Cape Town - The 25 members of the newly constituted National Planning Commission had the full backing of President Jacob Zuma and his cabinet, said the Minister in the Presidency: National Planning Trevor Manuel.
During a media briefing on Wednesday, Manuel cautioned the media against sowing rumours about perceived power struggles on the body.
He said he did not foresee a possible tussle between himself and Cosatu, following the labour federation's statement last week that the commission was not sufficiently representative of labour and civil society.
He emphasised that the commission, which held its inaugural meeting yesterday and on Monday, carried the "full weight of support from the executive".
"The President made the appointment of the commissioners in his wisdom. The commissioners have said they will act as one, regardless of who nominated them, and that is how it will be," he said.
On Tuesday, Zuma addressed the commission calling on commissioners to remain independent and critical of government in their work.
He said the commission's work schedule was "fairly tight" and that a national vision document would have to be crafted within 18 months.
This would likely involve "quite a lot of discussion" as the commission sought to engage with people across the country, he said.
Following the drafting of a national vision, a national plan would be drawn up which would put numbers to those aspects outlined in the national vision.
He said this would include papers on cross-cutting issues which were outlined in the Green Paper on national planning, such as transport, climate change, water and energy
