore, its
not an issue."
An alliance task team on macro-economic policy would "remain
seized with reviewing and broadening the mandate of the Reserve
Bank".
Mantashe described the talks as "difficult, complex and long",
saying there was no "soft, soft approach" to the issues discussed.
He added that the no-holds barred talks were "the most important
summit" since the 1990's.
"We come out of this summit more stronger because a robust
engagement is pulling parties together.
"I don't think you are going to see more public disagreements,
you're going to see more robust debates in public because we don't
want to suppress that," he said.
While the issue of Eskom's management woes did not emerge at the
gathering, Mantashe said the parastatal's 45 percent price hike
application was a cause for concern.
"We are definitely uncomfortable with the 45 percent times
three... we are looking at all various options... we are looking at them
we want to come up with a proposal by the end of the month," he
said.
The summit reaffirmed education as a key priority. A mass
campaign for basic education would include the "enforcement of
'non-negotiables'" agreed to at the previous alliance education
summit.
- Sapa