National Development Plan to come under close scrutiny at ANC conference

The ANC is set to review the success or failure of the National Development Plan at its upcoming policy conference‚ it said on Tuesday‚ with discussions at the meeting set to focus on broadening the country’s economic base and ensuring it was more inclusive and‚ critically‚ on land.

ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe on Tuesday said the party’s policy team was asked to provide a “political report” and not a “technical” one on the progress made in implementing the plan with regards to the economy and education in particular.

 The NDP was adopted as the blueprint for SA’s development until 2030 by the ANC’s last conference in Mangaung‚ but its allies have long disagreed with sections in it and argue that it is debatable whether it has been translated into actual government policy.

 Mantashe said the land question would be central to discussions at the conference.

On the NDP‚ the ANC was expecting answers on why its government has exceeded expectations on higher education‚ yet this sector is being used to agitate for discontent.

Deputy secretary general Jessie Duarte said the party did not want to “do away” with the NDP but it needed to be reviewed particularly because the country’s “mixed economy benefited only 5% of the population“. Addressing inequality and ensuring that the economy was more inclusive was a priority‚ she said.

 The land issue is set to come into sharp focus — the ANC will grapple with how to speed up land redistribution.

“We can’t continue to say land must be given back… we will use the impetus of the Constitution to guide us to move faster to hand back land… the land debate will dominate.”

The ANC is set to release its policy proposals in February. They will be debated at the policy conference at the end of June and taken to its national conference to be ratified in December.