South Africa's National Planning Commission and tackling poverty

To be really effective, South Africa's newly envisaged National Planning Commission must operate like the command centre of a country at war, meticulously planning, not against invaders, but the transformation of the economy, as if the country’s future depended on it – which it does.

South Africa’s extraordinarily high levels of mass poverty, unemployment and inequality are pegged at levels that were seen in many countries only during the Great Depression, during or immediately in the aftermath of debilitating wars.

Most successful developing countries since the Second World War, especially the East Asian tigers, have had a central structure, managing economic development around a well-thought through, long-term development plan.

Such central planning units make detailed assessments of the state of the economy, then draw up plans to improve their economies to specific timelines, closely monitoring these plans to see that implementation remains on schedule, if not, or if the policies appear to be inappropriate, make suitable interventions early on. They task individuals with responsibility for every facet of the delivery. They make a point of appointing only the best talent in the country to these central planning institutions. Those who don’t deliver are fired immediately.

In many countries these planning structures were set up after governments, society and citizens realised that their countries were in deep economic crisis and they had to do something very drastically and very quickly to lift their economies out of the morass. Failing to do so, these countries faced being annihilated by powerful external enemies, ready to pounce on their vulnerability.

Their task was to raise economic growth, spread prosperity to the largest amount of people in the shortest possible time and industrialise in the quickest possible time. These economic planning structures had the political backing from top leaders, all political parties, civil society and the wider population. Everything was given to them to make their work possible. These organisations were extremely accountable: they had to account for every cent, in circumstances where resources were so scarce that the country could not afford to waste the littlest of resources.

These central planning institutions were at the centre of these public services, and marshal them behind a common goal: to secure industrialisation in the quickest possible time, according to clear delivery timelines and targets. These institutions were backed up by extremely competent public service and led by the best talents; appointment to the public service was through strict entrance examinations.

South Africa’s public service is politicised, riddled with corruption and inefficiency, and appointing the most competent individual for the job is certainly not the norm. On current form the public service will not be able to deliver a successful developmental state along the East Asian developmental states. By setting up a national planning commission of the best brains in the country and giving them a clear mandate, targets and deliverables, and a long-term development plan to pursue, the National Planning Commission may possibly have to circumvent the public service, at least in the short term, when the service is being transformed into a more efficient and accountable one. In fact, any national planning commission may see the implementation of its policy stymied by an inefficient public service.

There are some lessons to be learned from South Africa’s 2010 World Cup Local Organizing Committee, in terms of pursuing targets and meeting deadlines, for the new National Planning Commission. South Africa’s 2010 World Cup Local Organizing Committee’s task is to plan, implement and deliver a successful World Cup for South Africa. If they don’t deliver on time, South Africa will be deeply embarrassed. This kind of urgency and resolve, where failure is not an option, and delivery must happen on time, must be the driving force for any new planning commission.

A national planning commission that has the backing of the president, can circumvent lethargic parts of the civil service, and which has the power to get individual departments and officials to actually do something to deliver, could be an option for South Africa. Fighting poverty, unemployment and inequality should be like fighting a war. Every resource, talent within the state, civil society and communities, must be marshalled to tackle these problems as quickly as possible. Finally, any national planning commission must have an extraordinary sense of accountability, transparency and internal democracy, but it must also allow for maximum citizen participation.

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* William Gumede is the co-editor (with Leslie Dikeni) of 'The Poverty of Ideas'.
* Please send comments to [email protected] or comment online at Pambazuka News.