Development plan must be reviewed

The National Development Plan, also known as Vision 2030, seeks to create a new trajectory for the development of the South African economy. This strategic plan is aimed at pushing the frontiers of poverty, unemployment and inequality (triple-threat challenge).

It underscores that the country aims to create 11 million new employment opportunities by 2030. Small business development will play a central role in this context.

Part of the initiatives of the NDP is to create a new infrastructural development strategy to enable economic development, particularly with the use of clean renewable energy, building rail infrastructure and roads. The aspirations of the NDP ought to be inclusive to ensure that enough consultation is undertaken before decisions are made.

The social partners were consulted as part of the process in developing this plan. The consultation processes seem to be an impediment in implementing plans such as the NDP. Apart from the NDP, the country has adopted a number of development plans since the advent of democracy in 1994, including the widely known RDP. The most recent is the Economic Recovery Plan, which aims at rebuilding the economy that has been shattered by the lockdowns.

Commentators, policymakers, researchers and academics are often vociferous regarding the coherence of these plans and their relevance to the three spheres of government national, provincial and local. It is argued that such plans sometimes lack monitoring and an evaluation mechanism to ensure effective implementation.

In this new vision for SA, education was identified as a vital cog in order to ameliorate the levels of literacy and numeracy. The improvement of the quality of SA s education system will also combat levels of crime as more and more young people would be skilled. The health system will also improve when the above factors have been addressed. A well-run state has the potential of bringing its citizens together to live in harmony and in this scenario SMMEs development opportunities will also narrow inequality.

SA is classified as a two-tiered economy one economy competing with other developed nations, and the other with limited infrastructure. President Cyril Ramaphosa indicated in the Economic Recovery Plan that SA will focus on infrastructural development as a strategy to reignite economic growth.

SA is recognised as a dynamic economy that demonstrates various characteristics related to developing nations such as some big disparities between the poor and rich, high levels of poverty and lack of job opportunities.

The national Treasury has developed a strategy and programme to assist with the improvement of SMMEs, which is a significant aspect of the democratic government s programmes to create sustainable businesses. This undertaking seeks to develop and promote the small business sector in the country to curb high levels of unemployment.

An analysis of the success of the support provided to SMMEs is vital in the quest to grow the economy. The government has therefore identified the SMME sector as an economic driver to help the previously disadvantaged people to form part of the mainstream economy.

Many researchers have analysed the factors that hinder small businesses and the entrepreneurial mentality of SMMEs because this sector is an integral part to the NDP. It must be noted that generally SA is experiencing similar challenges to other nations that form part of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and SA). Two of these main challenges are underdeveloped economies and poor infrastructure. SMMEs are important as drivers of these underdeveloped economies. However, it is concerning that SA seems lagging behind in relation to the development agenda compared to other BRICS countries.

There is an urgent need to review the effectiveness of the NDP in relation to the pressing challenges that SA faces in the midst of the pandemic. We should be able to answer the question if the NDP is responsive enough.