Drafted in August 2012 by the National Planning Commission, the National Development Plan (NDP) aims to eliminate poverty and reduce inequality by 2030, providing an opportunity for all stakeholders to articulate and document the specific growth drivers required to build and enhance national capabilities, which through strategic partnerships, will ultimately contribute towards growing an inclusive economy to the benefit of all South Africans.
However, while the NDP without question remains an exciting prospect considering the potential it has to unlock the vision of a positive future for the country and its people, discussions and presentations at the Vision 2030 Summit revealed that for many the NDP is still regarded as largely theoretical in nature.
The current volatile political landscape has further only served to promote resistance and uncertainty around many of the NDP’s goals and objectives, with much of the population understandably regarding it as a merely a high-level plan towards possible future socio-economic development in the country.
The real question that needs to be asked is, how can we take the solid theory embodied in the NDP and turn it into positive, transformative action? Action with the targeted aim of driving real socio-economic development in the country.
The seemingly only logical response to this somewhat complex question is the need for urgent engagement and agreement among all relevant stakeholders as to an integrated, national and highly specific approach to actioning the plans set out in the NDP.
It is imperative that this new contract is one that every South African Citizen can wholeheartedly buy into. And it is therefore heartening to hear President Ramaphosa promoting the need for the implementation of a new actionable contract. Suffice to say it is clear that a common development narrative needs to be established with a clear focus on the specific priority areas that need to be a focus area and driven forward in the years to come.