National Development Plan nowhere near achieving 18-year mandate

The current National Planning Commission (NPC) says it has no choice but to focus on the reasons for the “weak” implementation of the National Development Plan (NDP). This follows findings from a recent NDP review that point to a poor performance track record since its adoption in 2012.

According to the previous NPC, the plan, initially expected to be fully implemented by 2030, is unlikely to meet many of the goals with its current development trajectory.

Read: SA unlikely to achieve NDP 2030 goals: Report [Jan 2021]

Speaking at a briefing, commission deputy chair Professor Tinyiko Maluleke said the third NPC “begins its term at a precarious moment in our country’s history”.

The current NPC was appointed by President Cyril Ramaphosa in December 2021 and has been tasked to “provide thought leadership, evidence-based advice, foresight and futuristic planning as well as sustainable solutions that inspire and guide the national development trajectory”.

When the plan was affected almost 10 years ago, the unemployment rate was anticipated to fall from 27% in 2011 to 14% by 2022 and 6% by 2030.

The plan also included a reduction in the proportion of people living below the lower bound poverty line from 39% of the population to zero in 2030.

However, the unemployment rate now stands at 35.3% – the highest since the start of the Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) in 2008 – and shows little to no prospect of a 6% unemployment rate by 2030.

Read: Unemployment becoming a national disaster

Maluleke noted that the impact of Covid-19, and negative economic growth coupled with inequality, crime and lack of government support, influenced the slow progress made towards achieving NDP targets.

“If implementation is slow or non-existent, planning alone is clearly insufficient.

“Given that ours is a tenure that is closest to the finish line of 2030, we cannot afford to be dismissive, smug or philosophical about implementation,” he said.

“Our task is to call the country back to the NDP.”

Maluleke says the third NPC is responsible for enhancing the government’s ability to identify and implement development priorities which will assist in attaining the goals of the NDP.

Conflicting ‘interests’

The review notes that the reluctance of various sectors to adopt the national plan before sectoral interests has also contributed to the negative trajectory.

“The plan envisaged that South Africans from all sectors of the society would be mobilised to work with government to implement the strategic programmes of the NDP to build a prosperous, peaceful, safe and united South Africa.”

Noting that only eight years remain for many milestones to be reached, Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele, who chairs the commission, says the plan must be at the centre of government action and national discourse.

“One of the shortcomings that [has] been identified [is] the incapacity of the state to implement the proposals of the NDP,” says Gungubele.

“This, often combined with poor leadership that pay[s] lip service to the NDP without understanding its goals, has acted as an obstacle to implementation of developmental objectives.”

Read: Mr President, announce major policy reforms

Ahead of the 10^th anniversary since it was adopted, the commission has urged the country to support the plan and has further pledged its commitment to building relationships that will encourage public discourse and leadership that will fuel development.