Pretoria - The process of categorizing people to serve on the National Planning Commission according to their field of expertise is underway, says the Presidency.
More than 1 200 applications were received by the closing date of 10 February.
Minister of the National Planning Commission, Trevor Manuel, said he hoped that President Jacob Zuma will be able to announce the 20 commissioners by the end of March.
"The quality of the nominees is exceptional, with a myriad of experts in various fields nominated to serve on the Commission," said Manuel.
Included amongst the categories are engineering, town planning, demographic change, climate change, energy and water.
"The nomination process is reflective of two factors; South Africa possesses a remarkable array of talent in fields as diverse as space science to traditional medicine, engineering to medicine.
"The second factor is that there is an almost universal commitment amongst people to serve their country in some way or another to help shape their country's destination to make South Africa a better place," he said.
Manuel thanked all individuals and organisations for taking the time to nominate people as well as all the nominees themselves.
"Given the overwhelming number of nominees, the process of categorization of the nominations is taking slightly longer than anticipated.
"We want to assure all nominees that we will endeavour to utilise the skills and expertise of many of the nominees, through the work of the commission," said Manuel.
