In the seventh Government of National Unity (GNU) administration, ministers will not be allowed to act alone. They will adhere to the government's priorities as set out by the Lekgotla Cabinet, Minister in the President's Office Khumbudzo Ntsahvheni told a parliamentary press conference on Thursday.
Now that ministers have been sworn in, Ntshavheni is set to reveal how the government will set out its plan of action for the administration.
She said the Secretaries-General's Forum was currently conducting a policy review of all GNU's political partners.
“The Forum of Secretary-Generals of South Africa (commonly known as FOSAD), chaired by the Secretary-General in the Presidency, will begin the task of analysing the GNU parties' manifestos and will submit recommendations for consideration and adoption at the Cabinet meeting scheduled for Thursday-Friday next week,” Ntshavheni said.
Political parties need to decide their priorities before the election.
“There is a requirement that you cannot include all priorities and that is difficult to implement. So the question is what is the filter for priorities and we have indicated that the filter is the goals and targets of the National Development Plan,” she added.
President Cyril Ramaphosa will announce his government's priorities when Parliament sits on July 18. Ministries and departments will then have to align their plans with the government's priorities, under the oversight of the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation.
“So just because we have adopted the plan does not mean we are going to go ahead and do it however we like. There is a department that oversees it. The plan is aligned with the MTSF as agreed. Especially because now that we are in the GNU, what we have all agreed as the plan of action is the government's plan of action, not the plan of action of the ANC, DA, UDM, PA or any other party that is part of the GNU.”
Ntsahvheni said state enterprises would be housed in the presidential office but policy would be handled by individual ministries, with further details to be announced in a presidential decree in due course.
“We are not responding to the reports about Eskom and Transnet because that is part of a presidential proclamation in which the president delegates executive powers to ministers he has appointed.”
Ntsahvheni reiterated that the size of the cabinet cannot be reduced because of the GNU.
Video | Minister Khumbudzo Ntsahvheni explains GNU to the media:
