The biggest challenge that could hinder the success of the National Planning Commission’s (NPC’s) National Development Plan (NDP) was implementation, NPC commissioner Bobby Godsell said on Wednesday.

A draft version of the plan was currently under discussion, with the public and business sectors having until the end of March to submit their suggestions through public discussion forums or via email.

Speaking at a dialogue event to gain local business’s feedback on the NDP, Godsell said the aim of the discussion was to allow the business sector to make input into the plan before its tabling before Cabinet in the middle of the year.

“Through the plan, we hope to achieve some degree of coordination between government departments, while creating a partnership between the private and the government sector in improving South Africa on all fronts.

“This is a task that cannot be executed by government alone. Co-implementers in the form of government, civil society and the labour sector are key to the success of the plan,” Godsell added.

Key problem areas identified in the NPC’s diagnostic report that was released in June, included education, unemployment, poverty, poor health care and services, nonuse of available natural resources, a divided society, crumbling infrastructure and corruption.

To tackle the education challenge, the proposed NDP suggested that leadership within schools be improved, as 87% of schools in South Africa were currently underperforming, despite 20% of the yearly national Budget being spent on education.

However, Godsell pointed out that it was important to focus on nonuniversity graduates, as many were “unemployable” upon completing their secondary education. “The required cognitive competitiveness for positions such as tellers and administrative clerks must be understood and the school systems adjusted accordingly to produce learners that are capable to execute tasks as expected,” he urged, adding that schools also needed to place more emphasis on subjects such as maths and science to assist in this cause.

CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY

On the corporate front, Godsell said businesses had to take responsibility for their corporate citizenship by supporting the existing education infrastructure. However, some role-players at the discussion pointed out that more incentive was required to improve the involvement of the corporate sector.

Despite unemployment in South Africa dropping from 25.9% last year to 23.8%, Godsell said a value revolution among businesses was required to enforce patriotism about creating sustainable jobs.

Chamber of Mines CEO Bheki Sibiya commended the proposed plan for being “open and honest” and addressing important issues by taking a partnership approach.

“There needs to be a paradigm shift, instead of taking it upon them to create jobs, the government must create an environment that enables the private sector to create jobs. In areas where employment can be created, government has been standing in the way.”

He referred specifically to the government’s assertion that manganese should be exported through the more expensive Coega route, in the Eastern Cape, instead of the much-cheaper Saldanha Bay port.

“The mining sector has the ability to create millions of jobs, which would be enhanced once such mining costs are reduced,” Sibiya noted.

Delays in implementing a logistics solution for the Waterberg coalfields was also hampering job creation.

In terms of the public healthcare system, advisory firm KPMG associate director Lullu Krugel stated that despite public objection against increasing value added tx to fund the National Health Insurance that is to be piloted in April, the benefits it would offer should be considered.

“South Africa needs a healthy workforce, as this creates some stability for investors,” she noted.

Further, the plan also highlighted corruption as undermining State legitimacy and service delivery that. It was also noted that corruption is not specific to the State sector, as the private sector was also engaging in corrupt practices.

The NDP envisions achieving a high adherence to ethics throughout society and government by building a resilient anticorruption system and developing an accountability framework that would link the liability of individual public servants to their responsibilities.

Looking ahead, Krugel was optimistic, stating that the building blocks were in place to implement the NDP and that South Africa, as a whole should take responsibility in ensuring the success thereof.