Why should you care about the SA's National Development Plan?

Sibusiso Banda

The national Development plan is a programme or a national blue pint of what kind of a country we want to live in by 2030 and what needs to be done over the years leading up to the year in order to achieve our visions.  

The plan is seen as a seen as a blueprint for the country’s social and economic development as it focuses on improving and creating a much better quality of life for through active citizenry, capable state and leadership.

The Positives

The plan came at the tight time when the country has been hit by a way of violent protest and negatives images of public funds looting and high levels unemployment amongst the youth. It hope on coming up with solutions that are consensus based.

The NDP plans on creating more jobs, improve education, fixing infrastructure, breaking apartheid planning legacy, using resources wisely, improving health care, making public services professional and consistently good, and lastly ending corruption and reunified nation. 

In his 2013 sona, President Jacob Zuma said the NDP which is ambitious target of creating 11-million jobs by 2030, will require teamwork to get the economy growing at a rate of more than 5% a year.

A commission headed by Trevor Manuel was set up by Zuma to take an independent and critical view of the country by looking at its post democratic strength and major challenges and then come up with a plan of action of how in a form of implementable solutions after collaborating and consulting widely. This is done in hope of making South Africa to have an economy in 2030 that is bigger, strong and better by then.

Clearly what we have achieved since 1994 has a lot of positives but there are also some serious negatives developing: we are not performing as an economy and society as we should. The goals emanate from the commission’s diagnosis report that was released in 2011. The report highlights 9 challenges facing the country as poverty, unemployment (amongst the highest in the world); poor quality of education, the issue of inequality. The NDP highlights these challenges as serious and requiring a long view by the country, government, business and other stake holders.

Instead of the economy growing by 2% every year, the NDP says it should be three times the size by 2030. This should be done in a globally competitive way and the whole county should be involved in this vision a reality. From a business point of view if we want to create all the jobs we want, the plan suggest we must help to “create a frame work” that is “favorable” to business in particular small and emerging business. The plan unpacks different elements that affect the business, from consumer to employer.

The Negatives

On paper, the NPD can look and sound great also when it being proposed to the public, but if there are no plans on how the implementation will go about. The only thing included is the qualities of people needed. The document states “The successful implementation of this plan requires strong leadership from government, business, labour and civil society.”

These are still some gray areas in term so the implementation process, total cost and degenerating revenue needed. It feel like its palliative treatment mat its best as they are appealing public support and engagement on what looks like “a wish list.” The plans and idea included here are not new; they are a combination of resurged past ANC policies such as RDP, GEAR and even the New Growth Path with a little bit of free-market literature thrown in to give it some credibility. The difference is that they are included in one document. These policies have been there since 1994 and they have been scraped, improved and reintroduced with new wording changes.

Despite that this is not a government plan and that they NDP has been drawn by an external committee outside government, but the fact remains the plan emanated from the decision that was take in a previous ANC conference 5 years ago. The party’s collective barging policy is harming the nation. Unions have been given unnecessary power that has been crippling the economy.

Although the implementation process has not started, citizens are said to be expected to hold them accountable. Communities are involved in decision-making and oversight but this means nothing if the important factor (the budget) of the plan is not made known. But how can they if not all aspects about the plan are not make know.

Is the funding coming from tax revenues or is there going to be a specific budget allocation or in terms of future scenarios, like Kane-Bermandoes once asked: “is an endorsement of the NDP amounts to giving the government "a blank cheque for more taxation and more borrowing and probably for both?” This could be seen as a blue print for looting on a grand scale, hopefully not another Nkandla debacle.

The NDP is map and like any map it cannot tell you about the pot holes on the road. On the map the route looks perfect until you drive on that road in person. A compass is needed to make sure we are going in the right direction, our route needs to be planned to ensure we have the resources to achieve our common goals. Budget transparency needs to be ensured first so that we can properly plan ahead and be able to priorities other needs.