RECONSTRUCTION AND DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME (RDP)

As mentioned in the previous section, apartheid resulted in gross differences between the black majority and the white minority, in terms of the distribution of resources. In an effort to curb the challenges brought on by the apartheid era, South Africa had, for the first time in its history, a policy framework for all of its citizens (ANC: 1994).

53 3.3.1 The Goals, Aims and Results of the RDP

Former South African president Nelson after attaining liberation, in his inaugural speech in 1994, said:

My government's commitment to create a people-centred society of liberty binds us to the pursuit of the goals of freedom from want, freedom from hunger, freedom from deprivation, freedom from ignorance, freedom from suppression and freedom from fear. These freedoms are fundamental to the guarantee of human dignity. They will therefore constitute part of the centrepiece of what this government will seek to achieve, the focal point on which our attention will be continuously focused. The things we have said constitute the true meaning, the justification and the purpose of the Reconstruction and Development Programme, without which it would lose all legitimacy. (ANC: 1994).

The RDP‘s main aim was to address the socio-economic problems that haunted South Africa; and its key aspect was that it linked reconstruction and development (Knight: 2001). This is all encompassed in the definition of RDP, according to the African National Congress (ANC) (1994):

The Reconstruction and Development Programme (RDP) is an integrated, coherent socio-economic policy framework. It seeks to mobilise all our people and our country's resources toward the final eradication of the results of apartheid and the building of a democratic, non-racial and non- sexist future. It represents a vision for the fundamental transformation of South Africa.

The ANC (1994) still asserts that the integrated process of transformation must ensure that the South Africa:

 develops strong and stable democratic institutions and practices

54

 becomes a fully democratic and non-racial society;

 becomes a prosperous society, having embarked upon a sustainable

and environmentally friendly growth and development path; and

 addresses the moral and ethical development of society.

As seen, the RDP sought to attain socio-economic growth and basic needs delivery, while at the same time tackling the legacy of injustice. A ‗people-centred development‘, ‗integrated development‘ and ‗sustainable development‘ that is democratic and participatory were the highlights of the RDP (Chicano: 2005). The RDP defined priorities to achieve socio-economic transformation of the South African society. The RDP is summarised in Table 3.1 below.

Table 3.1: Selected RDP‘s socio-economic commitments and targets.

Housing: Provide well-located and affordable shelter for all by the year 2003. Build one million houses by 2000.

Water: Supply 20 to 30 litres of clean water daily to every person by 1997 and 50 to 60 litres per day by 2000, from a point no more than 200 meters from their dwelling.

Electricity: Supply 2.5 million more households, and all schools and clinics with electricity by the year 2000.

Health care: Give free medical care to children under 6 years of age and to homeless children; improve maternity care for women; organize programs to prevent and treat major diseases like TB and AIDS.

Land reform: Implement land reform based on the distribution of 30% of agricultural land to emerging black farmers; redistribution of residential land to those who need it but cannot afford it,

Job creation through public works: A national public works program to provide basic needs such as water supply, sewerage and roads; and at the same time create jobs, particularly

55 and compensation to those who lost land as a result of apartheid laws.

in poor and rural areas.

Social security and social welfare: A new system to provide for all people regardless of their race, gender or physical disability. A pension system to meet the needs of workers in the formal and informal sectors.

Education and training: Literacy for all, equal opportunity, 10 years of free and compulsory education, class sizes of no more than 40 pupils, and training workers to meet the challenges of the new political and economic conditions (Source: Adapted from Chicano: 2005; Wright 2001)

The first post-apartheid government targeted the main problem areas in the country. Table 3.2 below illustrates the extent to which these targets were met; the improvements made between 1994 and 2000, as a result of the RDP:

Table 3.2: Improvements made as a result of RDP.

Water 4 million more people given access to clean running water

Housing 900,000 units completed,1.1 million housing subsidies allocated

Electrification 1.5 million new connections

Telephones 4.2 million new connections

Poverty relief R3 billion allocated

Health 600 new clinics, free health care for pregnant women and children

under 6

Public works 1,500 kilometres of roads built

Land 68,000 families resettled on farming land

56

Although the RDP managed to improve in the various problem-areas, the programme had some cracks in it, and criticism ensued (Chicano: 2005; Lodge 2003: 64-75). This is discussed in the next section.

3.3.2 Criticism and Failure of the RDP

Between 1994 and 1996, the RDP was viewed as the foundation of government

development policy – a means of measuring the success of the government

development policy. With it, however, as a development policy document, the RDP, according to Chicano (2005), had a number of shortcomings mentioned below:

 it looked more like a ‗wish list‘ than a detailed plan focusing on opportunities and

constraints;

 it did not set priorities, or assign responsibility for the implementation of each

programme component;

 it did not have enough mechanisms for inter-departmental co-ordination; and

 local government, which had been assigned constitutional responsibility for

promoting socio-economic development, had a lack of planning and implementation capacity.

The South African government was accused of exaggerating the improvements made as a result of the RDP and, as a result the standards of housing; water delivery; healthcare improvement; and the successfulness of the land reform policy, were targeted by critics (Lodge 2003: 64).

A large number of the water projects faced design challenges leading to difficulty in execution. As a result, the number of households relying on rivers, streams and dams for their water slightly increased between 1995 and 1999, with the proportion of households using piped water somewhat improved (Lodge 2003: 64). in terms of land redistribution under the RDP, only approximately 1% of this goals set was reached (Lodge 2003: 64). Furthermore, advances experienced in many other areas of public

57

consequently led to high job losses (Lodge 2003: 64). Between 1994 and 1998 the number of workers on commercial farms saw a reduction from approximately 1.4 milli on to approximately 637,000 (StatsSA 2001: 75). The number of people employed in the agricultural sector declined by over 50 per cent under the RDP (StatsSA 2001: 75). Healthcare somewhat enhanced as a result of RDP although with moderately improved access, standards at many medical institutions fast declined (Lodge 2003: 64). Although the usage of healthcare facilities increased by approximately 1.6% between 1995 and 1999 (StatsSA 2001: 75) there has been a noticeable decline in the quality of servic es. An example is that of in Soweto where there were 800 nurses for every at primary health care clinics but by 2000, the number of patients had rapidly increased to approximately 2 million people and at the same, the number of nurses had fallen to around 500- a significant drop (StatsSA 2001: 75).

As early as 1995, problems with the RDP had began to emerge, as the economy was not growing at the envisioned rate. This less-than-expected performance of the economy caused the failure of the RDP to make a desired impact (Chicano: 2005). The RDP offices were shut down in 1996, although a separate RDP fund continued for some years later (Lewis 2001: 3). No central agency at the national level responsible for the design, implementation, coordination, and monitoring of poverty-relief programs was set up; and this led to the birth of the Growth, Employment and Redistribution programme (GEAR), a macro-economic strategy (Lewis 2001: 3); which will be presented in the next section.