https://www.polity.org.za
Deepening Democracy through Access to Information
Home / News / South African News RSS ← Back
Close

Email this article

separate emails by commas, maximum limit of 4 addresses

Sponsored by

Close

Embed Video

2

NDP headed for rocky, delayed implementation

NDP headed for rocky, delayed implementation

10th February 2014

By: Natasha Odendaal
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

SAVE THIS ARTICLE      EMAIL THIS ARTICLE

Font size: -+

The implementation of the pragmatic, but contentious National Development Plan (NDP) is likely to take a backseat as the African National Congress (ANC) promotes its pre-election policy manifesto ahead of the 2014 elections, set for May 7.

While the development document was government’s blueprint, business risk consultancy Control Risks sub-Saharan Africa analyst Simiso Velempini said the NDP had been subject to a “second consideration” in the election manifesto.

Advertisement

Speaking at the 2014 release of the yearly RiskMap in Sandton, on Monday, she noted that the NDP needed buy-in from unions, which remained opposed to certain factors of the economic development plan, and there remained a few “sticky points”.

“To ensure the tripartite alliance mobilises support around the ruling party ahead of elections, the ANC cannot lead with the NDP,” Velempini said, explaining that the document did not service the ANC’s immediate short-term political considerations.

Advertisement

While the business community was broadly in support of the NDP, believing it was a solid economic framework, the ANC’s alliance partners, the South African Communist Party and the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), were reportedly against certain aspects of the plan.

Further, the relationship between government, labour and business remained fractured, with a range of confidence building measures between unions and government – and unions and private sector – required. This needed strong leadership and patience, as it would not happen “overnight”, Velempini added.

The ruling party tabled its election manifesto in January, indicating its intention to institutionalise long-term planning, integration and coordination capacity within the State to drive consolidated industrialisation and infrastructure development programmes for inclusive growth and job creation.

Engineering News Online previously reported that, among the manifesto’s five-year ambitions were the improvement of the State’s skills and capabilities and the establishment and strengthening of partnerships with the private sector, trade unions and community structures to ensure delivery.

Government also planned to fast-track implementation, reduce regulatory delays, improve public and private sector capacity, combat private sector corruption, collusion and profiteering, and ensure coordinated action across all spheres of government.

The NDP aimed to combat unemployment, poverty and inequality, deliver faster and more inclusive growth amid a recovering global economy, and provide the platform for collaboration between business, government, labour and civil society to reduce the costs of living and doing business in South Africa to improve consumer and business confidence, raise the levels of private investment and enable higher growth and employment.

ANC deputy president and National Planning Commission deputy chairperson Cyril Ramaphosa had previously called on collaborative efforts in the roll-out of the NDP and said those parts of the NDP on which there was consensus should be implemented, while work continued on the other parts.

But Velempini said this was not the way to go.

“[The NDP] needs to be taken as a holistic document, you cannot implement it piecemeal, which is what is being suggested,” she said, adding that the implementation was likely to be challenging, leading to faltering investor sentiment and business confidence.

This came as South Africa was set to enter one of the “most significant” and defining periods in the nation’s history – the second most important political term since former President Nelson Mandela was elected in 1994.

Velempini explained that all eyes would be on the ruling party over the next five years to see how it would reinvent itself in such a way as to deal with rising dissatisfaction among the country’s citizens and increasing concerns of corruption and leadership, besides others.

“The ANC we have now is not the same as the ANC of Mandela’s time,” she said.

“There is always talk of the struggle and the fight, but 20 years on it is difficult to still cite those things, not because they are not relevant, but because it does not resonate in the same way [with the] younger voting public who have different concerns.”

She noted that it was about “changing the script” and responding to the new economic and socioeconomic challenges.

“There are a lot of key milestone events that will have an impact and influence how ANC will get to ANC 2.0,” Velempini stated, adding that in the medium to long term, it would get worse before it got better.

“We are seeing a record number of service delivery protests [and] there are still challenging labour relations that need to be worked out,” she pointed out, adding that there remained divisions within Cosatu, which also had an impact on industrial relations.

EMAIL THIS ARTICLE      SAVE THIS ARTICLE

To subscribe email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za or click here
To advertise email advertising@creamermedia.co.za or click here

Comment Guidelines

About

Polity.org.za is a product of Creamer Media.
www.creamermedia.co.za

Other Creamer Media Products include:
Engineering News
Mining Weekly
Research Channel Africa

Read more

Subscriptions

We offer a variety of subscriptions to our Magazine, Website, PDF Reports and our photo library.

Subscriptions are available via the Creamer Media Store.

View store

Advertise

Advertising on Polity.org.za is an effective way to build and consolidate a company's profile among clients and prospective clients. Email advertising@creamermedia.co.za

View options
Free daily email newsletter Register Now