Nominations have opened for the 20 commissioners who will spearhead the National Planning Commission (NPC) on a non-executive basis, Minister in the Presidency Trevor Manuel said on Friday.

Briefing the media on the revised green paper for national strategic planning, Minister in the Presidency Trevor Manuel said they had changed the ambit of the power given to commissioners.

Commissioners would now not have executive powers and would only recommend policy changes to Cabinet.

On releasing the green paper in 2009, Manuel raised the ire of the Congress of South African Trade Unions, which felt that the paper had conferred too much power on the commission, making its head more powerful than Cabinet ministers.

"We have taken out executive functions, we can't remove executive powers from Cabinet," the former Finance Minister said at the Union Buildings in Pretoria.

Some of the issues commissioners would consider included climate change, demographic change, water, food and energy security as well as technology and innovation.

Manuel said that commissioners would need to be smart and committed to development in the country.

One particular area in which they were looking for candidates was for "future studies".

"The show is on the road, today we call for nominations... we want very smart people, very committed people in the NPC," Manuel said.

He added that nominations would be whittled down by the Presidency and he hoped to "pin down" President Jacob Zuma to announce the commissioners by the end of March.

He said the list of names to be taken to Zuma would ultimately be his responsibility.

"I can't pass the buck."

He said the work of the NPC was an elaborate process and it was hoped it would produce its first report within 18 months, although short term planning policies would still be drafted in the interim.

Nominations are opened to every South African. However, experience and expertise were necessary requirements

He said ideally commissioners would have day jobs and would work on a part-time basis over a period of five years.

The commission might draw on foreign experience to inform policies but only South Africans would sit on the board of commissioners.

Manuel would not be drawn on salaries but urged reporters to "get rid of the cynicism".

Manuel said there had been a "fair amount" of support for the green paper but he accepted it would raise issues.

"You couldn't satisfy the needs of 48,5-million people by selecting 20 people."

The aim of the NPC would be to draft a Vision 2025 and a longer term strategic plan.

Manuel said that this would incorporate estimating where society saw itself in 15 years in terms of social, economic and political involvement.

The long-term plan would address how this vision could be achieved by defining issues and weighing trade-offs.

In terms of how it would operate within government, Manuel said it would seek to provide practical plans on how to implement policies and decisions adopted by government.

He gave as an example, the political agreement signed at the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 2%.

The NPC would then formulate a plan on how this could be achieved.

Nominations for the 20 commissioners were available online. The cut-off date was February 10.