By Matome Sebelebele and Zibonele Ntuli

THE government has set-up a departmental task team to ensure that its developmental targets are met, as outlined by President Thabo Mbeki when addressing the nation earlier this year.

It is expected that the team will keep an eye on the progress and challenges in the implementation of government strategic developmental schemes such as the roll out of the multimillion Rand Extended Public Works Programmes (EPWP).

The team is made up of senior officials from the Presidency, National Treasury, Public Service and Administration Department as well as the Provincial and Local Government Department. It is expected to then report directly to Cabinet, that will in turn take decisive actions aimed at ironing out bottlenecks encountered during the implementation phases, as well as report to the nation on the success of its major projects.

Government chief spokesperson Joel Netshitenzhe confirmed that the authorities today heard much progress being made by various departments adding that the process of reporting to Cabinet had already started.

"The process of reporting to Cabinet has started and the programme will be updated on the website once the current reporting cycle has been completed," said Netshitenzhe, who is also head of the policy unit in the Presidency at a media briefing following a Cabinet meeting in Pretoria.

Among others, authorities together with the private sector have committed to creating a million jobs in the next five years, expand the social security net, and roll out health care services in the country.

Others are accelerating the pace of delivering water, sanitation and housing as well as upgrading infrastructure while striking a balance between what it calls the first and second economies that disfigure the South African economy.

Furthermore, government announced that it would towards end of the year, hold an anti-corruption summit together with heavyweights from the private sector to come up with strategies aimed at uprooting all manifestations of corruption in society. This will be the second such gathering following the one held in Cape Town almost five years ago.

"It is intended that the summit would emerge with a joint programme of action based on experiences gained since the last Summit," said Cabinet.
Source: BuaNews