NDP’s unmet objectives
The National Development Plan (NDP) provides a sort of framework on which more specific government plans can be constructed, so measuring progress along the path it charts can be tricky. But scattered among its analyses of specific sectors and visions of the future are enough deadlines comprehensively missed and policies not adopted to make for a turn to the cynical.
On education: “Eradicate infrastructure backlogs and ensure that all schools meet the minimum standards by 2016.”
As of June, the department of basic education reported that there were 18 106 schools in South Africa with no library whatsoever. There were also 569 with no electricity supply.
On the police: “As soon as possible, all officers should undergo a competency assessment and be rated accordingly ... Officers who do not meet the standard should not be promoted or appointed to a higher level.”
Current South African Police Service plans do not include competency evaluations for anyone other than new graduates and members of the public who apply for firearms licences.
On unemployment: To meet a 2030 target of 11-million new jobs, chapter three of the NDP says, the unemployment rate must by 2015 decline to 20%.
In the second quarter of 2016, Statistics SA reported a 26.6% unemployment rate — up significantly from the levels at which the rate hovered when the NDP was written.
On broadband: Within five years, the National Planning Commission said in 2011, technology milestones should include plans to allocate the new spectrum that will become available with the switch to digital broadcasting.
South Africa was due to switch off analogue television broadcasts, and so free up spectrum for internet provision, by late 2011. All deadlines since then have been missed. When the Independent Communications Authority published its plan in July to allocate new spectrum by auction, the minister of communications turned to the courts to stop the process.
On nuclear power generation: “All possible alternatives need to be explored, including the use of shale gas.”
In March, the government announced that shale gas exploration would start in 2017. Meanwhile, Cabinet signed off on buying a new fleet of nuclear power stations and the paperwork around that process is well under way.