South African Government Policies since 1994

The following is a brief overview of the South African government Policies since 1994. These policies were primarily focused on economic development.

RDP – Reconstruction and Development Programme

1. Achieving high and sustainable economic growth.
2. Privatizing underutilized state assets.
3. Liberalizing trade policy to boost exports.
4. Increasing employment via economic growth.
5. Reducing the budget deficit.
6. Financing the RDP visa savings in other areas of government expenditure.
7. Increasing capital expenditure by government.
8. Forming a more effective civil service.
9. Reconstructing the environment of disadvantaged South Africans via the provision of housing, water and electricity.
10. De-racializing the economy via legislation and policy changes in areas such as affirmative action.
11. Introducing competition policy to inhibit the over-concentration of economic power.
12. Strengthening the bargaining position of labour.

GEAR – Growth, Employment and Redistribution framework

1. Encourage greater public investment in infrastructure.
2. Reduce the budget deficit.
3. Use interest rates to control inflation.
4. Relax exchange controls.
5. Liberalise trade more rapidly.
6. Introduce tax incentives to stimulate investment.
7. Restrain growth of the public sector wage bill.
8. Privatise state-owned assets.
9. Increase labour flexibility.

AsgiSA – The Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative for South Africa

1. Introduce greater labour market flexibility via a review of labour laws.
2. Promote/encourage investment in infrastructure.
3. Ensure a more competitive business environment especially for small and medium-sized enterprises.
4. Achieve GDP growth of 4.5% by 2009 and 6% between 2010 and 2014.
5. Improve the value of the rand.
6. Review BEE policy.
7. Ensure a supply of skilled labour.

NGP – The New Growth Path

1. Enable the state to play a leading role in directing investment and providing investment incentives.
2. Promote domestic investment.
3. Increase employment via the private sector.
4. Strengthen public sector investment in infrastructure.
5. Target labour-absorbing industries for investment.
6. Promote small-scale agriculture.
7. Review BEE policy to focus on skills development and worker and community ownership.
8. Increase labour market regulation to protect vulnerable workers.
9. Resist the reduction of trade tariffs while promoting exports and combating illegal imports.
10. Cap management salaries at R500,000 a year.
11. Moderate pay increase for people earning between R3,000 and R20,000 a month.

NDP – The National Development Plan 2030

1. Maintain fiscal discipline and macro-economic stability.
2. Achieve sustained GDP growth of 5.4%.
3. Reduce unemployment to 14% by 2010 and to 6% by 2030.
4. Overhaul the civil service to improve efficient and implementation.
5. Promote market competitiveness.
6. Reduce the cost of living.
7. Reduce impediments to investment.
8. Create jobs via entrepreneurship and reduced regulation as well as a public works programme.

The summaries of these South African Government Policies are taken from the book A Time Traveller’s Guide to Our Next Ten Years by Frans Cronje, CEO of the South African Institute of Race Relations.