GOVERNMENT ENTERS NEW COLLECTIVE MODE OF OPERATION

Issued by: SA Communication Service

OFFICE OF THE EXECUTIVE DEPUTY PRESIDENT T. M. MBEKI

Significant progress was made at the Inter-Governmental Forum (IGF), co-chaired by Executive Deputy Presidents T.M. Mbeki and F.W. de Klerk, and held on 26-27 February 1996 in Cape Town.

Both national and provincial government representatives achieved further consensus for the alignment of government policies, activities and programmes including various economic targets to ensure growth and development for the implementation of the RDP.

Deputy President Thabo Mbeki said: "What we have achieved since the last IGF meeting held in Pretoria in November 1995 is unprecedented degree of consensus on common targets, strategies and approaches to resources.

"The emerging framework for a national growth and development Strategy will take the RDP forward through the establishment of concrete steps that will accelerate growth and development and will reach our targets of reducing poverty, increasing employment and improving the quality of life of our people."

This IGF developed a work programme to concretise various strategies including:

• the maximisation of employment creation in the short, medium and long term;
• maximisation of public and private investment in infrastructure;
• provision of basic services;
• various approaches to public service rationalisation to ensure effectiveness and efficiency and strategies to ensure that it does not worsen poverty;
• safety and security and
• human resource development

National and provincial government representatives committed themselves to a series of high level economic targets including:

• sustainable economic growth of six per cent per annum by the year 2000
• creation of 500 000 new jobs per annum by the year 2000
• provision of basic municipal services to the entire population by the year 2005 and
• doubling the income of the poorest 40% of households by the year 2005

The IGF targeted the end of April 1996 for the completion of the draft national growth and development strategy, which will be tabled to national and provincial cabinets and the IGF for discussion and will be published for comment.

Further work will be done up to September to link the growth and development strategies to the allocation of resources in the Budget, the development planning cycle and the budget cycle.

Issued by: Ricky Naidoo, Deputy Director: Communication Office of Executive Deputy President T.M. Mbeki Date: 27 February 1996 Tel: 083 555 5189