What is the National Development Plan, and will its hopes become a reality?

Most people only took notice of the National Development Plan (NDP) after its commissioners put out a statement recently proposing measures to end load shedding.

According to the National Planning Commission website, the NDP’s aim is to eliminate poverty and reduce inequality by 2030. Former president Jacob Zuma appointed the National Planning Commission, an advisory body consisting of 26 experts, in May 2010, to draft a vision and national development plan.

The Commission’s Diagnostic Report was released a year later, setting out South Africa’s achievements and shortcomings since 1994. It identified a failure to implement policies and an absence of broad partnerships as the main reasons for slow progress. The report also set out nine primary challenges to overcome:

• Not enough people working
• The poor quality of school education for black people
• Infrastructure is poorly located, inadequate and under-maintained
• Spatial divides hinder inclusive development
• The economy is too resource intensive, which is unsustainable
• The public health system cannot meet demand or sustain quality
• Public services are uneven and often of poor quality
• Corruption levels are high
• South Africa remains a divided society.

ALSO READ: Infrastructure: SA’s best weapon to combat low GDP, poverty and unemployment

The National Development Plan: goals for 2030

A draft national plan was then released with four more thematic areas, namely rural economy, social protection, regional and world affairs, and community safety.

After consulting widely, the NDP was released with these goals for 2030, eight years from now, to eliminate income poverty and reduce the proportion of households with a monthly income below R419 per person (in 2009 prices) from 39% to zero and reduce inequality to decrease the Gini coefficient to 0.6.

The NDP sets these enabling milestones for the country:

• Increase employment from 13 million in 2010 to 24 million in 2030
• Raise per capita income from R50 000 in 2010 to R120 000 by 2030
• Increase the share of national income of the bottom 40% from 6% to 10%
• Establish a competitive base of infrastructure, human resources and regulatory frameworks
• Ensure that skilled, technical, professional and managerial posts reflect the country’s racial, gender and disability makeup
• Broaden ownership of assets to historically disadvantaged groups
• Increase the quality of education so that all children have at least two years of preschool education and all children in grade 3 can read and write
• Provide affordable access to quality health care while promoting health and wellbeing
• Establish effective, safe and affordable public transport
• Produce sufficient energy to support industry at competitive prices, ensure access for poor households and reduce carbon emissions per unit of power by about one-third
• Ensure all South Africans have access to clean running water in their homes
• Make high-speed broadband internet universally available at competitive prices
• Achieve a food trade surplus, with one third produced by small-scale farmers or households
• Ensure household food and nutrition security
• Entrench a social security system covering all working people, with social protection for the poor and other groups in need
• Establish a developmental, capable and ethical state that treats citizens with dignity
• Ensure that all people live safely, with an independent and fair criminal justice system
• Broaden social cohesion and unity while redressing the inequities of the past
• Play a leading role in continental development, economic integration and human rights.

ALSO READ: Freedom Day: whose freedom is it anyway?

2030 objectives

According to the NDP, it aims to achieve these objectives by 2030:

• Unite South Africans of all races and classes around a common programme to eliminate poverty and reduce inequality
• Encourage citizens to be active in their own development, strengthen democracy and hold their government accountable
• Increase economic growth, promoting exports and making the economy more labour absorbing
• Focus on key capabilities, including skills, infrastructure, social security, strong institutions and partnerships of people and the country
• Build a capable and developmental state
• Ensure strong leadership throughout society that works together to solve our problems.

The NDP states that there should be a reduction in the number of people who live in households with a monthly income below R419 per person from 39 percent to zero and a reduction in inequality as measured by the Gini coefficient, from 0.69 to 0.6 by 2030.

In addition, the NDP aims to ensure the achievement of a “decent standard of living” for all South Africans by 2030 based on housing, water, electricity and sanitation, safe and reliable public transport, quality education and skills development, safety and security, quality health care, social protection, employment, recreation and leisure, a clean environment and adequate nutrition.

The NDP also states that government alone cannot provide a decent standard of living, and all social actors and partners across all sectors in society must act.