JOHANNESBURG, July 1 (ANA) – The road to the 2030 vision of the National Development Plan (NDP) is yet to be realised as unemployment and inequality continues to increase six years after the adoption of the plan by the African National Congress government.
Briefing journalists on the second day of the ANC’s 5th national policy conference in Johannesburg, ANC head of policy Jeff Radebe said he had presented a ”comprehensive overview of progress” government had made in implementing the NDP at the plenary on Friday.
The NDP was adopted at the ANC’s 2012 conference in Mangaung. Through the plan, government aims to end poverty and inequality while increasing employment by the year 2030. The ANC’s alliance partners, including the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), however, still have issues with some aspects of the NDP.
The trade union federation once labelled the plan a ”Democratic Alliance inspired plan”, arguing that it threatened workers’ job security. Radebe said as far as he was concerned, Cosatu had not rejected the NDP. ”I cannot speak on their behalf, but some of our alliance partners such as Cosatu has some reservations about the NDP, especially on the economic section of the plan. I cannot speak for them, but my perception is that they have not rejected the plan,” Radebe told reporters.
Through the NDP, the tourism sector’s contribution to the GDP increased from R372 billion in 2014 to R375 billion in 2015. ”In the manufacturing sector, we continue to use the Industrial Policy Action Plan (IPAP) to drive industrialisation, as well as the Black Industrialists Programme.”
Government’s renewable energy plan had ”successfully unlocked” R201 billion in investment through the renewable Independent Power Producer (IPP) programme. At least 3175 megawatts of renewable energy was being supplied to the national grid. Plans were underway to procure gas and coal from independent power producers, said Radebe.
– African News Agency (ANA)
