Minister Maropene Ramakgopa: National Planning Commission Summit

Keynote Address by Minister Maropene Ramakgopa, Minister in The Presidency for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation and Chairperson of the National Planning Commission, at the National Planning Commission Summit - Venue: Sol Plaatje University, Kimberley, Northern Cape

Programme Director,
Deputy Minister in the Presidency for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, Honourable Seiso Mohai,
Premier of the Northern Cape, Honourable Dr Zamani Saul,
Resident Coordinator of the United Nations in South Africa, Your Excellency Mr Nelson Muffuh,
Chairperson of Provincial House of Traditional Leaders, Kgosi Pelonomi Toto and all our Traditional Leaders,
Members of the Northern Cape Executive Council
Acting Mayor of Sol Plaatje Local Municipality, Councillor Dineo Dioka
Commissioners of the National Planning Commission,
Dr Grace Kumchelis, Director for Development Planning at the National Planning Commission of Malawi
Commissioners of the National Planning of Malawi Commission, Public Service Commission, other Commissions present,
Vice-Chancellor and Principal of Sol Plaatje University, Professor Andrew Crouch,
CEO’s and Boards of our Government Entities
Municipal Managers,
Leaders of Organised Labour and Civil Society,
Organised Business,
Government representatives,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good morning!

I would like to welcome you all to what we hope will be a fruitful two days of discussions and engagements to further institutionalise planning and development in our nation. 

I am very pleased that we have gathered in the Northern Cape. This province and its people are very dear to me. I served as a ward councillor in Kgatelopele Local Municipality. I served as Executive Mayor in the Siyanda District Municipality, and also worked in the Office of the Premier in this province. The Northern Cape and its people are very dear to me, and I would like to encourage those of you who have come from out of town to use the opportunity to get to know this remarkable province.

 Ladies and Gentlemen,

We gather in a university and municipality named after a titan of the struggle for equality and the liberation of African people. Sol Plaatje was one of the foremost activists against discrimination, and a proponent of knowledge and community engagement, whose work and ideas continue to motivate us today. We remember the tour of observation that Plaatje led with other activists and writers, where they took a train from Kimberley to the then Transvaal, and engaged with marginalised communities on how they were affected by the devastating Natives Land Act of 1913, which was made into law by the Union of South Africa.

 This undertaking, which Plaatje documented in his book, Native Life in South Africa, was one of the earliest evidence-based accounts of the systemic oppression the majority of South Africans experienced at the time, and would continue to experience for generations during apartheid. Thirty-one years into South Africa’s democracy, and since the ending of one of the most oppressive and racist systems in the history of humanity, we continue the work of undoing the legacy of apartheid and to foster a cohesive and inclusive nation which works for all. 

 Ladies and Gentlemen,

The National Planning Commission (NPC) is made up of 26 individuals, appointed by the President, who are experts in their field and bring a wide range of experiences to bear as they undertake their mandate of advising government and all-of-society on the implementation of the National Development Plan (NDP) Vision 2030.

 As custodians of the NDP, and recognising that the 2030 deadline of the current plan is only five years away, the Commission decided that the work on the next long-term plan needs to be initiated. This summit is a result of that decision. 

 The NPC recognises that all our actions must be aligned with other role-players in the country’s development, to ensure we can take the country forward in an effective and inclusive manner. We understand that we must proceed as a collective as we build on the current NDP and all other detailed plans. This is why the NDP and the Medium-Term Development Plan (MTDP) 2024 – 2029 emphasise the importance of partnership and collective action in implementing plans to accelerate development in the country. 

 Therefore, I want to use this opportunity to stress the importance of these two days and the discussions that will follow. When the NPC decided to convene this summit, we were very clear that this is a continuation of the approach that this country has taken since we became a democratic nation in 1994. Right from the inception, we understood that any action we take must be well-considered, properly debated, and must grow the economy and improve the lives of our people. 

Programme Director,

When South Africa’s first democratically elected government took office in 1994, we understood the importance of planning for a public service that would serve all the people of the country in a manner that took our history and culture into account. We started to make these necessary changes when we introduced the White Paper on the Transformation of the Public Services in 1995.   

We understood that not only did we need to undo the legislative framework of apartheid in those early years, but we needed to plan appropriately to ensure that we rebuild the country, as we did.This was done by improving accountability through budgeting, as we adopted the Public Finance Management Act. 

We went further and adopted the National Planning Framework in 2001, which provided the basis for the Integrated Sustainable Rural Development Strategy and the National Spatial Development Perspective. It signalled the start of an integrated and coordinated approach that linked economic, spatial, and social strategies to promote sustainable growth and reduce inequality through the introduction of the five-year Medium-Term Strategic Framework (MTSF). In fact, the National Planning Framework was the basis for the NDP, which remains our long-term lodestar. The MTSF has nowalso evolved to become the MTDP, which is further aligned to the NDP. 

 Our intergovernmental relations framework adopted in 2005 ensured that Provincial Growth and Development Plans are aligned to the MTSF and that is further aligned to local government plans. More recently, to provide further impetus to the integrated planning process, we introduced the District Development Model (DDM) that provides a stronger framework to ensure that priorities are aligned across the spheres of government and includes coherent One Plans, which are the long-term and collaborative plans developed under the DDM. 

 This integration is a defining feature for the success of our planning system. This was evident in 2013 when we introduced legislation to deal with the legacy of apartheid spatial planning through the Spatial Planning and Land Use Management Act. In addition, the Expropriation Act, signed into law this year by His Excellency President Cyril Ramaphosa, gives further impetus to transforming spatial planning in the country, as it will assist us with theimplementation of the Spatial Development Framework. 

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Although government has been tabling strategic and annual performance plans for a long time, in 2010 we institutionalised it through the Framework for Strategic Plans (SPs) and Annual Performance Plans (APPs), which was then further refined and updated in 2019. As with all planning in South Africa since 1994, this revised framework also took a results-based approach that promoted and prioritised the needs of the vulnerable groups in society, such as women, youth, and people with disabilities in the plans of public institutions.

 South Africa is clearly committed towards the path of institutionalising planning to achieve inclusive economic growth, create jobs and tackle unemployment, and to strengthen the state’s capacity. We have put in place transformative and frameworks. Yet, we continue to face the question of why are we struggling to achieve our goals. 

 Although the adoption of the National Development Plan marked a shift in national planning by introducing a commitment to long-term planning, weaknesses in the planning system continued to hamper the state’s capability to improve outcomes. 

For example:

• There is still a lack of adequately coordinated and integrated approaches to planning between the top-down and bottom-up approaches
• There has been an inadequate alignment of plans across the three spheres of government as well as within government spheres
• There is misalignment between the planning and budgeting cycles and processes, and
• Linkages between developmental and institutional plans and budgets do not adequately address the resources needed to ensure actual change.

We are addressing these challenges through entrenching the alignment of all departments and spheres of government to the MTDP, yet there is more to do. 

 Ladies and Gentlemen,

As you embark on discussions over the next two days, it is important that you not only bear in mind the challenges faced by the detailed planning frameworks that align across the spheres of government and the results-based approach, but thatyou also consider the global context, with its current geopolitical shifts and realignments, and the potential changes that we are likely to experience in the long term.

 South Africa currently holds the G20 Presidency, under the overarching theme of Solidarity, Equality, Sustainability. This theme is drawn from the values that define us as a nation, and give expression to how we believe multilateralism can build a better world. 

 It is crucial that your discussions incorporate these themes into everything going forward. Solidarity, Equality and Sustainability should not be seen as the current buzzwords, but must remind us of who we are and how we move forward as a nation. 

 It is important that our focus be on developmental planning. This is aligned not only with our NDP but also with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which our own development goals are aligned to. Last year, the United Nations (UN) warned that the world was on track to meet only 17 percent of the SDGs by 2030. This should highlight the importance of collaborative efforts to strengthen the state’s capacity to accelerate development. 

 In conclusion,

I understand that the discussions that will take place during the course of the NPC Summit will inform the National Dialogue. On Tuesday this week, His Excellency President Cyril Ramaphosa, announced that the first National Convention, which will set the agenda for the National Dialogue, will take place on 15 August 2025. 

 Over the past 31 years of democracy, South Africa has made significant strides towards building a united, non-racial, and non-sexist society and improving the lives of all its people. The National Dialogue will seek to build on these achievements, and strengthening our efforts to tackle poverty and inequality. 

 The National Dialogue will also seek to address the challenges of low growth and job creation, corruption and fiscal constraints. It will seek to find impactful solutions to gender-based violence and femicide, racism, sexism, and violent crime. The National Dialogue seeks toforge a new social compact, deepen social cohesion, and agree on the actions required by all members of society to overcome the country’s challenges and achieve the objectives of the National Development Plan.

 While the National Dialogue will be informed by an extensive public consultation process in localities facilitated by various sectors of society, such as this summit, mechanisms will also be established for citizens to contribute directly to shaping its agenda and outcomes.  

The NPC Summit is therefore a timely and important intervention to put planning and development at the centre of our efforts to build a nation which works for all. The discussions that will be held at this summit will play an important role in setting the foundation of how we shape the country’s future under extremely challenging and changing circumstances.

I thank you.