Without doubt the strongest policy direction
that came out of the ANC National Conference (December 2012) was full
endorsement of the National Development Plan. This is great news. Over the last
5 years, South Africa has been in policy drift. In Zuma’s attempts to appease
all ideological faction within the ANC, he created opposing ministries, each
with their own competing and completely contradictory policy documents. The NDP
is the most sensible of the lot and now we know that ANC is serious about
implementing it.
So, what does the NDP say? The NDP
is a strategic vision for 2030. It encompasses a broad (and quite
comprehensive) set of policy proposals and guidelines. On the whole it is a
coherent and sensible set of policies. It wants to overhaul public services, so
it becomes more technocratic and meritocratic. It proposes sensible measures to
hold civil servants more accountable and make corruption more difficult. It
wants a more flexible labour market and less regulatory burden to small firms.
Our country will be in a far better place in 10 years if we can implement some
parts of it. With Cyril Ramaphosa, who was deputy chair of the Planning
Commission, elected as deputy president of the ANC, this seems more likely than
before.
In education, it wants to introduce
more “results orientated mutual accountability” in schools. This entails
introduction of better performance indicators, communicating these indicators
to the school community, and strengthening of institutions, such as school
governing boards, so that parents are in a powered position to demand quality
of education. It wants a more transparent process of appointing accountable principals
and make it easier to replace under-performing principals.
These are all good proposals. Lots of evidence
points that spending more money is not sufficient in improving education in
South Africa. South Africa spends 8 times more per pupil than the rest of the
Africa, yet poor South African students perform worse than
equally poor students in the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa. Rather, it has a lot
to do with school management and teaching activity: teachers from privileged
schools spend nearly twice as much time teaching than teachers from
disadvantaged schools. The principal and parents can play an instrumental role
in ensuring motivated teachers.
In terms of labour policy, it cuts
a fine line of a more flexible labour market combined with employer protection.
First, it supports the use of labour brokers, but with increased government
oversight. The use of labour brokers has become a pretty controversial topic in
South Africa, since it allows employers to circumvent labour legislation by
continually employing temporary workers. However, these brokers perform a
valuable role in matching workers with firms, much needed in a fragmented labour market.
The NDP recommends a continuation of these brokers, but combined with basic
protection for workers who have been employed for more than 6 months. In
another policy that would anger the unions, the NDP wants to make it easier to
fire workers, by providing a “probationary period” of employment for 6 months
and simplifying dismissal procedures. This is a good idea. One reason for the
high youth unemployment in South Africa is that firms are reluctant to employ
new workers if they know they cannot fire under-performing ones.
Actual implementation of all these
ideas, of course, is a different story. Most certainly there is a role for civil society in implementing some of the education proposals. But the fact that the ANC officially and
strongly endorsed this document, is a step in the right direction.
