Johannesburg — INDIA has emerged as the closest model of how economic planning is to be organised in SA, following detailed studies of various countries in preparation of the proposed national planning commission.

About two years since planning started, SA is keen to move ahead in setting up a planning commission, considered a step in the creation of a development state that will set long-term goals to fast-track economic growth, create jobs and tackle poverty.

In the past few months, teams from the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) visited various countries to look at how government planning is structured. The DBSA funds infrastructure programmes on a R10bn annual budget and also acts as an adviser, particularly to government departments. Ravi Naidoo, a senior executive responsible for development planning and implementation, says the government has made no secret that SA is modelling its national planning processes along the Indian model.

"They do a lot of studies, they present priorities to government and are closely aligned to the budgeting process," says Naidoo.

However, he feels the South African structure is stronger than India's in that the former now incorporates monitoring and evaluation, headed by Collins Chabane. "They don't look at the horse once it has bolted, they only look at new horses in the stable," Naidoo said.

Other models studied by the DBSA include Vietnam, Singapore, Brazil, Chile and Argentina.

Ravi says Chile has imaginative policies for curbing unemployment and had resolved to have their government processes accredited by the International Organisation for Standardisation .

"They have programmes for the unemployed that will make us wonder why we make such a big thing about our discussion on unemployment grants and the basic income grant," Naidoo says.

But Argentina, once among the most influential countries in the world, is almost an example of what not to do. "In Argentina they don't really have a planning system as such; in fact they don't have a monitoring system either," he says.

Brazil is an interesting model as it provides for input for social formations, an aspect that appears to have impressed the South African team.

The green paper on strategic planning proposes that "respected intellectuals and experts from outside government" be roped into SA's national planning commission. Naidoo says it makes little difference who chairs a National Planning Commission as long as that person is senior, credible and has the president's authority.

Prominent policy maker Montek Singh Ahluwalia heads the Indian planning commission. But the type of leadership varies between countries. "In most cases it is a heavyweight; it may not be a deputy president but it has to be a senior minister," says Naidoo.

In SA, failure to create jobs, poverty and poor education have led to critics saying the creation of the National Planning Commission is moving too slowly. This month, Parliament opened the green paper on strategic planning for comment, to be followed by the establishment of structures and the development of SA's long-term vision.

South Korean ambassador Han- soo Kim says it could be argued that for SA, 14 years is a long enough period to start making a break from the past. "Too much focus on inward-oriented equality issues is not constructive," he says.

But Siphamandla Zondi, a researcher at the Institute for Global Dialogue, says the idea of a developmental state must be seen as opening the scope for a continuing conversation on "what kind of society we want".

Earlier this month, the African National Congress resolved that the National Planning Commission would be headed by Minister in the Presidency Trevor Manuel .

This was despite initial opposition from the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party, which had lobbied for the commission to be led either by the president or the deputy president.

It makes little difference who chairs a National Planning Commission as long as that person is senior, credible and has the president's authority, says Naidoo. But he feels there is a need to find ways of arbitrating disagreements, especially among government ministers of equal rank. "It is a very technical job; you need someone competent, who understands the whole of government," he says.

Kim says for planning initiatives to pull the whole country along, they have to be led by the highest office. He cautioned against establishing national goals with no hierarchy and no clear indication of how they interconnect.

Rural development, education, health, employment-creation and fighting crime were the government's five priority areas.