The National Planning Commission (NPC), formed in 2010 was meant to be at the apex of planning activities for the country, by pulling together the talents of academics, commentators, development economists and the like, to envision a better future for the country and its people. Their collective intellectual input found voice in the creation of the National Development Plan (NDP) which set out, over three five-year phases, improvements in key developmental milestones, which would result by 2030 in an achievement of a ‘decent standard of living’ for all citizens.
Sadly, but not unsurprisingly, a 10-year review of the NDP goals by the current NPC, reveals that all but one of the economic targets envisaged in the Plan had been missed. As is the case with almost all planning documents across government documents, the failure can be directly attributed to the lack of execution and buy-in rather than the conception and design of the plan. While the lack of execution could be related in part to capacity constraints, that of buy-in (particularly by political principals), will reveal a direct link to the protection of vested interests that protect and promote rent seeking activities (read corruption).
The tragedy of this situation is that the NDP had identified the root causes of the failure of planning processes in the country. It states, in relation to enhancing policy formulation that better results could be achieved ‘by redirecting the focus of policy making from short-term, symptom-based policies to longer-term policies based on sound evidence and reason’. Their frustration and concern are clearly articulated in a statement released by the NPC that lamented:
‘Instead of a capable state, on which the plan is predicated, we have an increasingly corrupt state; instead of a seamless planning system, we have a disjointed planning system that is poorly implemented and misaligned to the strategic goals of the NDP; instead of a more inclusive and equitable economy, we have economic policies that do not seem to be achieving the transformation that is required.’
The reality is that planning in this country has always been regarded as something of a box-ticking, appeasement exercise. Of course, one must not overlook the huge opportunities ‘planning’ under the guise of ‘turnaround strategies’ presented for consultants to extract millions of rands from the likes of Transnet, SAA and Eskom. There are 5-year ‘turnaround strategies’ gathering dust in archives and records rooms all over the country, in government, provincial and local departments.
The striking difference between us and other national plans, such as those of Singapore and China, is a single-minded focus on the end goals. Also, the plans are not influenced by the whims of new political principals when administrations change, because they are embedded into the ‘psyche’ of governance structures.
The failures highlighted by the NDP and its authors, the NPC, are clarion call that an entirely rethink of our planning mentality and processes is needed.
Vijay Naidoo is the CEO of the Port Shepstone Business Forum. He writes in his personal capacity. The views expressed are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of this publication.
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