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contrary, it has been widely cited, and many recognise the validity of concerns raised by the organisation. Even the Business Day described the COSATU critique as ‘devastating’. Certain areas of the NDP are positive, including some proposals in the chapters on integrated human settlements, social protection, building a capable state, education and combating corruption. However the success of even these, hinge on the appropriate economic strategy being adopted. For example proposals to improve the public sector and social delivery will not be able to succeed, if the economics of the Plan denies the state the resources to implement these effectively. The notion of promoting a decent standard of living, while welcome, is completely contradicted by the NDPs ultra low wage strategy. There should be no holy cows. It was simple for the ANC to take a decision to redraft the international chapter of the NDP, because it didn’t advance its strategic vision. The same should be true of the economic chapter- but of course the stakes are much higher in relation to the economy. Some claim that the NDP economic proposals we are focusing on are ‘marginal’, perhaps because these proposals are not well understood. But the entire NDP for example, culminates in a plan for a social accord, centred around proposals which are nothing less than an attempt to restructure the economy based on a new cheap labour strategy. The proposal for a Social accord in the NDP goes beyond a model of wage moderation (limiting wage increases to in fl ation or productivity increases), and proposes a model of wage repression (through reducing entry level wages- this is in addition to its proposal for the youth wage subsidy). Buried in various

effective economic intervention by the state; e. The NDP’s modest ambition on the persistence of high levels of inequality is deeply troubling, aiming only to reduce the gini coef fi cient to 0,6 by 2030, which would still make us the most unequal major country in the world, if we look at current statistics; f. Its poverty and unemployment projections are dubious and won’t be realised if the proposed Plan is implemented. These defects in the NDP are of huge concern because no national development plan can succeed without an appropriate economic strategy, which must form the core, and the base, on which any plan rests. It is critical to address these defects if we are to have any hope of unleashing the two major drivers of economic development- a diversi fi ed industrialisation strategy and largescale investment in the productive sector of our economy. South Africa is no different from all other development experiences worldwide- these interventions will have to be state led. But the NDP’s vision of the role of the state in the economy is wishy washy at best. Our opposition to the NDPs economic paradigm isn’t in the fi rst instance ideological, as some claim, but grounded in solid, coherent, analysis of our realities, and detailed proposals for alternatives, contained in COSATU’s 2010 policy document A Growth Path for Full Employment. Indeed, we would argue that many of the NDPs economic proposals are ideologically driven, rather than evidence- based. COSATU’s analysis points out numerous errors and inconsistencies in the NDP. To this day, no one has effectively rebutted COSATU’s critique of the NDP. On the

existing power relations. Because of limited time given for this input, we can’t go into our detailed critique of the NDP’s economic proposals, but our critique is being placed on the Wits School of Governance website and can also be found at http://www.cosatu.org.za/docs/ discussion/2013/NDPcritiquesummary. pdf Those expecting that COSATU was too divided to take a uni fi ed position on the NDP were shocked to discover that this was one matter our af fi liates were united on, when the COSATU CEC adopted a resolution on the NDP by consensus. Particular areas of concern with the economic analysis, proposals, instruments, and goals of the NDP, which are articulated in the COSATU Resolution, and outlined in more detail in the COSATU critique, include the following six points: a. The NDP’s jobs plan is problematic and unsustainable, and is based on creating low quality precarious jobs outside the core productive sectors of the economy; b. It fails to pursue the IPAP and NGP vision of industrialising the economy, policies which themselves are being undermined by an inappropriate macro economic policy framework; c. The NDP is premised on undermining worker rights, and a low wage strategy, institutionalised through a two tier labour market, centred particularly on repressing wages of fi rst time workers; d. The NDP proposes a business as usual macroeconomic stance which fails to address the inherited structural de fi ciencies of the South African economy, or the domination of mining and fi nance capital; it also fails to propose the fundamental change of ownership that is needed, or to ensure

Economy