Business Report celebrates the 5th anniversary of the NDP

SOUTH Africa today celebrates the 5th anniversary of the National Development Plan (NDP), the country’s long-term development plan drafted by the National Planning Commission in consultation with South Africans from all walks of life. To recognise this significant milestone, Business Report has joined forces with the Department of Planning, Monitoring, and Evaluation and corporate SA to mark the achievements by hosting a series of national events designed to reflect on and celebrate the successful implementation of the first stage of the plan. The first event will be hosted in Gauteng on September 12 and will be attended by captains of the country’s industry, ministers, the media and ordinary South Africans. The time has arrived to tell the NDP story. This will involve exposing the challenges as well as delineating the successes achieved so far. Business Report invites all South Africans to get involved in making the NDP work for you. There is no “us” and “them”, there is just a “we”. We, the people can make this work. The NDP is after all the product of thousands of inputs and perspectives of South Africans. It is a plan for a better future; a future in which no person lives in poverty, where no-one goes hungry, where there is work for all, a nation that is united in the vision of our Constitution. Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba recently stated: “There is no magic bullet to improving our credit rating; we must implement the NDP and the 9-point plan. It is in our own hands to improve confidence in our country; business and investor confidence will follow. Let us pull our weight and walk the talk, together as a nation.” And Nelson Mandela, who said: “Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all.” – Adri Senekal de Wet