Johannesburg — THE African National Congress (ANC) and its alliance partners yesterday signalled possible far-reaching changes to monetary policy under President Jacob Zuma.

They said after a weekend summit that an alliance task team " would remain seized with reviewing and broadening the mandate of the Reserve Bank".

The resolution formed part of a series of trade-offs among alliance partners at the three-day summit in Johannesburg.

Describing the summit as "one of the most important gatherings" where deliberations were "complex, tough and exhausting", alliance leaders stressed robust debate and policy differences would continue to be a feature of relations in future. There was no "softly-softly" approach to the policy disagreements that have led to public rows over who controls economic policy and where control in the Cabinet rests.

The gathering saw the ANC placating its leftist allies on macroeconomic and industrial policy while extracting concessions from the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) on the proposed National Planning Commission (NPC) and the role of public-sector unions in providing quality education.

Announcing decisions after the talks between the ANC, its leftist allies and civic movement Sanco, ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe told reporters the global economic crisis had forced a rethink of policy options.

In a statement, the allies agreed there was a need to link SA's short-term countercyclical response to the long-term objectives of transforming the structure of the economy and moving to a different growth path.

"In view of the current circumstances, we can't just say the policy is right. The primary issue is employment creation," Mantashe said.

The concession comes after the labour federation and the South African Communist Party led a vocal campaign for changes in macroeconomic policy and the mandate of the Reserve Bank.

On a ramped-up industrial policy, long a Cosatu bugbear, Mantashe said the allies agreed the scale and scope of industrial policy had to be increased, and funding increased "commensurately".

Asked if the summit discussed rand strength after Economic Development Minister Ebrahim Patel's pronouncements, Mantashe said: "We need to look at all aspects of monetary policy. It must talk to the developmental considerations, so we won't just isolate the issue of the strong rand.

"We need to look at the exchange rate and how the issue impacts on the current account deficit," Mantashe said.

But the ANC stuck to its guns in winning agreement on Minister in the Presidency Trevor Manuel chairing the controversial NPC, which will consist of external experts and not co-chairs of cluster ministers as suggested by alliance leaders.

"In particular we agreed that there is a need for the NPC located in the Presidency, which will be chaired by the minister in the presidency for the NPC and whose main responsibility will be to ensure integrated strategic planning across government," Mantashe said. He said the NPC matter had been resolved.

"That debate is settled now," Mantashe said. Cosatu president Sdumo Dlamini, who flanked Mantashe, played down the federation's earlier objections to Manuel, whom it accused of wanting to be a de facto prime minister.

"There are issues that still remain which need to be nuanced and worked on, excluding the issue of the chairing, which we have settled," Dlamini said.

Alliance insiders say a lot of horse trading is still likely on the NPC.

The role of the secretariat that will provide technical support to the NPC will also be an opportunity for the ANC to include some of the left's concerns on the role of civil society.

SACP general secretary, Higher Education and Training Minister Blade Nzimande, emphasised the agreements made by the alliance on education were "nonnegotiables".

"Performance evaluation for teachers was one of the issues that was agreed to in a prior education summit. However, it must be understood that appraisals should have a developmental thrust and not be seen only as a punitive measure," Nzimande said.

Teacher unions, including the South African Democratic Teachers' Union, a Cosatu affiliate, have opposed any evaluation of teachers.

Last week, Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga indicated the system of school inspectors would have to be brought back as part of the government's efforts to get tardy teachers to make the education system more efficient, especially in township schools.

The National Health Insurance (NHI) scheme, which was not catered for in Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan's medium-term expenditure framework statement last month, was one policy area supported across the three allied organisations.

Mantashe said the alliance would embark on a campaign to explain the scheme to everyone in the health chain. "We will mount an alliance campaign on NHI -- which will involve public education, and engagements with various sectors of society around the vision and the principles of NHI," the statement said.