Cabinet discusses economy, priorities

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14 August 2013

The Cabinet began a three-day meeting in Pretoria on Tuesday, with South Africa’s economic outlook, and progress on implementing the programmes outlined in President Jacob Zuma’s State of the Nation address in February, top of the agenda.

“The agenda mainly for us is to look at the economic outlook of the country and internationally to see what further measures we need to take to ensure that we sustain economic growth and maintain the current employment and probably increase employment in the country,” Minister in the Presidency for Performance Monitoring and Evaluation, Collins Chabane, said on Tuesday.

The extended Cabinet meeting includes the national executive, which comprises the President, his deputy, the ministers, deputy ministers as well as the premiers of the nine provinces.

Chabane said the gathering would also look at progress made on government priorities in education, health, job creation, fighting crime and corruption, and rural development and land reform since 2009.

“We need to look where we are and also to look in detail at the progress we made following the State of the Nation Address,” Chabane said.

“Lastly, we will look extensively on the preparations for the implementation of the National Development Plan and our medium term policy statement.”

The National Development Plan (NDP) is a long-term policy blueprint for eliminating poverty and reducing inequality in South Africa by 2030. It identifies the key constraints to faster growth and presents a roadmap to a more inclusive economy that will address the country’s socio-economic imbalances.

The NDP was approved by Cabinet late last year and adopted by the ruling African National Congress (ANC) at its elective conference in Mangaung in December.

President Jacob Zuma, in his reply to the debate on the Presidency’s budget vote in Parliament in June, reiterated the government’s support for the NDP as South Africa’s “long-term socio-economic development roadmap”, saying the plan “ensures certainty with regards to the direction of the country in the next 20 years”.

Source: SAnews.gov.za