14 Dec 2022

Parliament has approved chapter seven of the Transitional National Development Plan, which focuses on human and social development.

Chapter 7 focuses on creation, recognition and management of opportunities to attain higher levels of sustainable economic growth.

The key result area under this pillar as presented by Assistant Minister for State President, Mr Dumezweni Mthimkhulu is social development, defined as a process of enhancing the well-being of people by developing sustainable strategies that promote social and economic participation of the nation.

Responding to MPs’ debate on the matter, the assistant minister noted that the transitional plan was an ambitious one in response to national challenges.

Mr Mthimkhulu said the National Planning Commission was moved from the finance ministry to Office of the President to come up with a plan that required P64 billion.

He said government had taken note of the implementation of projects and there was a chapter that dealt with implementation and planning.

He said there were new ways of project implementation such as the development manager model that had been stated before.

In clearing accusations of corruption at the Office of the President, Mr Mthimkhulu said the allegations were not properly stated and the purported study questionable.

He said corruption allegations, which were based on perceptions, did not categorically state what was happening on the ground, but what ensued in the past.

Mr Mthimkhulu said efforts were made to root out corruption as promised by the current administration as government loathed corruption in all its forms.

He said some members of Parliament had been involved in business deals with government and that must not be construed to be shady deals.

He warned members of Parliament against making unfounded allegations, especially on matters that were irrelevant such as the alleged Afrobarometer survey on corruption at the Office of the President. ENDS