The National Planning Commission (NPC) today officially handed over its National Development Plan and 2030 Vision Statement to president Jacob Zuma.
While the plan offers a broad outline of the road ahead for SA for the next 20 years, the improvement of information and communications technology (ICT) has been noted as a key action needed for the country's development.
The plan states: “Compared with the best of international standards, SA's ICT infrastructure is abysmal.
“An efficient information infrastructure that promotes economic growth and greater inclusion requires a stronger broadband and telecommunications network and lower prices. The economic and employment benefits outweigh the costs.”
Technological change was also identified in the plan as one of the key external drivers of change in SA.
“Science and technology have brought new treatments to the sick, prolonged the lives of the elderly, connected people across distances and provided clean water to people in remote areas. They have also created new markets, catering for the needs that were at the outer edges of the human imagination just decades ago, such as the Internet,” says the document.
“Many parts of Africa that have not seen fixed-line telephony are widely served today by efficient cellular phone networks that provide a wide range of services. Today, children can get access to the best maths teachers without walking for hours.
“The commission is concerned about the high domestic cost of broadband Internet connectivity. All in our society should be able to acquire and use knowledge effectively. Everyone should benefit from important breakthroughs in science and technology. And SA should continue to contribute to global scientific and technological advancement.”
Redefine broadband
Part of the NPC's proposal to increase employment and growth includes the reduction of the regulatory burden in sectors where the private sector is the main investor, such as broadband Internet connectivity, in order to achieve greater capacity at lower cost.
In terms of economic infrastructure, the National Development Plan states, while broadband is currently defined as 256 kilobytes per second, “by 2020, this definition should increase to at least 2MB per second”.
The proposed action for the improvement of economic infrastructure also involves the improvement of ICT infrastructure by changing the regulatory framework to ensure that Internet broadband capacity improves, prices fall significantly and access improves.
The overall targets of the plan include reducing the level of inequality measured by the Gini co-efficient from 0.7 to 0.6, by 2030. The plan also states the number of households living below R418 per month should fall from 39% to 0%.
Dynamic process
The NPC created a diagnostic report on the current state of the country, which was released in June. The commission has since set about drawing up the vision and plan for 2030.
From 28 September to 1 October, the NPC hosted an online “jam”, which invited South African citizens to engage with the commissioners in a brainstorming dialogue, to be used to help inform the National Development Plan.
According to the NPC, the online jam was the biggest online dialogue in Africa, with over 10 200 logins and over 8 600 posts.
Speaking at a press briefing, NPC chairperson Trevor Manuel said: “This is an amalgamation of input from a broad range of people and entities. We went about engaging public opinion in a very dynamic manner, including our online jam sessions. You will find the input from those dialogues throughout the pages of the report.”
In the forward of the National Development Plan, Manuel writes: “In addition to the sweat of the commissioners who have each made huge sacrifices over the past 18 months, the development of the plan has involved thousands of people who have contributed to the development of the proposals herein.”
Deputy chairperson of the NPC Cyril Ramaphosa said at the briefing: “We looked at many issues in an overarching manner. But our role is not only to analyse the current situation, but to provide a number of proposals which, if implemented, could catapult our country into a new era in which we overcome the challenges of many, many years.”
Manuel added: “Our mandate is not to pretend that we, as a commission, are some sort of spaza government, but rather to identify what needs to be done to achieve the SA of the 2030 vision.
“Developing and upgrading capabilities to enable sustainable and inclusive development, requires a new approach and a new mindset.”
Video link - The 9 challenges facing SA: http://www.youtube.com/user/NPCZA#p/a/u/1/mXhPtMoaGa0
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