Pretoria- President Jacob Zuma will on Thursday provide a progress report on the implementation of the various segments of Operation Phakisa which is designed to implement the National Development Plan (NDP) priorities in key socio-economic sectors.
Operation Phakisa is an innovative approach that enables government and key stakeholders to transform high level plans into detailed implementation programmes to fast-track delivery of results.
The programme is an adaptation of the Big Fast Results methodology that was first applied by the Malaysian Government in the delivery of its Economic Transformation Programme and the Government Transformation Programme.
The Presidency on Wednesday said President Zuma drew interest in the programme from his visit to Malaysia in August 2013, after observing what was achieved within a short space of time through the use of this approach.
“In South Africa, we renamed the Malaysian Big Fast Results approach Operation Phakisa, to accentuate its critical role in assisting with the fast-tracking delivery on some of the priorities encompassed in the National Development Plan 2030," said President Zuma.
The first implementation of Operation Phakisa focused on unlocking the Economic Potential of South Africa’s Oceans to enhance their contribution to South Africa’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
The Operation Phakisa segment brings together representatives from government, industry, labour, civil society and academia to collaborate in unlocking the economic potential of our oceans.
“The choice of the ocean is with good reason. South Africa is uniquely bordered by the ocean on three sides – east, south and west.
“With the inclusion of Prince Edward and Marion Islands in the southern ocean, the coastline is approximately 3 924 km long. This vast ocean space is relatively unexplored in terms of its economic potential.
“In 2010, the ocean contributed approximately R54 billion to South Africa’s GDP and accounted for approximately 316 000 jobs,” said the Presidency.
The Presidency said there is much potential to leverage South Africa’s rich marine resources, harbours and industries to reach their full potential and optimise the ocean economy in a sustainable manner to boost both the economic and social development of the country.
“An analysis was conducted of nine sectors that comprise South Africa’s ocean economy, with a combined potential contribution to the GDP, ranging from R129 billion to R177 billion.
“It also has a potential contributing between 801 million direct jobs. These growth levers reflect at least 4% annual growth in both GDP contribution and job creation,” said the Presidency.
How it works
A key step in the Operation Phakisa approach is the Delivery Labs - intensive work sessions which are a highly effective approach to achieve several objectives in a very short time.
The cross-organisational team of multiple stakeholders in Operation Phakisa work full-time in one location for about five weeks.
“At the end of this period, they deliver complete and signed-off action plans for presentation to the Cabinet. Commitment to the solutions is secured by engaging key stakeholders early and continuously,” said the Presidency.
It said the uniqueness of Operation Phakisa is the fact that government, labour, business, academia and other sectors plan together.
Operation Phakisa is currently being implemented in the Oceans and Health sectors while new segments are being planned for education and mining. - SAnews.gov.za
