The National Development Plan was visionary, but today its only value is as a mirror.
I found a dusty copy of the original National Development Plan (NDP) published in August 2012 while moving offices last week.
Paging through the 500-page glossy book, I was again reminded that it was an excellent document – well ahead of its time. But the irony is stark, as it now represents one of the biggest pipedreams in South Africa’s democratic history.
The plan was the government’s flagship strategy to create a more equal society, with all proposals centralised to establish an enabling environment where businesses could grow and flourish to accelerate economic growth.
The goal was average economic growth of over 5.4% between 2011 and 2030. Unemployment was targeted to drop to 14% by 2020 and to 6% by 2030.
The government adopted the plan amid dancing girls and fireworks, proudly labelling it the magic blueprint for a prosperous future in South Africa.
Well, that didn’t quite happen.
But it isn’t a surprise. I also remember the ANC’s elective conference in Mangaung a few months later, in December 2012, where Jacob Zuma was re-elected as ANC president.
During his victory speech in a packed and boisterous venue, he feverishly brandished the plan in the air and shouted above the noise: “This is the plan that will take South Africa forward.”
The crowd noise tapered off and turned to discontented mumbling. A Cosatu official I had been speaking to bent down and muttered: “It’s a DA plan. It will never happen. Over my dead body.”
That was nearly 13 years ago.
It might as well have been the blueprint for the tallest building in the world, where the only execution was the theft of the building materials.
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No execution, but reviews continue …
The National Planning Commission still exists, and it regularly publishes reviews of the original plan’s failures.
The cynic in me says it could be one commission Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana can cut as part of his austerity plan.
The NDP still sports a beautiful cover, with crisp, glossy pages and an expertly crafted layout – a really professional document. Yet, despite its elegance, it has become a prime example of how a visionary and audacious plan, without execution, is ultimately not worth the paper it’s printed on. It’s a waste of money.
Today, South Africa has no clear blueprint for its future.
The government of national unity (GNU) is positive, but the leadership is currently focused on stabilising coalitions and tackling short-term crises. Beyond the immediacy, there is a vacuum of long-term strategic thinking.
A positive development, however, is the GNU’s stated focus on growth and job creation – core goals that echo the original intent of the NDP.
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Worth another (good) look
Perhaps the plan’s lasting value lies in its function as a mirror.
If politicians and policymakers were to reread it today – really read it – they might come to a sobering realisation: the country’s current economic policies are not working.
This will require an aggressive reassessment of key policies: revisiting empowerment policies and frameworks, policies not to nationalise plundered and dysfunctional state-owned enterprises but to re-establish powerful, independent institutions like the Scorpions to combat corruption, and fundamentally rethinking how South Africa fights crime to restore the rule of law.
We don’t need another glossy plan. We need brave decisions, practical policy shifts, and the political will to act.
This article was republished from Moneyweb. Read the original here.
