Manuel: No imperial ambition

Cape Town - Minister in the Presidency Trevor Manuel attempted to clear his name from any idea that he wanted to be "an imperial prime minister" as Cosatu accused him of trying to become.

Briefing the ad hoc committee set up to examine his Green Paper on national strategic planning on Tuesday, Manuel urged them: "Let's take Trevor Manuel out of the equation. Let's depersonalise this thing in its entirety."

He told members of the committee that the planning commission described in the Green Paper "shouldn't be the gatekeepers of policies. We shouldn't come between individual ministers and Parliament, for instance".

He emphasised that Parliament will "carry some weight in the planning process".

He told MPs "I would like this committee to know this. As the work gets done it has to find a place in Parliament," and he added: " Parliament needs to have quite a big role."

He assured his detractors in the unions that he and his department "don't have the capability or the intention to get into the nitty gritty", though he wanted to retain the power to see where there is a failure to sequence decisions properly within departments or spheres of government "where you have uncoordinated or contrarian approaches".

He also denied that the Green Paper was not his own exclusive work. "It may have had its origins with my office," he said, "but it has been thoroughly discussed for many many hours in cabinet.

"Its not some fly by night thing that Joel (Netshitenzhe - policy chief in the presidency) wrote in some pub down the road."

- I-Net Bridge