Government was set to develop a new accountability framework and a new performance monitoring approach, which would include a public-sector skills audit and significant reform of supply chain manage- ment to facilitate the implementation of the National Development Plan 2030 (NDP).

Speaking at a media briefing last week, Minister in the Presidency responsible for the National Planning Commission Trevor Manuel said plans around the implementation of the NDP would be articulated in the coming weeks and that its successful implementation would hinge on reskilling public servants and establishing consequences for those who did not fulfil their job functions.

“It will no longer be business as usual,” he promised.

He added that if a public servant could not fulfil the requirements of a mission-critical post, the person should be relieved of that responsibility within the ambits of labour law considerations.

Manuel also stressed that no public servant should be allowed to contract with government to any extent, particularly within the department in which that servant is employed.

Ministers in government would not be exempt from this skills audit, and would, along with employees from the public ser- vices departments, be required to undergo ‘reorientation’ to improve general competence skills.

“We are also looking to significantly reform supply chain management in the public sector, as it has always been the Achilles heel of government, and [reform practices] where bad tendencies have been allowed to accrue,” Manuel commented.

Sweeping public-sector reform would require uniformity and full compliance, governed by a framework to guide quality, quantity and oversight, which, Manuel acceded, had been lacking.

“We need to diffuse best practice across all public sectors without diminishing the powers of other spheres of government,” he said.

Meanwhile, Minister in the Presidency: Per- formance Monitoring, Evaluation and Admini- stration Collins Chabane added that government was finalising the implementation framework of the NDP, which was in the process of going through various approvals.

“We are beyond the phase of analysis; now it is time for action,” Manuel added.

Implementation of programmes that did not require additional resources or lengthy lead times and which focused on improving the implementation of existing policies would start this year.

Further, the implementation of the NDP would be apportioned into five-year planning cycles designed to align with national elections and terms of tenure.

The first NDP-aligned medium-term strategic framework (MTSF), or planning cycle, would run from 2014 to 2019.

“We have started to develop the MTSF with the aim of having it ready for approval by Cabinet as soon as possible after the 2014 elections. This will enable the new administration to focus on implementation as soon as possible after taking office,” Chabane commented.

Government said NDP proposals were being incorporated into the existing activities of departments and absorbed into the short- and medium-term plans of government at national, provincial and municipal level.

Manuel noted that it was this process of integration and alignment that would prove the greatest challenge.