President Jacob Zuma has transferred the Ministry of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation to the Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, (DPME), thus completing the reconfiguration of government which was necessitated by the changes made to the National Executive in May 2014, when he assumed office as President of the Republic to lead the fifth administration.

The transfer of functions and staff of the Ministry began in July 2015 and has now been concluded.

On 25 May 2014, President Zuma announced a new Cabinet. Subsequent to that, various administrative and legal steps were taken to give effect to the new Cabinet portfolios.

Proclamation No. 47 of 15 July 2014 was gazetted to transfer the administration of legislation and entities from one Minister to another in terms of section 97 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996.

Proclamation No. 43 of 8 July 2014 was also gazetted to amend Schedule 1 of the Public Service Act, 1994, to establish new and renaming the National Departments. The President created a new Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation (DPME). The National Planning Commission functions were then transferred from the Presidency to the DPME, with effect from 1 October 2014, to create the new portfolio.  The intention of the President is to institutionalise planning as well as monitoring and evaluation in government and to house these functions in one Department to ensure cohesiveness and focus.

The Ministry of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation, which is the office of Minister Jeff Radebe, had remained on the structure of the Presidency, which meant that the DPME reconfiguration had remained incomplete.  The Department operated without a Ministry which was located in the Presidency.

The Minister for Public Service and Administration has subsequently made a determination by direction of the President,  in terms of section 3(4)(b) of the Public Service Act, 1994, to transfer the functions of the Ministry of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation from The Presidency to the DPME in order to enable the cohesive functioning of the DPME portfolio. The DPME reconfiguration has now been completed.

The following entities which were part of the Presidency now fall under the DPME:

·       The Ministry for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation

·       The National Planning Commission

·       The National Youth Development Agency.

 

The portfolio of the Minister in the Presidency for Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation also includes Statistics SA (Stats SA), meaning the Minister has two departments reporting to him, the DPME and Stats SA.

The Departments of Women and the DPME operate independently of the Presidency, like other government departments, and have their own budget votes and administrations. Administratively, this means that the President is the Executive Authority of the Presidency, while Minister Radebe is the Executive Authority of the Ministry and Department of Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation and Minister Shabangu is the Executive Authority of the Department and Ministry of Women.

It should be noted that Minister Susan Shabangu and Minister Radebe remain Ministers in the Presidency. The only new development is that the office of Minister Radebe now reports to the department of the DPME instead of the Presidency, while Minister Shabangu’s Ministry became part of the Department of Women immediately after her appointment.

 

Issued by The Presidency